"Inspired by The Florida Highwaymen Lesson and Exhibit"
National Art Teacher Award Recipient
Thank you, for joining me on the READING EXPEDITION with the FLORIDA HIGHWAYMEN in my last link:
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| "Inspired by the Florida Highwaymen Workshop" Copyright Liz Ebanks |
Celebrate with us our heritage as landscape painters inspired by the Florida Highwaymen. As environmental stewards my pastel artists will paint tropical sunsets to preserve our natural Florida. The children will discover by sharing their self-taught talents they are incredibly stronger like the Highwaymen as a collective group. They will explore how these self-taught African-American landscape painters from Ft. Pierce, Florida overcame oppression and discrimination by forming a Collective Enterprise. Gain an understanding of how the Florida Highwaymen made their nostalgic paintings preserving Florida's natural beauty affordable to the middle class during the 1950s.
Students will discover how Alfred Hair shared what he learned from his mentor A. E. Backus with his friends. Learn how Hair hosted backyard "painting bees" to develop the raw painting talents of his friends and turn out more than 50,000 Highwaymen landscape paintings. Reveal how Hair developed a romantic style of painting Florida that was uniquely different from the Hudson River School that was based on tradition. The students will focus on painting from their own mental snapshots of Florida's treasured landscapes. Simulate the vibrant colors, speedy brushwork, and intuitive approach of the first Highwaymen. Students will focus on creating a series of landscapes quickly within the hour session. Develop group skills, working together in buddy pairs and small groups based on abilities. Inspire each other to contribute to the Children's Village at the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival. The artists will develop knowledge of how the Highwaymen confronted adversity by utilizing whatever materials were affordable to them to paint on such as: house paint and masonite for canvases. Practice effectively layering a landscape created from pastels over an acrylic underpainted sky. Practice reading out loud about these incredible Florida Hall of Fame Artists and writing the answers to the fill-in the blank handout. Contribute to preserving the natural beauty of Florida by sharing their artwork in VSA Florida's interactive online art gallery.
Published on http://www.artsonia.com/
Lesson Plan Id: #4427
http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/lessonplans/plan.asp?id=4427
Event Location: Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival (Children's Village)
Location: Curtis Hixon Park; Tampa, Florida; VSA Florida Booth
Date: January 16, 2011
Grade Level: Pre-K through 6th
Duration: 1 session (1hour)
Media Type: Painting and Pastels
Subject Integration: African American Art History
Description: By discussion of the historical accounts students will acquire knowledge of how the Florida Highwaymen made their paintings available to the middle class. Students will gain an understanding of how their landscapes reflect a new approch to painting without first sketching traditional compositions. The participants will reveal how the Indian River School did not focus on depicting political views of African-Americans because, they needed to sell the paintings to a larger audience. Students will be lead into a discussion on how without gallery representation the Highwaymen successfully sold their work. They will review how the African-American artists peddled their paintings to banks, doctors, and dental offices. The students will explore how the Highwaymen used palette knives and speedy brushwork to communicate the mood of each piece. They will emulate the Highwaymen's vibrant color palette and select a Florida vista from their imagination. A technique demonstration will be offered to inspire the children to contribute to the "All Kids Can Create" contest. Students will create a Florida landscape using the traditional masonite hardwood that the Highwaymen used as a canvas for their pastels.
| Curriculum Integration Content and Achievement Standards The following standards were developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations for grades PreK-4. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes Students know the differences between materials, techniques, and processes Students describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories Students use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner Using knowledge of structures and functions Students know the differences among visual characteristics and purposes of art in order to convey ideas Students describe how different expressive features and organizational principles cause different responses Students use visual structures and functions of art to communicate ideas Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas Students explore and understand prospective content for works of art Students select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures Students know that the visual arts have both a history and specific relationships to various cultures Students identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places Students demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts can influence each other in making and studying works of art Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others Students understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art Students describe how people's experiences influence the development of specific artworks Students understand there are different responses to specific artworks Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines Students understand and use similarities and differences between characteristics of the visual arts and other arts disciplines Students identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum |
Procedure:
Firstly, I liberated my pastel artists by creating an underpainting in acrylic blue tones or yellow-orange hues on masonite. Pastels are a unique painting medium that does not require mixing with a solvent or water. This made the inexpensive dry pastels an ideal medium for all ages outside at the Heritage Festival. I invited all students to discover what happens when they layer the pastels in the brisk brushstrokes of the Florida Highwaymen on the masonite underpainting. Letting some of the acrylic underpainting peak through the pastel created a more personal interpretation of how the two mediums are different for my visual learners. Secondly, I demonstrated step-by-step the impact of layering, blending, and scumbling to create a warmer atmosphere and mood. The color I emphasized is not uniform or hard-edged where the horizon meets the sky in my teacher example. Thirdly, I engaged tactile learners with the feel of working on the rough side of the stationary board. The grooves grabbed the pure pigment quickly to resemble an oil painting without the fumes or mess. When students became emotional I reminded them that the kneaded eraser was there for them to rip off a chunk and start fresh with a clean drawing or experiment with lifting partially the pigment. Giggles burst out when I showed the students how to mold the eraser into teacher pets. Participants were encourage to create customized hand grips by wrapping the kneaded erasers around the chalk. For my students that had limited hand dexterity I offered large sidewalk chalk to help them more quickly cover the surface of the board with confidence.
