Lesson Overview:
Based on the theme of transportation, students will create collages from magazine and catalogue cutouts. Students will focus on the elements of line, tone, shape, texture and color as well as on the principles of repetition, movement and balance.
Length of Lesson:
Two 45-minute periods
Notes:
This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- create meaningful images with a variety of media, using personal experience as a context.
- employ the principles of repetition, movement and balance in a collage.
- utilize the elements of line and tone in drawing.
- utilize the elements of texture, shape and color in torn paper work.
Supplies:
- Large gray construction paper
- Black strips of construction paper
- Glue
- Markers
- Pastels
- Ribbon
- Light fabric
- Variety of magazines and catalogues
Instructional Plan:
Ask students if they can think of various ways we travel; ways of getting our body from one place to another. List these ideas on the board or chart paper. Talk about various types of transportation; feet, car airplane bus, cart, baby stroller, bike, rope swing through the trees, boat, raft, etc. Discuss the various forms of transportation, from country to country and continent to continent. Display a map of the earth and talk about what is the norm in different countries. Break the students into groups and assign each a continent. Have them do research on transportation statistics for that continent and have them report back to the class.
After this list is complete, start to discuss various ways to create the illusion of movement or traveling on paper using the listed modes of transportation. Talk about the imprint that each mode of transportation leaves on the surface of the earth, in the sky, or in the water. Discuss how they can show these imprints on paper and eventually in their artwork. Explain that they will have to combine at least two or more means of transportation in their collage, and feet or shoe outlines must be one of the two. It is important to include all ideas in this brainstorm session, but particularly focus on lines and repeating images creating patterns (e.g. footsteps). Present the concept of balance in a picture and discuss reproductions, if available, or demonstrate positioning of shoe and footprint images on the large gray paper, and discuss the concept of balance. For example, one large shoe image may be balanced by two smaller shoe cut-outs, or a large shoe image may be balanced by a large airplane image cut out from a magazine. Finally, discuss perspective and the fact that as things go away from us they appear smaller.
Development
Have students fold their large gray paper into quarters, either vertically or crossed at the middle. They should then unfold the paper and begin to create their collage. Students should find another form of transportation expressed in an image cut out from a magazine, and a variety of shoes cut out from a catalogue. The students will add these to their collage. Students should try various positions for their images before gluing them to the paper, keeping in mind the concept of movement through repetition, size and the concept of balance. Finally, when the images are glued students should add broken lines using the cut-up ribbon. The broken ribbon line may be repeated using markers or pastels. colored The black strips of construction paper are then glued over the fold lines of the gray paper, creating a window effect. The light fabric may be added to the sides of the window to create a curtain effect.
Assessment:
The finished collages may be displayed or entered into the students' portfolios. Note the extent to which students are able to respond to their artwork and:
- identify and describe the effectiveness of the lines.
- discuss the tone in the shading of the shoe drawing.
- identify the shape and color of the footprints, and the way the texture of the sole was recreated.
- identify the concept of movement created through repeating images and the use of a broken line.
- discuss the success of the balance of the composition.
Extensions:
Looking at other modes of transportation, ask the students in how they might suggest movement in their illustrations, other than with repetition. For example, with the sneaker, they can suggest movement by the position the shoe is in (on the ball of the foot) or the direction of the untied laces blowing in the wind. Have students look at other forms of transportation and suggest ways in which they can demonstrate motion with a still drawing of a bicycle, car, train, airplane, and submarine. You may wish to refer to the previous lessons within this unit, Footprint Collage and Drawing from Observation.
Sources:
Web:
Authors:
-
Helen Robertson
Hawthorne Elementary School, University of British Columbia
, British Columbia Canada
