The Teaching Palette

Escape from Thorne Mansion Interactive

Posted on 07. Dec, 2011 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Multimedia, Music+Art, Tech Stuff

As a child I was lucky to live close enough to the Art Institute of Chicago to visit the Thorne Miniature Rooms.  I imagined how different my life would be living during the historical time periods depicted in the extraordinarily detailed 3-dimensional interior designs.  A new interactive game from The Art Institute of Chicago, Escape from Thorne Mansion, allows me to take a virtual leap back into those rooms.

The interactive adventure begins in a 16th century French parlor with a cryptic note explaining details to escape the mansion. Clicking on different areas of the image reveal verbal clues at the bottom of the screen and open doorways to gain entry into the next room.  Your students will enjoy the challenge escaping the labyrinth of rooms using the clues found along the way.

Escape from Thorne Mansion could be easily integrated with a study of linear perspective, composition, or design.  Alternatively, create a literature connection at school or at home incorporating the book, The Sixty-eight Rooms reviewed in an earlier post.

Connecting with Music
Other than the light strum of a harp in the French Anteroom, the Escape from Thorne Mansion interactive missed an opportunity to couple era music with the room design. So, I’ve decided to pick up where the Art Institute of Chicago has left off and pair a few Thorne Room images with sounds from the time (click the widget to the right of the image to listen).

California Hallway, c. 1940

French Boudoir of the Louis XV Period, 1740-60

Japanese Traditional Interior, 1937

The Thorne Miniature Rooms create an amazing opportunity to connect history, literature, and music with art and design.  How else do the Thorne Miniature Rooms connect to your curriculum?

Monochromatic Music

Posted on 16. Nov, 2010 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Music+Art

Image Source: www.artic.edu/aic

The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso is a great image to teach students about mood.  Since mood is also a term used in music, I use this opportunity to draw comparisons to help illustrate the art concepts.

I discovered some guitar tracks in Garageband useful to help the students make the connection between mood in art and music.  I begin to play the guitar sounds and have the students give a thumbs up or thumbs down if they think the music mood matches the visual mood of the painting. The kids really get a kick out of this exercise and it helps reinforce the concepts.

Click on the audio below to hear the tracks I play for my students:
Guitar Sound 1
Guitar Sound 2
Guitar Sound 3
Guitar Sound 4
Guitar Sound 5

Paul McCartney was also inspired by “The Old Guitarist”. Watch Two Fingers below:

Can’t see video above? Click here.

“I’m through. What do I do?”

Posted on 05. Nov, 2010 by Hillary Andrlik + Theresa McGee in All Posts, Art Games, Books, Clean-up and Transition, Clssrm Mgmt, Cool+Creative, Music+Art, Neat Video, Off-task Behavior, Organization and Preparation, Reviews, Tech Stuff, Techniques, Tools and Miscellaneous

It’s those 5, 10, or 15 minutes when students finish assigned work early that can send a teacher into an internal panic.  Instead of panic, be prepared.  We have pulled some of our ready-to-use ideas together to help you fill those last few minutes with meaningful content.

Independent Activities for Early Finishers:

Jacob Lawrence Story & Sound

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Music+Art

The 1920′s and 1930′s Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of African-American poetry, music and art. Jacob Lawrence lived and created his art at the center of it in New York city’s Harlem neighborhood. According to Whitney Museum of American Art, he painted what he saw and later became interested in African-American history and culture and chronicled lives of famous people like Harriet Tubman. Below you will discover clips of music from the Harlem Renaissance and resources about Jacob Lawrence that you can bring into the classroom.

Great resources on Jacob Lawrence:

Show your students how the arts are interconnected with samples of music, art & writing from the amazing Harlem Renaissance period.

Trouble viewing the YouTube video above? Bypass the YouTube Block could help.

Georgia O’Keeffe in Google Earth

Posted on 22. Sep, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Music+Art, Tech Stuff

After watching the Lifetime movie about Georgia O’Keeffe over the weekend, I was inspired to share with you two of my favorite O’Keeffe teaching tools.

I am a big fan of Google Earth and look for every opportunity to incorporate it into my teaching. So, I created a Georgia O’Keeffe Google Earth file to help illustrate how the locations where she lived impacted her work.  I also try and discuss the major changes in transportation technology that occurred during Georgia’s 98 year life (ultimately impacting her mobility between New York and New Mexico).