Based on Internet Readings
http://www.interestingideas.com/out/highway.htm
Vocabulary:
Collaborate
Twenty- six
Accessible
2004
Romantic
Heritage
A1-A
Elements
Mentored
Rediscovery
Solicitation
Twenty-five
Essence
School
1. Jim Fitch is sited with the ___________ of these Florida African-American Landscape painters by coining the term Highwaymen in his book after they lost popularity. Prior, to this the Highwaymen paintings were considered Folk Art because, the artists received no formal art training.
2. A. E "Bean" Backus was the white painter that inspired and__________ the first Florida Highwaymen Alfred Hair during the 1950's.
3. Alfred Warner Hair shared what he learned from Backus after each class with his friends who learned to quickly create _________ landscape paintings of Florida.
4. Each person contributed a different ________ whether it be the sky, water, birds, or trees to create together a complete painting as quickly as possible as a group or Collective Enterprise.
5. Therefore, they did not make pencil sketches on paper and composition. They blocked in the elements onto board quickly to capture the __________ of the landscape or mood. The brushstrokes communicated gusty winds, tranquil estuaries, and crashing waves.
6. Often the group placed several canvases on the walls at once. The challenge for the group was to overcome being excluded from representation in galleries because, of their black _________ and segregation.
7. The group of ____ Highwaymen and one woman were mostly from Ft. Pierce, Florida.
8. Alfred Hair invited friends to assist him in his backyard "painting bees" working on as many as ___ paintings at time. The Highwaymen became, known as the Indian River _______.
9. Later the1. Jim Fitch is sited with the ___________ of these Florida African-American Landscape painters by coining the term Highwaymen in his book after they lost popularity. Prior, to this the Highwaymen paintings were considered Folk Art because, the artists received no formal art training.
10. Often, they depicted colorful landscapes using whatever materials that were __________ and affordable to them such as: masonite (pressed hardwood) or cardboard for canvas, door molding for framing, and house paint.
11. The Highwaymen focused on selling 50,000 of their paintings to dentists, banks, restaurants, doctor offices out of the trunks of their cars along the stretch of road known as ______. The artists accomplished this by setting out on foot and making door-to-door sales instead of focusing on gallery commissions.
12. Peddling their art work was an incredible risk. They did not want to be thrown in jail for ___________ or forced to pay license fees like a gallery or artist today. Therefore, they sold their oil paintings often wet before they could dry completely.
13. On average the collaborative paintings were signed by the artist that did the majority of the painting's features and sold for approximately ________ dollars. This made the nostalgic paintings preserving Florida's natural landscapes affordable to the middle class.
14. The Florida Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artist Hall of Fame in _______.
Crossword Vocabulary:
Landscape
If you enjoyed this post from my upcycling studio you may also like this link on DESIGNING CUSTOM SNEAKERS:
http://lizebanksartgallery.blogspot.com/2011/10/secret-to-reinventing-your-shoes-on.html
Join me on my post on THE MONSTER MASH-ASSEMBLAGE to discover more about PASTELS at this link:
http://lizebanksartgallery.blogspot.com/2011/11/assemblage-and-word-search.html
TIP: What is your favorite time to PAINT PLEIN AIR?
One of the joys of being a morning monster at the easel is capturing all of the subtle colors of the natural light. I encourage all of my young artists to draw outside when learning color.
