Thursday, May 3, 2012

In the Artroom: The Art History Wall

A Rockin' Trip Thru Art History with...Mona Lisa's Masterpieces.
This week in the art room, I thought I'd share with you the backdrop seen in many of my What-I-Wore-This-Week posts. Every school year, I create a theme of study. The year I created the Art History Wall, our theme was Rockin' Thru Art History. I wore this wacky apron and the kids created guitars and rocked their way through the history of art.  I loved the wall too much at the end of the year to take it down. With the exception of a random piece of art falling off the wall, it's held up well through the years and, more importantly, it's proved to be a valuable educational tool in the art room.
Every art room should have a mascot.
I am fortunate in that I have a very large art room. Once upon a time, my art room was the school library. So it is very long with plenty of former book shelves turned cabinets and storage.
The Wall in total. Narrowing down the history of art to fit my wall was the hardest part.
That being said, I have this very large wall space which seemed to be the perfect canvas for a giant display. I began by jotting down the major movements in art history. From there, I rooted through my mountains of visuals: old calendars, postcards, posters -- even cutting up the art history books I'd hoarded since college, to find just the right images.
In the Beginning...we had rock art, no paper, no scissors.
With my art movements and visuals sorted, I began the writing of the Art History Wall. This proved to be difficult as I had to keep it simple and kid friendly. To add a little  three dimensional pop to the wall, I clued a piece of foam to the back of the purple papers as well as some of the visuals.
If you are interested in creating your own wall, feel free to borrow from mine as much as you like. The following are the movements and their simple descriptions:
Rock Painting: The beginning of art...
Ancient Egypt: tombs, pyramids, mummies, OH MY!
Ancient Greece: athletic people that believed in many gods...
Ancient Rome: expanded Greek art ideas (after conquering them)
Middle Ages: Bible stories were told through art
Early Renaissance: Artists learned to paint realistically
High Renaissance: Michelangleo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted David; Leonardo da Vinci sketched inventions and painted the Mona Lisa

Dutch painting: Dutch artists painted portraits, still lives and genre paintings
Romantics and Realists: wanted to show emotion in their art
Impressionists: group of artists that wanted to show color and light
Famous impressionists were Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt
Post Impressionist: artists that created after the Impressionists and expanded their ideas: van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne
Modern Art: In modern art, artists realized that the possibilities are endless!
The bulletin board beside the art history wall.

What's the point in having a mascot when you don't get to wear a silly costume? I got this idea from one of the most amazing and inspirational art teachers I know, Debi West. You can read more about her and her students here.
And there you have it! We put the wall in action when we are learning about an artist or a certain movement in art. I'll ask the kids to follow me to the Art History wall so they can visually grasp important periods in art. Thanks for reading!

10 comments:

  1. I love this wall!!! And it's a great way to use up all the images I have collected through the years. Fantastic!

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    1. Thank you, Jackie! I hope you have fun creating your own wall...I love doing this kind of room decorating thing during summer. Thanks for stopping by!...cassie

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  2. Diana Rushing5/03/2012

    This is amazing and I will be using your concept in my Art Studio! Thank you so much!

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    1. Diana, so glad you found it useful! I do hope you have fun creating your wall...the kids will love it! ...cassie

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  3. wow cassie that's amazing u are so creative and talented good for u. they are lucky kids to have u. have great weekend Im of to Munich. yippee kisses from Dublin xx Leo.

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    1. Leonie, have fun in Munich! I hope you'll post about your adventures on your blog :) We are heading that was sometime this summer...so I'll have to find out some of the hot spots from you. Enjoy your weekend!...cassie

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  4. Hi, Cassie.......This is fantastic! I hope you don't mind, but I posted a link to this post on my art bulletin board blog. http://bulletinboardstoremember.blogspot.com/2012/05/in-artroom-art-history-wall.html

    jan

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing this on your blog...what an inspiration your blog is! ...Cassie

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  5. This is wonderful! I need to do more art history and this is great. I may just have to work on it!!

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  6. Wow where did you get all the posters from!?

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