Lesson FourIntegrated Concepts• Language Arts: author’s

purpose, poetry, descriptive language, parts of speech, reality and fantasy, compare and contrast,

• Social Studies: symbols, myth

• Mathematics: symmetry, pattern

• Visual Art: composition, shape, color, space, folk art

What do you see in this artwork?Look very carefully at all the details.

• What things are whole?• What things are only part of

something else?• What things are made by

combining parts?• How are things arranged? Is

the arrangement like real life or is it more like a pattern or a design?

What is the artist saying in this work?What is the main idea?

• Is this image fact or fantasy? Support your answer.• Does it tell a story (a narrative)?• Can you tell the setting of this

artwork? • Who or what are the characters in

this artwork? Are they ordinary people and animals?

• Where else would we find these characters?

What do you notice about patterns, shapes, symmetry, repetition and space?

• What shapes are repeated?• Is there a line of symmetry?• Is there a background?• What colors do you notice?• Is there a lot of space

between the shapes or are they crowded?

What is the artist’s purpose in making this work of art?

• Is she giving us information?

• Is she entertaining the viewer?

• Is she showing us how to do something?

• What other purpose might she have?

Take a few minutes and examine this image carefully. Pay attention to the details.

What do you notice about:

• Composition (the arrangement of the image)

• Shapes• Individual images• Space• Realism and fantasy

Now, let’s look at the two artworks together.

• What do you notice?

• Compare and contrast:– Use of color– Kinds of shapes– Use of space– Composition (the way the

image is arranged)– Scale (the relative size of

objects)

Is the artist’s purpose the same in both artworks?

• What message do you think the artist is sending with these artworks?

• Can you predict how the artist feels about nature by looking at the natural images in her pictures?

• Are these artworks more like stories or more like poems?

How could you write a poem about these images?

• What are some nouns you might use?

• What verbs or action words would fit these images?

• What adjectives or descriptive words might help you tell about these images?

• What are some possible titles?• Could you make your poem into

song lyrics?

How do you think these pictures were made?

• What materials were used?– Paint, crayon, colored pencils?– Paper, canvas, wood?

• How large do they seem?• How long do you think it took

the artist to create each one?– Do you imagine the artist

finishing them all at once or working over many days?

• Would you like to try making an artwork like these?

Information about the art and the artist.

Title: Untitled (Face Surrounded by Angels, Birds and White Winged Creature)

Artist: Minnie Evans (American, 1892 -1987)

Medium: Graphite, wax crayon, and gold oil paint on paper

Date: 1966

Comments: Minnie Evans is a self-taught artist who lived in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Title: Untitled (Three Faces in Floral Design)

Artist: Minnie Evans (American 1892 -1987)

Medium: Graphite, wax crayon, oil paint, collage on canvas board

Date: 1967

Comments: Minnie Evans created many of her artworks while working as a gatekeeper at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina.