In this lesson, students learn about ‘background’, ‘middleground’, and ‘foreground’ and examine how landscape artists use it to establish space. They begin creating their own enchanted land by designing, painting, and cutting three layers to represent their enchanted land’s background, midground, and foreground.
Note: Students will have two days to complete this step.
Students will be working individually, so have materials prepared to go out to tables/desks depending on how your class is set up. Think about how you will dispense and disperse paint, as well as water, as both these materials can be messy. You’ll also want to have students write their names on the back of all sheets of construction paper before starting, and consider where to store paintings as they dry. Consider having wet-wipes on hand to clean paint off hands.
9x12” black construction paper (3 per student), tempera paint in a variety of colors, brushes, rags or paper towels, scissors, oil or chalk pastels (Note: anything that is visible on the black paper would work).
photocopy 1
Elements of a Landscape, 1 per student
(optional: see early finishers) A selection of Fairy Tales, such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Frog Prince’, & ‘Hansel and Gretel’ (book form, or downloaded and printed off of UnboundEd: http://bit.ly/2qyH7sR Instructions, projected for students to reference after they watch the video: http://bit.ly/2qM0b3i
⚲Albert Bierstadt, "After the Shower," aprox. 1860.
Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was an American painter best known for his highly detailed, sweeping landscapes of the American West. To paint the scenes, Bierstadt joined several journeys during the Westward Expansion.
Project the inspiration image where students can see it. Give students a moment to study it silently, then begin a brief discussion with the phrase, “What can we find?”. Paraphrase what students say for the benefit of the class, being careful to remain neutral, then ask “What else can we find?”.
Alternately, allow them to draw or write what they notice on a blank piece of paper or in a sketchbook.
The point of this discussion time is to have students learn and add onto each other’s thoughts. By remaining neutral and simply repeating what students say you allow students to do the heavy mental lifting and also create an environment where there is no wrong answer, fostering creativity and mental risk-taking.
Check for understanding by asking, “Who was listening closely that can sum up what we are doing today?” Make sure that student artists can list all the steps and clarify anything that needs clarifying.
• Understand that they will have two days to create 3 separate sections (foreground, midground, background) that will eventually overlap.
• The background will be the sky, and can show the weather or climate of their setting
• The midground will show the setting (e.g., a forest), and they should quickly paint with basic shapes and colors, but no details
• The foreground should be fairly large, and a plain color (or multiple colors, but no details).
After the CFU, hand out the ‘Elements of a Landscape’ handout for the student’s reference.
The students work independently on their work as the teacher circulates. Foster strong work habits by commenting on student artists who are focused on their work as well as student artist who seems be pushing themselves to try new things.
Project the instructions for students to reference.
As the students work on their three sections, the teacher should circulate and focus conversation on how what they are doing is helping to establish the setting; for example the teacher can comment on colors they are using and how they affect interpretation, or the way that the weather they have depicted would change the mood or the tone of the place.
Use 'what, how, and why' and then take comments or questions.
Depending on the teacher’s style of classroom management, it might be helpful to only choose and train a few kids to clean. The rest of the class can be busy with the presentation. Make sure to train these helpers well in advance so that you aren’t left with a messy room.
Clean-up times will vary with materials; get to know your class and allow 5-10 minutes depending on how efficient they are and whether or not the material was messy.
Choose presenting student artists in advance and let them know during their work time so that they are prepared.
Sharing should work as follows:
Students can look through the provided Fairy Tales for inspiration for their magical elements (next step). Have them brainstorm a list.
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