Submitted by: Lotte Petricone, Clarkstown Central School District, NY
UNIT: Painting
Lesson: Night Sky Paintings (adapted from ArtsEdge)
Grade Level: Middle School Grade 6 (adaptable to elementary)
Rationale
for Teaching Lesson:
Students will look at and discuss a variety of artistic representations
of the night sky, and compare the artworks to scientific
representations of the constellations and stars; and paint
their own representation of the night sky.
Click on images below for larger views
Lesson Objectives:
1. Draw a star and explain what it looks like, compare common representations of 5 & 6 point stars.
2. Compare night sky paintings by van Gogh, Munch, Matisse and Miro
3. Study real stars in photos from observatories and satellites.
4. Create a painting of the night sky, incorporating ideas from the art & science studied.
5. Write an Artist Statement about their work.
New York State Learning Standards:
Standard
1:
Students will actively engage in the processes that
constitute creation and performance in the arts and
participate in various roles in the arts.
Standard 2:
Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the
materials and resources available for participation in the
arts in various roles.
Standard
3:
Students will respond critically to a variety of works in
the arts, connecting the individual to other works and to
respond to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.
Standard
4:
Students will develop and understanding of the personal and
cultural force that shape artistic communication and how the
arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present
society. |
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How the Standards are addressed in this lesson:
Standard
1: Create
a painting of a night sky using tempera paint.
Standard
2: Compare
and contrast a variety of artworks about the night sky as
inspiration, and use the computer lab to research the
science of the night sky.
Standard
3: Compare
and contrast a variety of artworks about the night sky;
write an Artist Statement about the art created.
Standard
4: By
using art & science as inspiration, make the connection
that artists have always used each other and the night sky
in their art.
See A Night Sky Picture and Other Painting Ideas |
Resources:
Sky
and Artist -Llesson from ArtsEdge
Prints
Books
Segment
1: Draw a star/ Discussion of Art
Teaching
Style:
Guided
Practice
1.
Do Now On paper provided, draw a star. Share drawings, discuss similarities and differences.
Why do they draw it they way they did? Where have they seen stars like these? Is this what stars really look like from earth? Why do people draw them with points at the edges
instead of spheres? Why
does that happen? Has
anyone ever see a star twinkle?
2.
Explain that stars are actually spheres of gas, and appear
to have rays or points because we are looking at them from a
great distance, through the filtering of the atmosphere.
3.
Look at and discuss the Night Sky Art using notes in PP.
4.
Summarize how have artists made choices in how to show
stars?
Assessment
Method: verbal. |
Segment
2: Star Search in the Computer Lab
Teaching Style:
Guided
Practice
Introduce
Webquest, reading together in the Internet. Hand out worksheets to be filled in while looking at
websites. After the search, findings are shared and written
on a large chart.
Independent
Practice Students
spend 15-20 minutes searching the web for images and writing
down their observations on the sheet.
Closure Ask
them to think back Are the real stars we see here in any
way like the ones we saw in the artworks we looked at
yesterday? What
ways? What kinds of colors did you see? What kinds of
shapes?
Assessment Method: Verbal
Modifications: |
Segment
3: Intro to painting
Teaching
Style:
Guided
Practice Demo of painting techniques, color wheels and value
charts: Wet brush, dry brush, how to keep a point on the
brush, primary and secondary colors. Have students mix together a secondary color, and
then create tints and shades with it on a value chart. Discuss different ways to create shades, and how to
mix black and white with color.
Independent
Practice Create color wheels and value charts using the Xeroxes.
Assessment
Method: Verbal review how to mix tints and shades
Modifications: |
Segment
4: Nocturne Painting
Teaching Style:
Guided
Practice Review and discuss the art and images of stars, focus on the
artist choices. How will they choose to show stars in a night sky? Do they want to see some land, or only the sky? Review variety of painting techniques and how they
can affect the painting. Plan the painting first by sketching with a pencil, and
then begin painting.
Independent
Practice Begin
painting by planning sketch, then painting.
Assessment
Method: Verbal review, final art to be graded with a
rubric.
Modifications: |
Segment
5: Artist Statement
Teaching
Style:
Guided
Practice Go
over Artist Statement assignment and graphic organizer,
discuss good writing and grading.
