This page is referenced by:

• 1 media/lavender-mist.jpg 2015-12-05T16:39:24-08:00 Activities 15 A more detailed synopsis of the activity structure. image_header 2015-12-12T09:49:04-08:00 There will be six different small group activities. Each group will start at a different one and rotate throughout all six by the end of the day. Each activity will run for 25 minutes with 5 minutes for transition. Each activity would ideally be led by a museum official, perhaps an employee of the museum's children, outreach, and/or education department or by a trained volunteer. At the end of the day, the children will receive a "camp scrapbook" that will contain pages with questions about each of the activities; this tool will act as a way for the children to review, reflect, and tie together all of the different things they learned. 
  
  Below are brief descriptions of each activity. Activities may be discussed more in depth in future sections as they pertain to overall themes of the educational psychology within the program. Such instances are linked to the corresponding pages. 

  Activity 1: What's Going on Here?

  Activity 1 calls for each group to spend some time looking at a physical piece of art first, followed by some prompting questions and discussion. This exercise will promote observation and critical thinking skills, elements of cognitive capacity that have not been developed or are beginning to develop around this age. The activity leader could pick any number of different artworks to use, but it needs to be a visually intriguing/interesting work with many different elements of style, composition, and meaning to guide students towards as well. For example, the activity leader could choose a sculpture in the collection from 

  Activity 2: Make It Your Own!

  This activity deals with portraiture and the recreation of the self through art. The activity leader would first start off with some prompting questions- "What is a portrait?", "Who/what can be in a portrait?", "What is a self-portrait?". These questions will help the students think about the topic of portraiture. Children would look at several instances of artists' self-portraits, including ones by Van Gogh, Picasso, Samuel Fosso, Frida Kahlo, and Artemisia Gentileschi (links to portraits are below). In their camp scrapbook, the children would take some time to answer a few questions about the self-portraits, like "Which do you like best/worst?", "What are some differences/similarities between these portraits?", "Why do you think artists make self-portraits?". Next, the students would draw a self-portrait of their own in the scrapbook. Essential elements to this activity include exposure to different self-portraits, discussion about qualities of a "self-portrait", and an opportunity to reflect on how students see themselves. It is important to use the reflection as a time to point out individuality and capability of the students. The National Gallery of Art also has great lessons on self-expression that are good resources for expanding this activity into a class or other program. 
  Van Gogh
  Pablo Picasso
  Samuel Fosso
  Frida Kahlo
  Artemisia Gentileschi

  Activity 3: Jackson Pollocked

  During this activity, each group will get to create a large abstract expressionist piece like one of Jackson Pollock's. First, the student will be prompted with questions like, "Has anyone heard of the man Jackson Pollock?", "What do you know about Jackson Pollock?", "What do you notice about these paintings?" (prompting with pictures of Pollock and his works, see below). It is important to keep the scope and abstraction of these questions in mind; this specific age range (about 10-12) will begin to think logically with minimal ability to think completely in the abstract and hypothetical- it is better refer to physical things that the children can relate to and use those items as a building point. Next, the children would watch a short clip showing how Pollock created his art. More questions could follow, asking children to mimic in the air the kind of movements Pollock might have made. This would move into the actual creation of an "action art" piece by the children. The activity leader would describe the process by demonstrating on a large canvas on the floor how the students could add paint. By showing how to manipulate the paint both in the video and in the activity leader's motions, the children will have a concrete example when attempting the task on their own, a helpful aid for this age range's cognitive capacity. Next, the students could try with supervision of the group and activity leader. During the wrap up session, all of the pieces will be on display! In their camp scrapbook, the children would write about their experience making the art and what the liked about it.
  

  
  
  
  Activity 4: 

  children assigned one of three artists, read short bio, and discuss with partner, maybe something with tech?

  Activity 5: Statue Playground

  Like Activity 3, this activity also calls for more physical engagement that will hopefully catch the children's interest and keep them motivated to see the final product. At the beginning of this activity, the activity leader will take the group to a portion of the museum that has classical sculpture on display (this would also work with any other figurative artwork pertaining to the portrayal of the body). The leader will give a brief history/description of the art that the children are viewing. Here is an example for Greek classical sculpture:

  From roughly 800 to 300 BCE, the ancient Greek people created beautiful bronze sculptures of mostly male and sometimes female figures in various poses. These sculptures showed off the "male and female ideal". The male sculptures had an athletic body and strong facial features while the female pieces had soft features. Usually the Greek sculptors aimed to create sculptures that looked like the gods, such as Zeus or Athena. Over time, most of the bronze that was used to cast these pieces was melted down to use as war materials. Luckily the ancient Romans came along and made numerous copies of them in white marble. At one time, the copies may have even been painted, but all we see now is the white marble. Still, a few lucky bronze versions also survived.

  Although Greek and Roman sculpture are difficult and complex topics, it is imperative to use language that is easily understood by the program participants in the short time they have during this activity. Providing a broad overview of the topic will allow the children to have a basic understanding while also leaving room for further questions and exploration. Below are links to examples of the kind of sculpture the children might see.

  Next, the activity leader would ask the students to pick out a statue that they like and take a few minutes to study it, perhaps even sketching it quickly and writing down the name and artist. After heading back to the activity station, the activity leader would ask each child to share their statue, what he/she liked about it, and its physical pose. Next, the activity leader would photograph each child posing like their statue; the photograph could be included in their camp scrapbook at the end of the day. 
  Artemisian Bronze
  Praxiteles' Venus Braschi

  
  Activity 6: Art History through the Ages

  Individuals play game on tablet, listening then answering questions through span of art history?