Students learn how objects can represent an idea (or serve as symbols), and they focus on the Renaissance as a period in which artists often used symbols to tell a story or convey a message. During discussion, students learn how objects can serve as symbols, conveying specific meanings that an artist wants to share. While making art, they use symbols to create an artwork with personally significant meaning. Students finish with colored pencils.
I Saw a Dragon
“My artwork is colorful and it is very detailed. […] My picture represents ‘surprise’ because I would be surprised if I saw a dragon and a unicorn in my yard.”
Scope & Sequence:
Lesson 1: Students are introduced to the ‘Drawing ABC’s’, then create a ‘Deck of Symbols’ that introduces them to 13th-16th century symbology.
Lesson 2: Students decide on an emotion that they want to depict, and they brainstorm meaningful symbols to represent this emotion.
Lesson 3: Students take the emotion/symbols that they roughed out during lesson 2 and they create a drawing that emcompasses the emotion they are using.
Lesson 4: In this lesson, student artists color their compositions using colored pencils. They have two days to complete.
Lesson 5: Allow a fifth day entirely for finishing and refining work.
(you can preview the first lesson in a project without enrolling by clicking on ‘lesson 1’ above).
Books & Media:
Lesson 2: (optional) The Clip Art Book : A Compilation of More Than 5,000 Illustrations and Designs by Gerard Quinn (Or use a similar book with line-based images for students to copy.)
Line, shape/form, color
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National Core Visual Art Standards:
VA:Cr1.2.1a, VA:Cr2.1.1a, VA:Cr2.1.2a, VA:Cr3.1.2a, VA:Re8.1.1a, VA:Cn11.1.1a, VA:Cn11.1.2a
Language Arts (potential of linkage to plays or studies on other Renaissance subject matter) Science (could look at the properties of the pigments that Renaissance artists used) Music (could connect to Renaissance music) Geography (could look at European culture and how it was influenced by location)
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Common Core Standards:
W.1.2 , SL.1.1a, SL.2.1a, SL.1.1b, SL.2.1b, SL.1.1c, SL.2.1c, SL.1.2, SL.2.2, SL.1.3, SL.2.3, SL.2.4, SL.1.5, SL.2.5
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