Lesson Plan Day 2

Title: A Day With the MFA

Instructor: MCC and MFA students

Subject: Material Experimentation Workshop

Scheduled Date & Time: May 3rd @ 2-4 pm

Grade Level: High School

Content Objective: Students will be able to participate in tours, discussion, experimentation and the creation of art with contemporary artists and art educators.

Prerequisite Skills: Introduction to art history and grade level skills in material manipulation.

Materials: To be determined based on the SAIC artists that will be attending the workshop.

Anticipatory Set: Inform students that they will be exploring 2-3 MFA spaces at SAIC and then participating in a day of making art. First, they will take part in a MFA and MCC instructor-lead tour of the MFA student studios. The instructors will encourage dialogue amongst the group.  We will discuss material choices made by the artist, a thread of potential narrative that exists in the space, and anything else that informs the work and the viewer.  After touring 2-3 studios, students will participate in some material experiments that will open the possibility of finding the material that may support their own narrative in their final creation. Students will rotate to 3 different tables that will headed by an instructor to give a brief description and be there to help those in need. Once students rotate through the tables, they can go to an instructor and discuss the sketches from the museum in their sketchbooks, their material experiments and narratives. Instructors will help them to solidify a potential direction for making during the next class. Students can begin their project if time permits after meeting with an instructor.

Modeling: Demonstrate how to engage a dialogue by asking questions of the artist and the students.  Display our own work so students have an opportunity to view our own practices and maybe determine who would best help them realize their concept.

Lesson Sections:

Studio Visits art making

Three studio visit sections:

(Sullivan) Erin Chlagmo, Kristina Januskaite-Sparks

(Sullivan and Sharp) Michael Webster, Delaney DeMott

(MacLean) John Wilmes, Jeremiah Jones, Erin Chlagmo

Studio visits:

Upon group arrival set a positive tone through an inquiry based introduction, on the ideas of process and professional goals. Introduce the goals and theme of the partnership through an advanced organizer:

We know from last week that __________________ the artists that we talk to today are going to share with us their process, and are excited to answer any questions we have about anything you might be interested in.

Facilitate discussion using open-ended questions that elicit multiple responses and engage students in critical thinking. Deepen conversations by embedding contextual information organically

Discussion prompts: (Directed to the MFA’s as a way to engage the high school student)

Who or what has been your biggest influence of your work?

What themes/ideas/concepts are you exploring?

How do those relate, if at all, to work that is in the AIC?

How did you first come to use the materials/supplies that are being utilized in your work?

What difficulties have you found with these materials or what is especially unique about them?

What advice would you give a young/new artist that is interested in exploring similar materials or modes of production?

Do you work on multiple pieces or singular pieces at a time?

How has your work changed, or not changed, since beginning the graduate program at SAIC?

How does your work exemplify a personal narrative?

Remediation: If students are having trouble becoming engaged in a dialogue, ask them to describe what they are seeing and ask questions of them based on their descriptions.

Discussion prompts: (Directed to the high school students in response to the MFA studio visit)

What most intrigued you about the artists? Studios? Materials?

Did you ‘see’ similar exploration of themes with ideas that you have?  If so, what were they?

How are these ideas different from your own?

What would you like to explore more with the MFA’s and why?

Do you visualize your own artistic work exploring similar materials that you explored today?

In what ways would you visualize your written or drawn work being constructed with some of the materials that you explored or were exposed to today? 

Do any of the materials remind you of work that you saw or investigated at the AIC?

Closing: Consists of a combination of discussion, voluntary critique and review/reflection.

Assessment: Students will have discussed the qualities of historical, contemporary and personal artwork.  They will have participated in material investigations, art making and they will have written a narrative or sketched a drawing about their artwork.