Nicol Arts Museum Visit

Developmental Issues Grade 5-6:

• Obsessed with realism
• Able to discuss content and meaning
• In this step we could have students make sketches of their favourite work in the museum and show the examples of sketches by Marriam Nicol and Kent Ochhead. This shows students that the sketch is important to famous artists and can be considered important works of art.

Dream State (First Impressions):

• Examine the red and green hypnotic painting, "Dialated Garden" and the textured paintings including "White Threshhold"
• These works show the students the importance of teture, colour, pattern and even sound. We would have them give their first impressions and then have them look deeper into the pieces.

Play State (Analysis):

• In this step we would have students go on a scavenger hunt to look for the images of chairs in the different work around the museum.
• The teacher will pick a few to discuss in further detail to compare the different perspectives on the same subject matter.
• Back at school the student would create a paint by numbers for a friend to complete.

Research Activities:

• When looking at the Native art exhibit we would compare the artist's cultural backgrounds, their meaning and choices of mediums.
• There would be research done on Native culture prior to visiting the museum.

Metaphor State (Interpretation):

• In this step we would examine the comic book painting called "Bummer" by Chris Cran and compare this piece with "Scarecrow" by Maxwell Bates.
• In comparing these works the students would not know the title of the painting, but would have to tell us what they think it is about.
• One painting is obvious and one is not so obvious so their scope of interpretation changes.

Concept State:

• This section would have us examine the John Snow wood block prints and see how he used positive and negative space.
• Artistic process would be considered as well as content.
• Back at school the students would create their own prints.