Combining Voices
After the Visit Mini-Lesson
Allow time at the beginning of class for students to take turns talking about their visit to the Morris Museum of Art. “Whom did you meet? What did you see? What did you do? What did your docent talk to you about?” Lead the discussion into narratives. Remind them of the narrative they created about the two men.
Activity: Creating Images from Descriptive Language
In this activity, students will pick an artwork and create a narrative or poem based on that painting. This will help them prepare for the Combining Voices literary competition.
Students should choose one of the five artworks on the Combining Voices selected artworks page.
Materials
- Paper to write story on
- One sheet of 12 x 18 inch white paper for each student
- Colored pencils
- Pencils and erase
Procedures
- Show the five paintings to your students and allow them time to personally pick one. Once they have picked their painting, students will need to create a narrative or poem based on that artwork. They need to remember the three steps to creating a narrative (who's who, the setting, what happened), as discussed in the Before the Visit mini-lesson. A good way to get students thinking is to ask questions such as “Describe the personalities of the characters in the painting. What are they like? What do you think happened before this scene? What happened after this scene?”
- The stories or poems can be about one page and should be brief but detailed.
- After students have completed their narrative or poem, they can begin a drawing based on the story they have created. Although there is an image before them, they need to create a new image: an image based on what happens before or after the scene that has taken place in the painting. They can add color to their drawing by using colored pencils.
- Once students have completed their story and drawing, hang up the story next to the drawing and allow time for students to talk about both.
Assessment
Assess students based on their age. The older students should develop their characters and setting to a greater extent. They should also include more complex artistic concepts such as perspective, overlapping, use of color, etc. Some younger students should be able to understand things like perspective and overlapping, but they should not be graded as stringently.