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Nature and Impermanence

Lesson Plan

Nature and Impermanence

Grade Levels

10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, 9th Grade

Course, Subject

Visual Arts
Related Academic Standards
9.1.3.A 9.1.3.A

Know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities.
 

Elements

  • Dance: • energy/force • space • time
  • Music: • duration • intensity • pitch • timbre 
  • Theatre: • scenario • script/text • set design 
  • Visual Arts: • color • form/shape • line • space • texture • value  

Principles

  • Dance: • choreography • form • genre • improvisation • style • technique  
  • Music: • composition • form • genre • harmony • rhythm • texture  
  • Theatre: • balance • collaboration • discipline • emphasis • focus • intention • movement • rhythm • style • voice  
  • Visual Arts: • balance • contrast • emphasis/focal point • movement/rhythm • proportion/scale • repetition • unity/harmony
9.1.3.B 9.1.3.B

Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts.

  • Dance: • move • perform • read and notate dance • create and choreograph • improvise
  • Music: • sing • play an instrument • read and notate music • compose and arrange •improvise
  • Theatre: • stage productions • read and write scripts • improvise • interpret a role • design sets • direct
  • Visual Arts: • paint • draw • craft • sculpt • print • design for environment, communication, multi-media
9.1.5.B 9.1.5.B

Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts.

