BIG IDEA: PLACE Most people connect or identify with a sense of place. For the art-environment builders, often an ordinary place is transformed through art into a place unlike any other, which reveals a narrative that goes beyond the surface. Through these ideas, learners can expand their understanding of the connection between the construction of place and identity.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: • What defines place?• How do people create place?• Why do people alter their places in meaningful ways?

LESSON OVERVIEW: Students will identify a personal or significant place, design a proposal, and build a model for a gateway to activate the space.

OBJECTIVES: (Organized by National Core Arts Standards Artistic Processes)

Connecting: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how art can be used to transform or activate places and apply those ideas in a personal artwork.

Responding: Students will analyze and discuss artists such as Mary Nohl, Nick Engelbert, James Tellen, Herman Rusch, Eddie Owens Martin, Carl Peterson, and Tom Every, who created gateways to their art environments.

Creating: Students will design and construct a model gateway in response to their chosen site.

Presenting: Students will present and justify their individual designs and identify and articulate their personal, cultural, and historical influences and the potential impact on the place.

AG

E G

RO

UP

: second

ary

ARTIST CONNECTIONS: Mary Nohl, Nick Engelbert, James Tellen, Herman Rusch, Carl Peterson, Eddie Owens Martin, and Tom Every

Many art-environment builders create elaborate gateways or design perimeters for their sites. These gateways are not only functional, but may be interpreted as symbolic entryways from our ordinary world to a more extraordinary and personalized place. Students can explore connections between the art-environment builders and ways that gateways can be used to signify important places.

GATEWAYSART CURRICULUM

jmkac.org/learn/educator-resources

2016

.13.102

Mary Nohl Lake Cottage Environment (site detail, Fox Point, WI), c. 1960–2001. Photo: 1997.

Matilda and Paul Wegner, Wegner Grotto (detail, Glass Church, Cataract, WI), c. 1929–1942.

For image descriptions, see back page.

DISCUSS: • Discuss the idea of gateways and place with students. • What can you tell about a place from its entryway? (teacher shows images of entryways: cemetery, schools, amusement/ theme parks, zoos, homes and gardens) • What do artists/architects have to consider when designing a gateway? (environmental/material, historical/cultural, logistical/functional)• Introduce, view, and discuss the work of Mary Nohl, Nick Engelbert, James Tellen, Herman Rusch, Carl Peterson, Eddie Owens Martin, and Tom Every. All of these art-environment builders use gateways/fences to designate place. • What do you notice about how the gateways are designed and built? • What is the purpose of the gateway? • What can you tell about an artist or a place from its gateway?

CREATE: 1. Students research gateways in their communities and identify a personal or significant place to activate with a gateway.

2. Students design and construct a gateway using design software and/or maquette materials.

MODIFICATION:a. City planners and community members could be invited into classroom to identify potential areas and consult.b. Students could propose their design to planners or community members for full-scale construction and installation. Students explore creating and sticking to a budget, material selection.

REFLECT:• Students will present and justify their individual designs and identify and articulate their personal, cultural, and historical influences and the potential impact on the place. • Students will share their work and explain their choices (e.g., the location, materials, concept, personal connections).

VOCABULARY: gateway, model/mock/maquette, placemaking, symbolism, various architectural terms (e.g., arch, pediment, lintel, molding, truss)

ART MATERIALS:• Maquette materials: balsa wood, foam core, clay, papier-mâché, and other building supplies (e.g., glue, duct tape)

• Digital technology: AutoCAD, Minecraft

• Design sketching materials: graph paper, pencils, T square, compasses, protractor

RESOURCES:• Umberger, Leslie. Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007.

CONNECTIONS:• Architectural resources• City/urban planners• Gateways throughout history, around world: Statue of Liberty, Great Wall of China, Gateway Arch in St. Louis, etc.

GATEWAYS

Nick Engelbert, Grandview (site view, Hollandale, WI), c. 1930–1960. Photo: 2006.

James Tellen's Chair City Cookout, 8/8/2015.

Images pictured on FRONT clockwise from left to right:

Herman Rusch, Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden & Museum (site view, Cochrane, WI), 1952–1979. Photo: Robert Mertens, 1987.

James Tellen (far right) with friends in front of the fence and Native American tableau. Photo: c. 1945–1948. Courtesy of Tom and Nancy Brown. James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden (site view, concrete log fence, Black River, Town of Wilson, WI), c. 1942-1957; John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection, gift of Kohler Foundation Inc.

©2017 John Michael Kohler Arts Center