Meaningful Integration

"In essence, tapping into the arts is not a supplement, but a viable ally for learning and motivating across the curriculum." - Angela Bunyi

Angela Bunyi is an educator who advocates for arts integration.  Through personal and professional experience she has encountered the many benefits of multi-faceted education.  The "Art" of Meaningful Integration is an article that highlights some key elements of arts integration and lists some fantastic lesson planning materials.  Be sure to check out more at Angela Bunyi's bio page on Scholastic.com. 

Art Teacher Websites

Here are some splendid Art Teaching Resources that could benefit any teaching curriculum!  Full of lessons, visuals, and inspiration.


Teach Kids Art

http://teachkidsart.blogspot.com/  - A website full of art lessons, classroom management ideas, and beautiful examples of kids work!


Modern Art 4 Kids

http://modernart4kids.blogspot.com/ - Specifically geared towards more contemporary art lessons with loads of pictures.





Painted Paper

http://paintedpaperintheartroom.blogspot.com/ - "Painted Paper" is about as colorful as it gets!  Full of photos and lesson ideas.






Definitely give these websites a look.  All three blogs are maintained by teachers who have great classroom enhancement solutions and ideas! 

Principles of Design

Building off of the previous post, here is a list of the Principles of Design: Rules for using the elements of art to produce certain effects based on how viewers react to visual images.   These principles apply directly to Visual Art, but variations of these principles can be applied to all the arts as they are viewer based.  Like a scientist in a lab you must learn to combine the elements in different ways to make exciting new discoveries!

Rhythm
a. Repeats elements to create the illusion of movement.
b. Visual rhythm is perceived through the eyes.
c. Created by repeating positive spaces separated by negative spaces.
d. Five kinds of rhythm - random, regular, alternating, flowing, and progressive.

Movement
a. Deals with creating the illusion of action or physical change in position.
b. Used in art to control the way a viewer looks at a work of art.

Balance
a. Deals with arranging visual elements in a work of art equally.
b. Visual balance results in the viewer feeling that the elements have been arranged in a satisfactory way.
c. Types of balance - formal (symmetrical), and informal (asymmetrical).

Proportion
a. Concerned with the size relationships of one part to the whole and one part to another.

Variety, Emphasis, and Unity
These principles are used in design to create interest and appeal and to allow the artist to further express ideas or feelings in their art work.

Emphasis - stresses one element or area in a work of art to make it attract viewer's first attention.
Dominant - element first noticed   Subordinate - elements noticed later
Techniques used for creating emphasis on a specific element(s): contrasting colors, bright colors vs. low intensity colors, difference in size and shape.
Focal point - area that first grab your attention.
Techniques for creating focal points in a work of art: contrasting colors, bright colors vs. low intensity colors, difference in size and shape, isolation, location, convergence, uniqueness.

Variety - uses difference or contrast to balance and unify objects.
Examples of contrasting characteristics - wide/thin, straight/curved, freeform/geometric, rough/smooth, dark/light, bright/dull

Unity - allows viewer to see the combination of elements, principles and media as a whole.
Techniques used to create unity in a design: harmony - objects relate to or agree with other objects (i.e. repeated elements, similar color or shape), simplicity, repetition, proximity, continuation - objects are arranged so that a line or edge of one shape continues into a line or edge of another shape.

The Elements

The elements are the building blocks of our natural world.  "The Elements of The Arts" provide a similar foundation for the art world.  The following lists of the "elements" can help give the basic structure needed for a work of art or a piece of music.   

The Elements of Visual Art:
Line (Open), Shape (Closed), Color, Form (Three-Dimensional), Texture (Rough, Smooth), Value (Light to Dark), Space (Positive or Negative)

The Elements of Dance:
Body (What), Space (Where), Time (When), Energy (How)

The Elements of Poetry:
Language/Imagery (Word Pictures), Rhythm/Music (Sound Elements), The Five Senses (Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell), Form (Particular Vessel to hold words), Voice (Individul Personality, Attitude)

The Elements of Storytelling:
Emotion (Reflections of Inner Attitude), Movement (Physical Expression), Inflection (Voice Variations), Sound (Sensory Intonations)

The Elements of Puppetry:
Planning (What, When, and Where), Teamwork (Working Together), Space (Where the story takes place), Character (Making/finding an object and giving it life), Language (Sounds or Dialogue), Movement (Giving Life to Objects)

The Elements of Music:
Pitch (High - Low), Duration (Long - Short), Dynamics (Loud - Quiet), Tone Color (Quality of Sound, Voice, or Instrument), Form (Organization), Texture (Melody - Harmony)

The Elements of Theatre:
Space (Where you Perform, Where Action Occurs), Time (When in History, Period of the Day), Imitation (Reproduction of Thoughts and Ideas), Action (Movement of People, of Story), Language (Use of the Word - Written/Verbal), Energy (Intensity)

Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes.
David Herbert Lawrence

Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.
Charles Eames

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/elements_2.html#ixzz1HQh6htxp

Amazing Animal Alphabet

This lesson originally appeared on the Sanford-ArtEdventures website.  It is not up and running at this time, so I will post a link when available!  This lesson can be used to enhance basic writing exercises or even biology lessons such as classifications!

