Unit Overview:
This unit will introduce students to various visual art techniques through explorations of the work of four artists: James Palmersheim, Romey Stuckart, Don King, and Kerry Moosman. Students will learn techniques involved in landscape painting, chair design, paintings of forests and treescapes, and pottery, while learning about such diverse subjects as the environment and Native American culture. Each lesson in this unit can be taught separately.
Lesson Overviews:
Romey Stuckart is an artist who creates large-scale paintings of the forest and her surroundings, skillfully balancing abstraction and representation. Her heavily textured paintings are filled with inspiration and intuition. Using Stuckart's painting "The Cedar" as a focal point, students will create paintings while learning about the role that forests play in our environment and our imagination.
Students will be introduced to the art of painter James Palmersheim, and will create their own landscape paintings. Students will learn various techniques to create an effective foreground, middleground, and background, using James Palmersheim's painting as an example of these levels. Students will also learn how to portray the illusions of depth and reflection in a painting.
This lesson introduces students to the age-old techniques used in constructing and decorating a burnished coil pot. Using Idaho artist Kerry Moosman’s #4 Untitled—a burnished terra cotta coil built pot—as a contemporary example, students will draw connections to similar pots that have been created by civilizations through the centuries. They will learn about traditional decoration methods used by American Indians and other cultures, and make informed choices in the construction and decoration of the finished object.
