National Gallery of Art

The goal of this unit is to introduce students to the basic elements of art and to show students how artists use these elements in different ways in their work. In the unit, students will answer questions as they look carefully at paintings and sculpture to identify the elements and analyze how they are used by different artists. Individual lessons focus on each element of art:

• Color
• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Texture

Designed to help middle school students begin to answer the important question: "Who Am I?", these lessons use self-portraits from the National Gallery of Art's collection to inspire students to create their own self-portraits, poems, speeches, and letters. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits
• Two Faces of Paul Gauguin
• A Look at Judith Leyster
• David Alfaro Siqueiros Speaks
• Andy Warhol/Digital Self-Portraits

Students will explore the paintings of Horace Pippin and Wayne Thiebaud and the mobiles of Alexander Calder to discover and practice math and visual art concepts. Background and biographical information about the work of art and artist, guided looking with class discussion, and activities with worksheets using mathematical formulas and studio art provide the framework for each lesson. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Pippin's Story (K–4)
  
• Calder’s Balancing Acts (5–8)
• Thiebaud Cake Math (K–4)
• Thiebaud Cake Math (5–8)

Do art and math have anything in common? How do artists and architects use math to create their works? In these lessons, students will explore the intersection of math and art in the works of two artists and one architect for whom mathematical concepts (lines, angles, two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional polyhedra, fractions, ratios, and permutations) and geometric forms were fundamental. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Sol LeWitt’s Concepts and Structures (9–12)
  
• Geometry and Tony Smith Sculpture (5–8)
• I. M. Pei and the Geometry of the NGA (5–8)
  

Mythology is a powerful vehicle for teaching students about symbols and the ways people have sought to explain their relationships to nature and to each other. Teachers can use these lessons and works of art to introduce or examine the role of myths in explaining human customs, mysteries about nature, or the reasons why things exist in the world. Lessons and myths included in this unit are:

• Pandora's Box
• Apollo Pursuing Daphne
• Diana and Endymion
• The Fall of Phaeton
• The Corinthian Maid

Artists are often particularly keen observers and precise recorders of the physical conditions of the natural world. As a result, paintings can be good resources for learning about ecology. Teachers can use these lessons to examine with students the interrelationship of geography, natural resources, and climate and their effects on daily life. These lessons also address the roles students can take in caring for the environment. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Homer in the Bahamas
• Cazin in the Quarry
• Miró on the Farm
• Vuillard in the Park
• Inness in the Countryside
• Rousseau in the Jungle

In the United States, the nineteenth century was a time of tremendous growth and change. The new nation experienced a shift from a farming economy to an industrial one, major westward expansion, displacement of native peoples, rapid advances in technology and transportation, and a civil war. In these lessons, works of art from the nineteenth century are paired with written documents to be used as primary sources for students to reconstruct the influence of technology, geography, economics, and politics on daily life. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Down on the Farm
• Toys Now & Then
• Little House in the Valley
• Rolling on the River
• Head Chief of the Iowas
• The Impact of Inventions
• The First African American Regiment

Students will look at works of art depicting military, religious, political, and everyday heroes and heroines and discuss their lives and the effects of their deeds. Teachers can use these lessons to introduce or examine in depth the concept of heroism through discussions of heroic actions and character. Lessons included in this unit are:

• Danger! Shark!
• In Memoriam: Honoring Heroes & Heroines Through Sculpture
• Heroines & Social Media
• Quiet Heroes & Heroines
• White Cloud: A Hero to His People