My State Wild Flowers - Expressing art through nature - 4th - 8th grades

My State Wild Flowers

Art Activity

The Wild Flower

A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more expensively than when labeled with only their name and/or origin. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the way it appears in the wild as a native plant, even if it is growing where it would not naturally.

Focus Works of Art

The Wildflower – When nature presents us with the most beautiful pieces of art and where students will be more likely to find inspiration, promote creativity and learn about their world and its magical ways.

Utah Wildflowers will inspire new techniques, the use of colors in the search for sensations, and the understanding of harmony.  The purpose of the movement is to create unity in the artwork with eye travel. This can be achieved by using repetition, rhythm, textures, and the manipulation of materials and the elements of art. Movement ties the work together by relating the various components of work together. rhythm and dynamism within each student's work of art.

Work of Art: Utah Wildflower

1.       Students will research Utah’s wildflowers (students’ state heritage).  They will identify and select. Students will use textiles (burlap) and trades of any kind and different materials in order to craft a collage. Students will learn how to research, selects, and create their art piece based on their selection. Students will sketch prior to cutting and gluing. Students will learn about the elements of art, like textures, colors, and shapes.

Line of Inquiry:  Observing Nature and Making a connection with our heritage through our land

·         Ask students to consider the impact of nature in the work of artists?

· Students consider the importance of Utah Wildflowers and the beauty of their own land

Focus Question for Workshops:  

·         What is movement?

·         How movement can be made?

·         Can movement give you vein speed or feelings?

·         How we can use movement?

·         Can movement be made of colors?

·         What we can discover by observing Nature paintings?

·         Do nature has an impact on artists?

·         Are those artists having an impact on you?

·         How movement can show us directions?

·         Can you touch movement?

·         Can movement have density?

·         Can movement be jagged, curved, or scribbled?

·         Can movement be calm or furious?

·         Can movement go around your head?

·         Etc...

Contextual Information:  Research:

·         Nature in Art is a museum and art gallery at Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, Gloucester, England, dedicated exclusively to art inspired by nature in all forms, styles, and media.^[1][2] The museum has twice been specially commended in the National Heritage Museum of the Year Awards

·         http://user.xmission.com/~nelsonb/wildflower.htm

Key Ideas and Capacities for Imaginative Learning: 

·         Noticing Deeply –Students will identify and articulate the use of lines within their and others' work

·         Embodying – Students will experience their and others' works of art (lines) through their emotions brought by the use of lines.

·         Making Connections – From their research to their own work

·         Identifying Patterns – Students are to find the relationship between each other’s and their detailed work

·         Exhibiting Empathy – Students will learn to respect other's experiences and comments

·         Questioning – Students will be encouraged to ask openly in order to deepen their perception and observation of their experience. As well as create a teaching experience as a co-learner with the students base on the fact that teachers are part of the public and active spectators.

·         Creating a Meaning – Students will create their own interpretations

·         Reflecting/Assessing – During the presentation; students identify, notice and understand the power, meanings, and intention of their lines in the final piece of art.

Materials and Supplies:   

        Working a Collage

1.       Textiles – Material

2.       Collage supplies – beets, little stones, pieces from nature, colored papers

3.       Paint

4.       Construction paper in a variety of colors and designs

5.       Elmer Glue

6.       Hot Glue

7.       Scissors

8.       Rulers

Directions

1.      The presentation

2.      The research

3.      My State Wild Flower – and the reason for

4.      The sketches

5.      The ideas

6.      The materials

7.      The craft

8.      The presentation

Angela M Franco

afrancoteachingartist@gmail.com