Artful Installations: 3D Constructions

Project URL: http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/is24/installations/index.htm

How it works:
Vincent van Gogh’s “Bedroom at Arles” is the impetus for this project. In an exhibition entitled “Van Gogh’s Bedroom” at the Community Children’s Museum in Dover, Pennsylvania, a full-sized replica of this painting is installed for children to hop on a bed, press their hands along textured walls, and play with everything on display. In this project, through a fun and focused environment, students use problem-solving skills, communication, and a diversity of tasks to create a three-dimensional version of a two-dimensional painting. Through the Internet, they visit the art collection of famous museums, and at www.vangoghmuseum.nl they access information on van Gogh and view a multimedia presentation of his most important works. To further enhance their appreciation, students make the connection between artists and art periods based on individual and group research projects. Through cooperative group work, creative expression, and interpretation, students appreciate and respect one another’s opinion and value, internalize, and develop new perspectives of the true meanings found in their art. 

Standards addressed:  
Through close observation and sustained investigation, students develop individual and global perspectives in art, utilize the principles of art, solve design problems, and explore perspective, scale, and point of view.

Materials used: 
Required materials include a computer with Internet access; relevant books, magazines, and posters; and various materials such as corrugated cardboard boxes and display boards, foam board, wood, found objects, collage materials, fabrics, hot glue, masking tape, tempera paints, and brushes.

The students:
Artful Installations: 3D Constructions was originally intended for an 8th grade major art talent class, but it is easily adaptable to all age groups: K-12, after-school classes, community organization and senior citizen groups, and college-level courses.

Overall value:
Through the use of technology and the Internet, students visit art collections throughout the world. They study a variety of artists and paintings, and experience a virtual tour of some of the paintings. Internet "trips" to their favorite artists' homes, galleries, and museums provide valuable information on the lives and works of many artists. This is a wonderful motivational tool for students to explore the Internet on their own and it enables them to design their own sculptural interpretation of a famous painting.

Tips: 
Be sure to have large storage area spaces for installations as they progress.

Special Note: I read about an artist, see his works in a museum and I am inspired to create a new lesson to share with my students. Visiting Paris this past year, and walking the streets where van Gogh spent his final years, seeing his landscapes as well as his final resting place was one of the highlights of my trip. To add to that overwhelming feeling of actually walking in the footsteps of the artists I have studied, I couldn’t believe I was actually standing and walking over Monet’s waterlily bridge in Giverny. The emotions in me were overwhelming. I hope this unit will encourage my students to visit the many places and museums of some of the artists they have studied in my class.



 

About the teacher:
Lori Langsner is an art teacher at Myra S. Barnes I.S. 24 on Staten Island. She is one of the original writers of the TeachNet Grant Project for her school, and is the recipient of an Impact II Award Adaptor Grant for her lessons on van Gogh and Monet. She has also contributed to TeachNet as a writer for a disseminator grant entitled "Art of the Orient: Chinese Scroll Painting." This is her twelfth curriculum unit to be published with TeachNet.

E-mail:
LoriArt00@aol.com

Subject Areas: 
Arts
English Language Arts
Technology

Grade Levels: 
K-12