  • Dance: • move • perform • read and notate dance • create and choreograph • improvise
  • Music: • sing • play an instrument • read and notate music • compose and arrange •improvise
  • Theatre: • stage productions • read and write scripts • improvise • interpret a role • design sets • direct
  • Visual Arts: • paint • draw • craft • sculpt • print • design for environment, communication, multi-media
Expand
  • Big Ideas
    Artists use tools and resources as well as their own experiences and skills to create art.
    People have expressed experiences and ideas through the arts throughout time and across cultures.
    The arts provide a medium to understand and exchange ideas.
    The skills, techniques, elements and principles of the arts can be learned, studied, refined and practiced.
  • Concepts
    A personalized rehearsal schedule can help a musician improve his or her skills.
    Actors and audiences work together to share a performance; there are sets of behaviors and expectations for an audience.
    Actors create performances with a beginning, middle and end.
    Actors often use stories to create performances.
    Actors practice specific exercises to train their voices and bodies and stretch their imaginations.
    Actors recreate experiences.
    Actors use costumes and props.
    Actors use their bodies, voices and imaginations to create theatre.
    Actors utilize dialogue and action from a script and their own imaginations to bring characters to life.
    Art has its own vocabulary that people use when making and talking about art.
    Artists document ideas and observations through journals, sketchbooks, samples, models, photographs and/or electronic files/portfolios.
    Artists often repeat a task many times to learn a new skill.
    Artists reflect on the process of making art in order to improve their skills and techniques.
    Art-making is a continual process of planning, creating, and refining.
    Collaborative reflection is a crucial part of the art-making process, and often affects the final artwork.
    Dancers move in various pathways to perform and create works in dance.
    Dancers use the rehearsal process to practice and improve their dance skills.
    Dancers utilize levels, direction and time to perform and create works in dance.
    Dancers utilize various planes to perform and create works in dance.
    Labanotation is a written language that people use to communicate movement ideas.
    Labanotation is a written language used by choreographers and dancers to communicate movement sequences.
    Music is comprised of patterns of notes that can be arranged in various forms.
    Music is comprised of sound and silence arranged in melodies and rhythms.
    Music is comprised of sound and silence.
    Music notation can be used to share rhythms and melodies.
    Music notation is a written language that allows people to share ideas.
    Musical notation can represent short, long, high and low sounds.
    Musicians rehearse to improve their skills.
    Musicians use the process of creating/recreating, rehearsing, reflecting and revising to improve their skills.
    People can create music that reflects personal experiences.
    People can use voices and instruments to improvise music.
    People can use voices and instruments to perform music.
    People create art for a variety of purposes.
    People use theatre to communicate their feelings and experiences.
    People who perform theatre critique their own and other’s performances in order to improve.
    Pictures can represent sound and silence.
    Play scripts utilize a unique format to record works in theatre to be performed for an audience.
    Playwrights use dialogue and action to tell a story and/or illustrate a theme.
    Playwrights use plot to convey their ideas about the theme.
    Playwrights use their knowledge, ideas and experiences to create plays.
    Scenery helps communicate where the story takes place.
    Theatre artists read, discuss and analyze plays.
    Theatre artists use costumes, scenery, music and special effects to convey meaning.
    Dancers and choreographers use a variety of movement qualities and characteristics to learn and study dance.
    Dancers and choreographers use transitions and choreographic structures to arrange ideas.
  • Competencies
    Choose props and/or costume items for dramatic play and creative dramatics activities.
    Choreograph a short piece/phrase utilizing basic Labanotation.
    Choreograph, notate and perform dance that explores a variety of movement qualities and characteristics.
    Choreograph, notate and perform dance that uses transitions and simple choreographic structures to arrange ideas.
    Create a musical work that tells a story about personal experiences.
    Create a personalized rehearsal schedule and predict how each element of the schedule will affect their skills.
    Create an original play script inspired by the theme of a folktale.
    Create backdrops as scenery for improvised puppet shows.
    Create, rehearse and revise a short improvised play with a partner by choosing and assigning characters and inventing dialogue and actions.
    Define the roles and expectations of audience and actor.
    Describe purposes for art-making.
    Distinguish between sound and silence in more complex melodies and rhythms.
    Distinguish between sound and silence in simple melodies and rhythms.
    Document the evolution of an idea by maintaining a process portfolio.
    Document the processes they use to produce art and reflect on how the processes have evolved through time.
    Document the rehearsal process and explain how it affects performance.
    Document the rehearsal process and explain the effect it has on a dancer’s skills.
    Engage in a repeated artistic process and explain the benefits of repetition.
    Explain reasons for engaging in vocal exercises (for projection and articulation), stretching routines (for flexibility and strength), and theatre games and exercises (to engage and stretch imaginations).
    Explore scripts and label dialogue, plot, conflict, character, setting and stage directions.
    Given a theme, improvise a plot, characters, dialogue and actions with a partner, and record the dialogue and actions as a written play script.
    Identify and analyze plot, character, setting and theme in plays.
    Identify basic symbols used in Labanotation.
    Identify the story sequence in a familiar story and act it out.
    Identify words commonly used when making and expressing ideas about art.
    Imitate and communicate emotion in creative dramatics and creative play.
    Imitate objects and actions from stories or their own experience while participating in creative dramatics activities.
    Improvise scenery to show setting and mood of a scene using fabric, and found items and justify the choices made.
    Improvise simple melodies and rhythms using voices and classroom instruments.
    Move in place and through space in various pathways.
    Move in place and through space inlonger movement sequences, paying attention to the various body planes.
    Move in place and through space, paying attention to levels, direction and time.
    Move to and perform melodies in various forms.
    Notate simple rhythms and melodies.
    Perform and create music, focusing on the process of creating/recreating, rehearsing, reflecting and revising.
    Perform simple melodies and rhythms using voices and classroom instruments.
    Perform spontaneous movement and sound in response to stories, poems and songs.
    Read and notate more complex rhythms and melodies.
    Read iconic notation representing sound and silence.
    Read musical notation representing short/long and high/low sounds.
    Recreate a favorite story as an improvised drama.
    Reflect with classmates on an in-process work of art and describe how that reflection affects the final product.
    Rehearse and perform a memorized monologue, making voice and movement choices to bring the character to life.
    Take turns as actor and audience, performing, critiquing, rehearsing and revising.
    While engaged in the art-making process, document the phases of planning, creating, and refining, and describe the purposes of these steps.

Rationale

In nature there are things that seem to have been around forever. The sky, the moon, or oceans are some things that people may feel will never decay. Animals, including humans, and plant life are viewed as having a certain lifespan. People understand that this life remains on earth for a certain period of time and it will eventually decay. Impermanence refers to these things in nature that we know are not here forever. A leaf on a tree goes through many stages, where it buds, then changes color, and then is blown away by the wind. Rock formations are sculpted as a result of erosion caused by the wind or water over a longer period of time. A forms process may mean more than its product. Nature’s elements such as fire, gravity, wind, heat, coldness…can effect a form. Ice melts when it gets hot, and ponds freeze in cold environments. Leaves fall to the ground with the help of gravity and fiery lava destroys acres of land. What things in nature are more ephemeral than others? By recognizing that impermanence is a characteristic of most things on earth, it is its ephemeral purpose that makes it important. The length something remains on earth stays does not necessarily parallel to its overall importance to this universe