Independent
Practice Begin
Statement by filling in organizer and starting first draft
in class due next day.
Assessment
Method:
Modifications: |
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Star Search WebQuest:
Star
Search
This is a Web Quest for Sixth Grade Art Students.
The Task:
You are an artist who is researching the night sky for inspiration for a painting. After looking at how artists in the past have depicted stars, you are here to collect visual data about actual stars that scientists have gathered in four catgories: COLOR, SHAPES, IMAGE, INFORMATION. You must spend some time at both websites below in order to complete your research.
The Process:
Go to each of the websites below, following the instructions for each to find the visuals, in order to make list what you see into the 4 different categories on your sheet. Look at as much as possible on your way through the galaxies!
1. The Stars page at NASA
KIDS Space & Beyond has many different sections (See the new site). Visit About
Stars, What are Stars?, Star Art and the Stars & Nebulae Gallery (No longer online- See the Star images instead) while at this website.
2. The Hubble Site is a wealth
of information about the skies above us. Click on the Gallery to view pictures.
The Product:
In art, you will create a painting of a Nocturne, drawing on the information you gather today and our discussion of art in class.
Evaluation:
The completed Webquest worksheet will be evaluated with a rubric (See below).
The final project will be evaluated with a rubric in Art.
Star
Search Worksheet:
Star Search!
Name:
Period:
List everything you notice about the stars you see online in the different categories below. Use the back of this sheet if you run out of room.
1. COLORS
2. SHAPES
3. IMAGES
4. INFORMATION
Assessment
Rubric:
Night
Sky Painting
Name: _________________________________ Period: _______________
| |
Excellent
20 |
Good
17 |
Adequate
14 |
Unsatisfactory
12 |
Score |
Color Wheel |
The Color Wheel has been completed
absolutely correctly: showing primary, secondary and
intermediate colors carefully and correctly mixed and
painted |
The Color Wheel has been completed correctly: showing primary, secondary and
intermediate colors correctly mixed and painted with only a
few rough lines |
The Color Wheel has been completed correctly: showing primary, secondary and
intermediate colors almost correctly mixed and painted with
several rough lines |
The Color Wheel has been completed correctly: showing primary, secondary and
intermediate colors incorrectly mixed in many places and
sloppily painted with many rough lines
(no Color Wheel = 0) |
|
Value Chart |
The Value Chart has been completed
absolutely correctly, showing very clear tints and shades
that change gradually |
The Value Chart has been completed
correctly, showing clear tints and shades that change pretty
gradually |
The Value Chart has been completed,
showing tints and shades that change somewhat gradually Ð
the change may be a bit abrupt at some spots |
The Value Chart has been completed,
showing tints and shades that change pretty abruptly in many
spots (no Value Chart = 0) |
|
Painting |
Painting shows a very clear nocturne
inspired by the art or web quest |
Painting shows a clear nocturne
inspired by the art or web quest |
Painting shows a nocturne Ð but it
is not clear that it was inspired by the art or web quest
and/or there is a question about it even being a nocturne |
It is not clear that the painting is
a Nocturne and/seems to have nothing to do with the art or
web quest |
|
Technique |
The artist demonstrates very successful skills in painting technique Ð the edges
are defined and the artist used color and value to very
clearly express the time and place |
The artist demonstrates successful
skills in painting technique Ð most of the edges are
defined with only a few rough ones and the artist used color
and value to clearly express the time and place |
The artist demonstrates somewhat
successful skills in painting technique Ð while some of
the edges are defined some are rough, and/or the artist used
color and value to attempt to express the time and place |
The artist does not demonstrate successful skills in painting technique Ð many of
the edges are rough, and/or the time and place are not clearly expressed through the use of color
and value |
|
Space |
There is a very clear sense of Space
in the Nocturne, because the artist used a horizon line and
overlapping objects |
There is a clear sense of Space in
the Nocturne, because the artist used a horizon line and
some overlapping objects |
There is a vague sense of Space in
the Nocturne, because the artist may not have used a clear
and understandable horizon line and/or few overlapping
objects |
There is no sense of Space in the
Nocturne, because the artist may not have used a horizon
line and/or no overlapping objects |
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Grade: |
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