Interact with the O’Keeffe Google Earth file below and download here to save for use in your classroom studies.

The second resource I use is a song by Greg Percy called “Georgia”. To listen, click the audio MP3 button below.
Georgia

The first verse makes a direct connection to the geography that Georgia covered during her lifetime:

Do you use Google Earth, art songs, or other resources to teach art history?

The Art Institute of Chicago Launches Interactive Website

Posted on 27. Jun, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik + Theresa McGee in All Posts, Art Games, Cool+Creative, In The News, Multimedia, Music+Art, Reviews, Tech Stuff

We were excited to view The Art Institute of Chicago’s new Modern Wing at the educator open house. The new edition designed by Renzo Piano makes the Art Institute of Chicago the second largest art museum in the United States. The layout and design of the new galleries that now house the museums 20th and 21st century art collections are impressive but, as educators we were truly amazed by the new Ryan Education Center.

The new eduction space boasts five classrooms, three huge studios, the new Crown Family Education Center and the new David and Marilyn Fatt Vitale Family Orientation Room. Not only are these educational spaces truly state of the art but, have one of the most sought after views in the city as they look onto Millennium Park. The image above was taken on my phone in one of the new studios.

Along with the fantastic educational space , The Art Institute previewed new interactive software and resources featuring pieces from their collections.  This July they lunched that material online in an interactive website for kids called the Curious Corner. The site is geared more towards the elementary age child but, also has resources for educators and parents. Visitors can choose form three different categories of interactive games such as Story Time, Match Up and Play with Art. The Match up section is one of our favorites it lets you match texture, shape or sound. Below is a short clip of some of the interactive games children can explore on the site.

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

Below is a couple of ideas for utilizing the Curious Corner in the classroom.

• Use the “Story Time” games as an introduction to teaching children about the messages, stories and meaning behind many pieces of art.
• Use the “Match Up” sound game as an individual activity for analyzing the parts of a work of art. As a student matches each sound to different area of a piece of art they will notice new details and better understand what is happening in the image.
• Use the Cornell Box section of the “Play with Art” game to have students create a still life that is meaningful to themselves. Print the completed computer still life images and have students use the grid drawing processes to enlarge the image. Choose a media such as colored pencil or chalk for students to add detail to their personal still life drawings.
• Use the “Match Up” game as an introduction or extension activity for concepts like texture and shape.

Share how you could utilize this site in your classroom in the comments section below?

Picasso Carnival / Using Multiple Intelligence Theory in the Art Room

Posted on 16. Mar, 2009 by Tricia Fuglestad in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Music+Art

The following is a guest post written by Tricia Fuglestad.  She has taught elementary art at Dryden Elementary in Arlington Heights, Illinois for 17 years.  

After taking a six week online course in Multiple Intelligence theory in the classroom offered through PBS Teacherline, I designed a lesson about the artwork of Pablo Picasso that would engage my diverse learners through their multiple intelligences.
I set up six centers in the art room for students to rotate through. Prior to our first day of this Picasso Carnival, students watched an intro movie, shown below, to give them an overview of each center.

Intro to our Picasso Carnival from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Center One: Pin the Feature on the Face (Kinesthetic)
In this center students take turns blindfolding themselves and pinning a feature of the face onto a blank head. This will result in a portrait with randomly placed features much like the look of Pablo Picasso’s cubistic portraits.

Center Two: Mr. Picassohead (logical, visual, and interpersonal)
In this center, students use the online game, http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html
to virtually design a Picasso-styled portrait. Students are to work collaboratively, read through the posted instructions together, take turns, and make group decisions to create one final design. This design can then be save with a screenshot (apple shift 3) to the desktop. This center will be set up on the classroom’s interactive whiteboard.

Center Three: The Picasso Polka  (Musical, linguistic, interpersonal)
In this center, students will listen to the Picasso Polka Song by Greg Percy individually on iPods while reading the lyrics. Then they will discuss and interpret the meaning of the lyrics with the group.