Vocabulary

Vocabulary: earthwork, site-specific, impermanence, ephemeral, documentation, natural occurrence, man-made, organic

Objectives

Art Disciplines:

  1. Students will learn about the life and art of Andy Goldsworthy
  2. Students will learn about the art of Richard Long
  3. Students will learn about the art of James Pierce
  4. Students will form judgments about land art
  5. Students will look at images of Stonehenge and discuss its purpose
  6. Students will analyze and compare works of art over different periods
  7. Students will create site-specific environmental art using nature materials
  8. Students will learn how impermanence effects their art
  9. Students will document their sculpture using digital photography
  10. Students will engage in aesthetic discussion about natural pigments and snow being dispersed into air and water.

Non-Art Discipline:

  1. Students will discuss the natural the properties of elements including stone, sticks, leaves
  2. Students will discuss how the wind, water, or sun affects living and nonliving things
  3. Students will discuss impermanence, and what makes things decay
  4. Students will discuss lifespan, and what elements contribute to long life vs. short life

Democratic Skills:

  1. Students will be respectful of the environment
  2. Students will learn to work together to create site specific sculptures and document them
  3. Students will respect and listen to other students when they express their ideas
  4. Students will ask others about their artwork in a respectful manner

Lesson Essential Question(s)

Art Production (Art Making):

-Have you ever built a sandcastle? A dam? Made mud pies? If so, did you feel you were making art? playing? Why did you do such activities? 

-Today we are going into the woods to create art.  This is going to be very different than any other lesson because you will not be bringing anything back into the classroom.

-Using natural elements (twigs, sticks, rocks, leaves, flowers, seeds…) and being careful not to harm nature create an organic design.  Repetition is an important aspect of nature, for petals on a flower are repeated, as are clouds in the sky. Think about what natural occurrence may destroy or change your earthwork

-Consider what mood or message you want to convey: Movement? Balance? Time? Rhythm? Decay? Death? Life? Fertility?

-Students will document work using photography. What angles are important to document?  What qualities?  

Aesthetics:

-During the stimulation activity, students watch as red iron oxide, blueberry juice, and black iron oxide are dropped into a clear glass of water.  Student discussed the effects of the color and how it made them feel. 

-Students will watch a segment of Andy Goldsworthy’s Rivers and Tides documentary that depicts the artist throwing natural iron into the water and into the air.  He also throws powdery snow into the air, which is carried away by the wind. 

-Students will discuss whether or not they feel that dropping colored pigments into a glass or the dispersing of these pigments by Goldsworthy is art.  Can these things occur naturally and still be art?   When the wind blows snow, is that art? 

Art Criticism:                                                                                                          

                        Andy Goldsworthy’s “Three Cairns”

  1. Description . What is this work made of? How big do you think it is

      Where is it placed in the environment?  How do you think the artist made it?

2. Formal Analysis:

    Are certain forms repeated?  Why are the stones different sizes?

            How do you think it was constructed?

  1. Interpretation. What do you think the “cairn” represents? What shape in nature does it resonate with?  What do you think Goldsworthy was trying to communicate? Do you think the shape was hard to build? Why?
  2. Judgment 1. Do you think the cairns are art? Is Stonehenge art?  Which is more permanent? What will destruct it? If it only remained standing for a second is it still art?  Do you think the shape is beautiful?

Duration

4 Periods or 4 hours

Materials

Materials & Equipment:

Digital camera, Photoshop software, photo paper, natural materials in an outdoor setting such as: rocks, leaves, branches, twigs, grass, water, flowers, seeds (pinecones, acorns), Matting board/paper, DvD player and Tv, Transparency projector. 