 

Try This: Amazing Animal Alphabet

Create a page about your favorite letter of the alphabet.  Or get together with friends to make a page for each letter of the alphabet and make a whole book!

You Will Need:

- alphabet books to look at such as Graeme Base's Animalia (optional)

- a dictionary (optional)

- sketch paper

- drawing paper

- pencil and eraser

- crayons, markers, colored pencils, or watercolor pencils

Step 1: Brainstorm

If you like, go to a library or bookstore and look at some alphabet books for inspiration.  Graeme Base's Animalia is a great one.  Notice how authors and illustrators make interesting works of art about the alphabet.

Now choose a letter of the alphabet and brainstorm a list of words that start with the letter you chose.  A dictionary can be very helpful.

Combine words to write silly sentences about your letter; "Humming hares hammer in hard hats.  Hairy horses hike happily.  Hilarious hippos have hiccups."

Choose your favorite sentence to illustrate.

(example: "Proud Peacocks Preening Perfect Plumage" from Animalia)

Step 2: Sketch

On scratch paper, make a sketch illustrating your sentence.  You can include other objects from your list that start with your letter too.

Step 3: Final Drawing

Draw lightly with a pencil to make a final drawing of your alphabet page on drawing paper - don't forget to include the poem!  You can draw over your pencil with a thin black marker, if you want a dark outline.  Write a key of the hidden words that start with your letter on the back of your drawing. 

13 Rules for Artists

How to Challenge Yourself and Stay Creative

Amy Ropple, Parker Middle School in Reading, Massachusetts

Made by Grade 8 Art Elective, Spring 2003

1. Do something new each time you make a piece of art.

2. Try new materials and processes.  Don't limit yourself!

3. Keep an open mind.
4. LOOK around you.
5. Don't get upset about the artwork you make.
6. After mastering one way of working with an idea, try doing it a different way - you might get a better result.
7. Try never to do the exact same thing twice.
8. Learn background information and do research about the idea you are interested in working on.
9. Keep the fun of art alive!
10. Get opinions from others.
11. Do something original.  Copying is for learning only.  Use your own ideas in your art.
12. Practice = growth.
13. Stay focused.

Teen Arts Integration

 If you're interested in a more challenging lesson this Colonial Arts: Weaving project is perfect for teens with good dexterity.  It takes a lot of patience and time, but the finished product is beautiful and functional!  The pouch that is made can be used to hold an ipod, cellphone, or other small objects! This and many more projects can be found at http://www.art-rageous.net/.

The Elements of Art

The Fox Valley Symphony is a surprisingly helpful resource for arts integration.  Their PDF The Basic Elements of Art contains 17 pages of lessons, images, and activities. Also listed on their website are other arts integration resources like the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's amazing website for kids http://www.dsokids.com/.

Once Upon a Time...

Once you have checked out some of the awesome bookmaking pages I've linked to, this Invent a Book lesson plan can be easily paired up with one of them!  Posted by Sherri Osborn on About.com Family Crafts.

Art History, Math and Other Ideas

The following links are some excellent resources for Egyptian studies, art history, and math!

Huntsville City Schools
Elementary Art History Lesson Plans

artfactory.com
Ancient Egyptian Art Lessons

Glen Bledsoe Egypt Web
Hieroglyphic Alphabet

Neferchichi's Tomb
Writing with Hieroglyphics

River Deep Interactive Learning
Quilted Math

Watercolor Lesson Plans

Using paint in a classroom isn't always feasible but with a few watercolor trays, cups of water, and small brushes a whole world of opportunity opens up.  Here at the Columbia Art Center we love to use watercolor in many of our lesson plans.  Kids love the vivid colors and we love the easy clean up!  The following resources could easily work in any classroom.  Definitely give watercolors a try if you haven't already!


Watercolor Techniques for Kids
The Aurora: Inspiration for Art and Poetry
Sumi-e Painting
Moods with the Weather (can be modified to use watercolor).

Printmaking Lesson Plans

Teaching the process of printmaking can be a gateway to a diverse set of lessons.  Printmaking can be made to teach geometry, social studies, even literature if structured the right way.  One such lesson plan in printmaking is from the Oracle Education Foundation: ThinkQuest.  It covers the Hawaiian tradition of Kapa Printing on cloth.  How to do Kapa Printing uses simple supplies and instructions and could easily be modified to discuss many different types of cultural fabric printing.  A lesson that takes this same idea a little further is from Art On-Air, a show that runs on Kentucky Educational Television.  This Tessellations Lesson takes the basic idea of stamping and broadens it to explore tessellation design.   Both of these websites are fabulous sources of many different arts integration lesson plans.

Also, be sure the check out the websites listed under "Arts Integration Resources" all of which contain a large selection of diverse lesson plans and ideas!