  
Center Four:  Art Critics (interpersonal, linguistic, visual)
In this center students evaluate the cubistic styled Picasso painting called, Girl Before a Mirror. They read these questions and discuss as a group their responses.
1.What colors did Picasso use?
2.Are they bold, faded, mixed, or pure?
3.Look at one color. Does the color show up more than once?
4.Is each color balanced throughout the composition?
5.What shapes do you see?
6.Do the shapes repeat?
7.What line patterns do you see?
8.Do the line patterns repeat?
9.Can you find the face and the reflection of the face?
10.Is it Realistic (looking real) or Abstract (not looking real)?

 
Center Five: The Grouping Group (logical/mathematical)
In this center students will categorize 65 small printed images of different pieces of art by Pablo Picasso. The instructions will ask students to group the images according to different criteria, first being Abstract (not trying to look real) vs Realistic (trying to look real). If time allows, students can then pull out images and sort them into another group for those created during the Blue Period (sad looking, painted in mostly blue hues) vs cubistic (scrambled up with multiple views of objects all at once).

Center Six: Playing the Blues (Kinesthetic and Intrapersonal)
In this center, students take turns becoming the Old Guitarist, the title and subject of a Picasso’s paintings created during his blue period.
They put on a blue sweatshirt and sit cross-legged on a blue blanket and hold a guitar (a made a guitar out of foam core scaled to their body size). One group member uses a flip video camera to videotape while the other holds up the “cue card” for the actor. The actor reads, “I am the old guitarist. Pablo Picasso painted me when he was feeling sad. The last time I was playing the blues was when…” At this point the actor fills in the blank with a personal story. Then the students can switch roles if there is time.

The art room is a perfect place to reach all learners, not just the visual/spatial. So far my students have wowed me with their enthusiasm for this interactive learning experience. My role during this time is more of an eavesdropper spying on some excellent learning. Below is a video reflection on the use of Multiple Intelligence theory in my art room.

MI Class Reflection from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Teaching Palette guest blogger: Tricia Fuglestad
Dryden Elementary Art Teacher
Arlington Heights, IL

Photography as Art and History

Posted on 24. Dec, 2008 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Music+Art

Brooklyn Bridge, 1899

Brooklyn Bridge, 2007

Photography is one of my favorite forms of artistic expression. In addition to artistic merit, I am particularly interested in photographs that document life from long ago.

Compare the photo found on Histografica of the Brooklyn Bridge from 1899 to a recent image photographed in 2007. Almost the same point of view, yet a completely different scene.
Add an additional element to the scene – pop culture. Use the widgets below to listen to popular music from each of these eras.

Possible Discussion Questions:

1. How has this scene changed over the last 100 years?
2. How has photography changed over the last 100 years?
3. What type of person traveled the Brooklyn Bridge in each scene? How were lives different? The same? How might social interactions be different?
4. Listen to popular music from each era (preview songs to determine if appropriate for your students). How does this help you understand time and place? Does the music make you feel any different about the images? What if you played music from the 1899 with the photograph from 2007, does it fit?

Australian Didgeridoo

Posted on 13. Oct, 2008 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Music+Art

I have always been fascinated by the beauty of Indigenous Australian art.  Even more impressive is how the art is combined with a functional instrument. The traditional didgeridoo instrument is made from a Eucalyptus tree branch or trunk that has been hollowed out by termites. Listen to the sound this work of art creates.

Image Source:Didjshop.com

Discussion Questions:

1.  What kind of sound did you expect to hear?  Why?

2.  How is this instrument like other instruments you are familiar with? Can you think of an another instrument that was created by a visual artist? Do you think changing the shape of the didgeridoo would change the sound?

3.  Why do you think the Indigenous Australians created this musical instrument?

Henri Rousseau sounds of nature

Posted on 08. Oct, 2008 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Music+Art

Henri Rousseau, Tropical Forest with Monkeys, 1910

Bring your students into a Rousseau Jungle. Although he never visited a jungle during his lifetime, Rousseau might have enjoyed using his auditory senses to create his work.  Use the sounds of nature to enhance the learning experience.

Image Source:  National Gallery of Art 

Use the detail images below to identify animals and sounds in the jungle.

Black and White Colobus | Black Mamba | Tamarin | Howler 

Discussion Questions:

1.  Pretend you are sitting in this jungle.  What kind of sounds would you hear?

2.  What kind of animals do you see in the painting? Can you hear any of these animals in the nature sounds played?  Do you hear any other sounds that you can’t see in the painting? Do you think those animals might be there?