(If an outdoor setting is not available bring in the following materials for students to make indoor “earthworks”: wood panel, wood glue, seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, acorns), pinecones, sticks, string 

 

 

 

Suggested Instructional Strategies

Sequence of Classroom Activities:

 

  1. Students watch as pigments are placed into a glass of water, and then do this task on their own to lead class into an aesthetic discussion
  2. Students will watch short clips from Andy Goldsworthy’s “Rivers and Tides”
  3. Students will engage in a discussion about the impermanence of the environment around them
  4. Students will discuss the presence of impermanence in Goldsworthy’s work
  5. Students will view images of Stonehenge, Richard Long, and James Pierce
  6. Students will discuss the similarities and differences in the artistic nature of the 3 artists and Stonehenge
  7. Students will create a site specific artwork working with a partner using natural materials
  8. Students will document their work immediately after its completion
  9. Students will write and draw  in their sketchbooks how they feel their sculpture will change
  10. Students will return to their work the next day and document it and record any changes
  11. Students will use the biopoem pattern to write a creative poem about the work of Andy Goldworthy or their own work
  12. Students will share their sculpture documentation, bio poem, and reflections with the class

Instructional Procedures

Introduction/Discussion/Questions (about theme concept, concepts in art disciplines, non-art discipline concepts, art works, democratic behaviors):

-During stimulation activity ask: How do the colors make you feel when they are in the water?  What do they remind you of?  Did some pigments disperse faster than others?  Why? Do different pigments disperse differently? Why? 

-During aesthetic discussion ask: How was out activity similar to the “art” Andy Goldsworthy makes?  Was our activity art?  Is his?  Can’t animals or the wind stir up snow? Is that art?   

Stimulation Activity:

-Several glasses of water are set up along with various natural pigments including: red iron oxide, black iron oxide, blueberry juice, and beet juice. 

-Students are asked to volunteer to put a small amount of pigment into a glass

-Students are encouraged to watch the pigment disperse and make sketches

-If a creek or pond is nearby, try using natural pigments in a natural water source

-Lead this activity into an aesthetic discussion by having students watch clips of Andy Goldworthy dropping pigment into rivers and throwing snow in the air.

I Want You To…

-With a partner and your sketchbooks go into the woods with the class and first look at the natural materials around you.  Think about what they remind you of and how they make you feel.

-When you find a material or materials you may want to work with, sketch some plans about how  you will manipulate the material to make a pattern, shape, or other image. 

-Think about different ways to install your site-specific work by using natural things in the woods, can you hang it?  Stand it up with sticks? Put it in water?

-Once you have made your sculpture, quickly take a few photos to document it

-Sketch images in your book and write about how you think it may change in the next few minutes, hours, days…etc.  Write about what may change it, consider natural forces such as the wind, rain, heat, coldness…

-The next day, document your earthwork again and record any changes.  If it changes write about why, if it didn’t predict when it will

Formative Assessment

 

Do students’ sculptures represent an understanding of change and impermanence?

Students tried to mimic cycle patterns of Andy and explained that they wanted it to be the circle of life

 

Do students predict what natural force may change their work?

Students think that some of the plant material, like berries, will rot.  They covered them with glue to “seal” out the air.

 

Do students understand how a material conveys a message about the feel of the earthwork?  (Thin sticks don’t  convey heaviness, yellow leaves don’t convey death…

 

The students used different colors to express different moods.  “I want to use green to show life”  “I want to use all brown to show the winter forest…”

Do students think critically about the difference in earthworks such as Stonehenge and “Three Cairns”?

One student felt that Stonehenge wasn’t art because it wasn’t intended to be art.  The cairns are art because Andy made them as art

 

Do Students understand the idea of impermanence and how to convey it in a sculpture?

A student felt that impermanence was made up, and that thinks only go to different forms of life.  If a plant dies, it becomes nutrients for other plants, and the same with humans

 

Do students work collaboratively with the environment instead of destroying it?

Related Materials & Resources

Resources (books, magazines, articles, websites):

  1. “Rivers and Tides: Working with Time”-Andy Goldsworthy (DVD, with documentary, images, and short clips)
  2. “A Collaboration with Nature” by A. Goldsworthy (book with lots of images)
  3. “Walking the Line” by Richard Long (book with lots of images)

List of Art Works:

“Earthwoman” James Pierce (slide)             

“Sandstone Spiral”-Richard Long (slide)

“Stonehenge”

“Three Cairns” by Andy Goldsworthy

“Leaves with a Hole” Andy Goldsworthy”

Supporting Materials (vocabulary list, artists’ biographies, historical information, student self-assessments, rubric):

Vocabulary: earthwork, site-specific, impermanence, ephemeral, documentation, natural occurrence, man-made, organic

 

Andy Goldsworthy biography

Biopoem structure and sample

Author

Copyright 2015: Vanessa Rossi

Date Published

May 07, 2015
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