…any excuse to tell the students about my memories of Expo ’67!
My teacher, Mr. Mackay, arranged a billeted field trip from DND Hornell Heights in North Bay, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec to wander for a whole day at Expo. With no money in our pockets for rides and such, we covered a vast distance on foot, taking in at least five different Pavilions. I remember being in awe most of the time. It turns out that Canada’s artist, Charles Pachter, along with Alexander Calder, was hired to work on the sculptural representations of Canada.
In his book,The History of Canada Series: The Best Place To Be: Expo ’67 And Its Time by John Lownsbrough,
Lownsborough shares the following archive…
All this aside, given that this is Canada’s 150th year…I thought it fun to share with the students what was happening in the world, 50 years ago. To begin with, their eyes told me that they imagined a dinosaur was speaking before them…chatting away about what I was doing at the age of 12, with my teacher, my own grade five class and in the city of Montreal. I shared during the Reflection component of the lesson, Charles Pachter’s website and his short biography. We talked about moose, the Queen of England, satire, and simplicity of form. I showed a few of Pachter’s works, in order to lead into a depiction lesson, followed by a painted composition.
These were the pieces of art that I shared with the students and that we spoke about, in terms of the subject matter and the arrangement of very simple forms in the composition.
Some vocabulary…satire, silhouette, flat space…
Dressage by Charles Pachter painted in 1988
NONE Charles Pachter art__ Uploaded by: Goffin, Peter
Brink by Charles Pachter
Moose Crossing by Charles Pachter
Bay Watch by Charles Pachter
As we viewed the works, we had a discussion about iconic Canadian animals. I asked the students if they had ever seen the combination of coloured stripes that appears in the background of Bay Watch. Someone mentioned a blanket. So, for a few short minutes, I spoke about the wool blankets that were made and sold by the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The students went to the chalk board and listed animals that they wished to explore in silhouette. I think that caribou, moose and deer were unpopular because of the challenge of the antlers and thin legs, but, there were still several students that took on the challenge.
Level II (grades 3 and 4)
REFLECTION
APPRECIATION: Students will interpret artworks literally.
A. Contextual information (geographical,
historical, biographical, cultural) may be
needed to understand works of art.
DEPICTION
ACTIONS AND VIEWPOINTS: Students will select appropriate references for depicting.
B. Drawing strategies, such as gesture to capture action, contour to study important edges and massing to show bulk or weight, are helpful in depicting animate forms.
COMPOSITION:
Component 7 EMPHASIS: Students will create emphasis by the treatment of forms and qualities.
A. The centre of interest can be made prominent by contrasting its size, shape, colour or texture from the other parts of the composition.
EXPRESSION
PAINTING:
Component 10 (iii) MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES:
Students will use media and techniques, with an emphasis on mixing media and perfecting techniques in drawing and painting.
-Use preliminary sketches as the basis for a painting, as well as painting directly.
Level III (grades 5 and 6)
REFLECTION
ANALYSIS: Students will study and analyze the individual character of natural objects or forms.
B. Natural forms can be examined for less visible characteristics.
DEPICTION
Component 4 MAIN FORMS AND
PROPORTIONS: Students will modify forms by abstraction, distortion and
other transformations.
I. Gridding can be used for systematically capturing or distorting the proportions of things.
COMPOSITION
Component 8 UNITY: Students will create unity by integrating the parts of a composition into the whole.
C. Transitions of colour, texture or tone relate the parts of a composition to a unified whole.
EXPRESSION
PAINTING:
Component 10 (iii) MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES:
Students will use media and techniques, with an emphasis on mixing media and perfecting techniques in drawing and painting.
-Use preliminary sketches as the basis for a painting, as well as painting directly.
Students grabbed their Chrome books and did a Google search for silhouettes of their selected iconic Canadian animals. They were given a pre-gridded piece of 11 x 17 white bond paper for the purpose of depiction. They were challenged to use ARBITRARY colour (not representative in the predictable sense of an object or location…for example a red sky) Students did a bit of sketching and colouring on these studies in order to prepare for larger works.
The students were also asked to include the colours of the Hudson’s Bay blanket some where in their compositions.
Off they went to the races!
Next, large 18 x 24 paper was folded into 8 rectangles (in half both width and length and then lengthwise from each end, into the center), proportionally accurate with the 8 rectangles that were printed onto the 11 x 17 bond paper. Students prepared their own coloured construction ground, on the back, by edging with masking tape. (avoid ripping edges), flipped the work and began to use the grid to make relationships as they enlarged their silhouette in chalk.
Paints were mixed, as is my typical method. See former lessons under Teacher…and all went swimmingly. It’s time for me to seek out a great Netflix program for this evening. I’m sporting one heck of a head cold, but before I do, I’ll post a few of the photographs I caught of the process.
The months are closing on Canada 150. I’m happy that I had time to spend with these grades 4 and 5 students. They have been fantabulous!
