Miss Lissa's Art Education - Observational Art

The main objective of Observation in art is to expand a student’s ability to observe and notice different visual qualities of their subjects. It helps to free their minds of cliches. Observation drawing helps a child to feel confident in their own ability to draw.

Observation Unit: teaching children how to look closely and notice the components and details.

WHY SEQUENCING? We know that children learn better when they make connections between what they already know and what they need to learn. A carefully planned sequence should bear in mind that youngsters need to understand how ideas relate to each other and build in complexity. It should also provide challenges for past learning to be revisited at new levels of development and provide opportunities for students to apply and extend their learning in a number of different contexts, materials, and vantage points.

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Sequence of lessons:

Block Tower Drawing/Collage

Bicycle Drawing

Plant/Flower Drawing/Collage: Inspiration from Georgia O’Keffe

Other observation collage and drawing oppertunities

Rationale: Many of our students draw primarily from memory. This is not because elementary children are unable to perceive shapes, details, textures, and perspective; rather, it is because they have not been invited to try. Observation drawing invites students to become more aware of the qualities of the subjects of the world around them. In essence, it is a way to teach child to see, decode, and add to a growing repertoire drawing system.

Developmental Rationale: These lessons utilize Bruner’s Spiral Curriculum & Bloom’s Taxonomy because although the students all draw from the same objects, what I point out different aspects that are appropriate for learners at different levels. Thus, a lesson with the same object from which to draw can be used for different outcomes across the different grade levels. This is also helpful for differentiation as there are many levels of ability within the same age/grade class.

Reasoning for sequence: In observation drawing, students use specific strategies based on their discoveries about lines, shapes, and composition. In order to strengthen their ability to look carefully, there are 3 basic strategies to work with:

1. Reducing what is seen into basic shapes

2. Noticing all the parts and how they relate as a whole

3. Recording what is seen by following the contour of the object

Block Tower Drawing/Collage

Students will work together in teams to draw a structure comprised out of wooden blocks. Because they are constructing what they will go onto draw, they have a concrete attachment to what shapes are used and what the size & composition relationships the block have to one another. Seeing shapes is the basis for being able to work in observation drawing.

Bicycle Drawing

Looking at a familiar object (a bicycle), students will be encouraged to notice shapes & see how these shapes come together to make a whole bike.

Instruction/Motivation:

· What shapes do you notice?

· Where do these shapes connect?

· Model how to draw from looking

· Older students: notice & discuss details

Learning objectives:

· Students will learn to identify parts of a bicycle and how lines & shapes connect to make up those parts. They will be able to translate this into an organized whole in the drawing of a bicycle.

Plant/Flower Drawing/Collage: Inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe

Learning objectives:

· Students will learn to look at and translate the different parts of plants into various types of lines (curvy, straight, thick, thin, etc)

· Older children will notice the similarities & differences between different types of flowers

· Older students will also notice that the appearance of a simple object such as a flower changes as it is seen from different points of view and that this is called perspective.

Instruction/Motivation:

· Let’s look carefully at all the parts and think about ways we can draw the flower.

· What do you notice?

· Turn the flower… Can you see the parts if I turn it like this?

· Georgia O’Keeffe