All About American Art

It's great to have the fifth graders this quarter!  I talked to Mrs. Edwards to see what they had been learning in social studies, and she mentioned they are finishing up lessons on the colonies and are beginning to talk about westward expansion and the American Revolution.  I decided to create a 10 week course on American Art for them so that it would tie in with these lessons.  I started with a discussion:  Imagine you have discovered a brand new continent. There are no phones, cameras, computers or even electricity. You want to record your discovery and to tell your story. What kinds of things will you want to share with the world about your discovery? How will you share it?

They agreed they would sketch, take notes, and write letters to document what they saw.  They also created a list of the types of things they would document:  Land Forms, Bodies of Water, Native People, Animals, Plants, Events, and Daily Activities.  I congratulated them on accurately describing early American art!  I showed them work by Thomas Cole, John James Audubon, George Catlin and others who documented the American landscape, American animals and Native American life.

Our first project was a landscape.  We used acrylic on canvas, and we used Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt as our inspiration.  The students did an outstanding job.  We learned to start in the back and work to the front, we practiced some aerial perspective, and we learned to use different brushes to get different effects.

Thomas Cole

Noah Agron, Grade 5

Kevin, Grade 5

Giana, Grade 5

After this project, we started a lesson on John James Audubon.  I read to them The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jaqueline Davies.  I like how the book introduces him as both a scientist and an artist.  After we looked at his work, I asked the kids if they thought he was a more true naturalist or if Thomas Cole was.  We had an interesting discussion!  I had them try observational paintings of feathers to try capturing an image like a scientist would.  They were beautiful!  Next, we are going to create new species of birds out of clay.  I feel like we need a more loose and creative project after two tough realistic pieces.  I think they will have fun.

Audubon (an early sketch with feathers)

Sean, Grade 5

Various Grade 5 Works