Focus Works of Art | Lesson Plans

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Lesson Plans
Images and Sounds: City and Country

Grade: 9 - 12
Subject Areas: Art, Social Studies
Activity: Writing, Reading, Discussion
Duration: 1 - 2 class periods

Franz Kline Orange Outline, 1955

Richard Diebenkorn Berkeley No. 8, 1954

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Overview

Students will learn about the analytical process of abstract painting through brainstorming and writing activities.

Procedure

1. Assign the class to examine Orange Outline and Berkeley No. 8.
   
   
2. Conduct a brainstorming session in which students provide one-word descriptions or adjectives that come to mind as they view the Kline and Diebenkorn paintings. Write the words on the board in no particular order.
   
   
3. Hold a brief class discussion focusing on grouping the words from the brainstorming exercise into categories. Ask students to think of a category and then select the words that reflect that category. How do these categories and words relate to the painting? How did the artist create those references? What elements of the works of art generated these words? After the initial discussion of the words, direct the discussion to consider the following questions about place: What kind of places do these works remind you of? What do these two works tell us about urban and rural environments?
   
   
4. Assign each student to read Genevieve Thiers article "How to Write a Haiku."
   
   
5. Review with the whole class the rules for writing haiku poems.
   
   
6. Assign each student to write two haiku poems: one based on their interpretation of or feelings about Kline's Orange Outline and one based on their interpretation of or feelings about Diebenkorn's Berkeley No. 8. Ask for volunteers to read their haikus to the class and explain how they used the paintings for inspiration.

Evaluation

• The teacher will use the brainstorming and grouping exercise, class discussion, and the haiku to assess the student's analysis of the abstract works of art and their relationship to place.
  
• The teacher will use the haiku to determine the student's understanding of this poetry form.

Lesson Resources

Genevieve Thiers article "How to Write a Haiku"