For this activity, I'm going to present students with the selection of five paintings, one of which has a caption summarizing the entire story and he others that describe individual scenes in more detail. I'm going to ask students to order the paintings according to how the events the illustrate are chronologically ordered in the story. Then, they need to write the story in their own words, dividing the story into five sections, one for each element of plot. Alongside each painting, they need to provide an excerpt from their story that describes what's being illustrated in the image.
In the previous post, students looked at a synchronistic painting that illustrates various points of a story simultaneously, allowing the viewer to piece it all together as an illustration of the entire plot. More common than narrative synchronistic paintings, however, are paintings that depict a single scene from a larger story. These paintings can be considered "vignettes" because they focus on a single, isolated moment. For this activity, I'm pulling a selection of works and accompanying captions from the book "Myths: Tales of the Greek and Roman Gods." This is a great little book packed with mythological artworks, accompanying narratives, and tips for understanding the symbolism and characterization in the paintings. The book is divided into chapters, some of which include several paintings illustrating different scenes from a single story, in this case: Jupiter (Zeus) and Io.
For this activity, I'm going to present students with the selection of five paintings, one of which has a caption summarizing the entire story and he others that describe individual scenes in more detail. I'm going to ask students to order the paintings according to how the events the illustrate are chronologically ordered in the story. Then, they need to write the story in their own words, dividing the story into five sections, one for each element of plot. Alongside each painting, they need to provide an excerpt from their story that describes what's being illustrated in the image. What is narrative?
- A story - A means of conveying morals or lessons - A means of helping us to understand what it means to be human - A means of connecting people with one another through shared experiences - Narratives are inherent to human communication - Used to illustrate points - Can apply the lessons of one narrative (fictional or not) to another The Art of Narrative
- Have recognizable beginnings, middles, and ends - Follow the plotline: Exposition (conflict introduction), rising action, climax, falling action, denouement (resolution) - The reader must focus on the present action while still being mindful of the past and its influence as well as anticipating and making predictions for the future - Careful attention to characterization (motives, desires, personality, flaws, and how they're a reflection of certain human traits) - Address themes and morals to communicate meaning to the audience that they can apply to their own understanding of themselves and the world - Leave room open for interpretation of he work - Employ figurative language for the sake of both craftsmanship and meaning-making (metaphor, symbolism, imagery, tone, mood) Activity: The Smithsonian's "Myths in Words and Pictures"
- Send students to smithsonianeducation.org/myth - Under "Myth 1", have students click on "Explore the online interactives" - Once there, have the students complete the first activity, "Symbols in Art: Who's Who?" - Create a hand-out for students to submit while completing the Smithsonian activities. For the symbols in art interactive, ask students to: "Summarize how Te Smithsonian defines symbolism. Make sure to summarize information from the entire passage, not just the first paragraph. - Have students move on to the "Symbols in a Story: What's What?" Interactive. Have them read through the introduction and add to their definition of symbolism. - Handout question: "What does it mean for a painting to be synchronistic?" - Have students read the story and complete a t-chart of symbols and potential meanings. Encourage students to first try and identify the meaning on their own and then google the meaning of the different symbols. - Have students diagram the plot of the story - Then have them look at the painting and describe how different images represent different plot stages - Have students read through the symbolism captions on the painting. Afterwards, have students reflect on how the captions helped them to better understand the meaning of the story. - Follow up this activity by asking students to select a synchronistic painting and labeling the symbols with their own captions. Also have them briefly summarize the different plot stages of the story. New to the city and looking for enriching things to do, I came across the site Connect Savannah. On its home page, it has an events calendar of music, arts, and culture. Last night was the kick-off of deFINE Art, a weeklong event of lectures and exhibitions featuring contemporary art. We attended the Jack Whitten lecture at the SCAD Museum of Art and then attended the reception afterwards and viewed his exhibit "Erasures" in one of the museum galleries.
|
About MeA lover of literature and the arts and an advocate for global awareness and active citizenship, I spend my days with high school English and Social Studies students exploring why it all matters and how they can have a voice in the world. This is my space to document and reflect on my practice, note happenings in education, and share my appreciation for the arts. Archives
February 2013
Categories
All
|