Fog & Mirrors Tour, Part Two

After exploring Margarita and Blue Wind by Ann Veronica Janssens during our Fog & Mirrors tour, we visited this sculpture by Antony Gormley. First, we walked all the way around to view the sculpture from all sides.

Antony Gormley, Quantum Cloud XX (tornado), 2000

Then, we considered the following questions:

• What do you see?
• What materials do you think were used to make this sculpture?
• Imagine you are the artist that created this sculpture. What would you title this work of art?
• Think about our vocabulary words. Would you describe this sculpture as transparent, translucent, or opaque?  Why?
• This sculpture is called Quantum Cloud XX (tornado).  How does this sculpture relate to a cloud? A tornado?

4th graders walking around the sculpture

3rd grade

4th grade

2nd grade view from the back

2nd grade sketching the sculpture

2nd grade sketching the sculpture

2nd grade proudly sharing their sketches

Like Ann Veronica Janssens, Antony Gormley is interested in science and math. Quantum Cloud XX (tornado) was inspired by theories of quantum physics, a branch of science. Gormley used a combination of art and technology to create this stainless steel sculpture. He worked with a mathematician to design a computer program that helped him plan the outer part of the sculpture. The figure in the center is based on the artist's body.

Fog & Mirrors Tour, Part One

GROW students visited the Nasher during the past month for a tour called Fog & Mirrors. The next three blog posts will take an in-depth look at each stop on our tour.

Visit 2 Vocabulary: 

reflection / reflexión

refraction / refracción

transparent / transparente

translucent / translúcido

opaque / opaco

fog / niebla

We began by briefly reviewing the Sticks & Stones tour, recalling artist Giuseppe Penone's interest in nature and use of natural materials.  We then discussed how artists often use skills and knowledge that they might learn outside of art class, specifically science and math.  The first work of art in our tour was made by Ann Veronica Janssens, a Belgian artist who is very interested in science.  In fact, she compares her creative process (what she thinks about and how she creates a work of art) to the way a scientist conducts experiments.

The students began by sharing their observations and questions about Margarita, made by Ann Veronica Janssens in 2016.

Ann Veronica Janssens, Margarita, 2016

Students then became active viewers by standing on their tiptoes, bending over, and walking all around Margarita to view it from many angles.  They loved making discoveries as they moved, noticing multiple reflective surfaces and seeing their friends as they looked through the sculpture.  The students also enjoyed trying to figure out what created the lime green color in the sculpture that is only visible from certain angles.

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

We introduced most of our vocabulary words during our discussion, including the terms transparent, translucent, opaque, reflection, and refraction. Look at the photos above and find as many examples of these words as you can!

After we talked about how Ann Veronica Janssens made Margarita, we looked at a similar work of art named Blue Wind from 2010.

Ann Veronica Janssens, Blue Wind, 2010

 3rd grade

4th grade

After walking around Blue Wind, the students discussed similarities and differences between the two sculptures.  They continued to use their vocabulary words as they connected Janssens's materials with scientific concepts.

Margarita and Blue Wind are great examples of Janssens's interest in light and color, and specifically the way her sculptures reflect and refract light.  Reflection and refraction are two of the vocabulary words for this tour.  Students were familiar with the idea of reflection, which they immediately connected with mirrors.  Refraction is a more complex concept, though the students seemed to understand this idea through the context of the sculptures.

Click on the resources below related to our tour's vocabulary, as well as an experiment that helps explain how and why light refracts.

Vocabulary words: http://www.lovemyscience.com/cat_bendinglight.html 

Refraction experiment: http://www.lovemyscience.com/bendingpencil.html

Stay tuned for the next stop on the Fog & Mirrors tour!

Sticks & Stones, 3rd and 4th Grade Visit

In early December, the 3rd and 4th grade GROW students visited the Nasher for their Sticks & Stones tour.  The students visited the same works of art as the second graders during their November tour, but just as every student is unique, so was each conversation and activity. 

Visit 1 Vocabulary:

material / material

bronze / bronce

texture / textura 

carve / esculpir

impression / impresión

Starting with Giuseppe Penone's Spazio di luce (Space of Light) and Idee di pietra - 1372 Kg di luce (Ideas of Stone - 1372 kg of Light) was a great way to warm up our minds and our bodies as we grew our own "trees" up to the sun.

Giuseppe Penone, Spazio di luce (Space of Light) 

3rd grade

4th grade Trees

Giuseppe Penone, Idee di pietra - 1372 Kg di luce (Ideas of Stone - 1372 kg of Light)

3rd grade Trees

Next, we studied Penone's 5 propogazione – maggio 2011 (5 Propagations – May 2011). Students compared these ink drawings to the concentric circles found in tree rings and fingerprints. Like the second graders, they created drawings with their fingerprint in the middle, surrounded by a circle for every year of their age.

4th grade

4th grade

3rd grade

For more details about the artworks and activities above, take a look at the blog post about the 2nd grade visit in November!

The final stop of the tour was Penone's Patate.  After just a few moments of looking, students realized that Patate was more than just a pile of potatoes.  Nestled within the potatoes were five bronze potatoes in the form of Penone's facial features: his nose, ear, and mouth.  The students learned about how the potatoes took on his likeness by growing into molds of Penone's face, which he buried next to the young potatoes underground.  

4th grade

Stay tuned to read about the 3rd and 4th grade visit next week!

Ready, Set, GROW!

The 2015-16 school year marks the third year of the GROW partnership program between Rosemont Elementary and the Nasher Sculpture Center.  We are very excited to welcome a new group of second graders to the GROW family!

In late October, interested second graders gathered in the Rosemont library after school for the GROW audition.  The students answered questions about themselves, drew, and wrote short essays about a work of art from the Nasher's collection. Afterward, staff from Rosemont and the Nasher selected the newest class of GROW participants.

At the beginning of November, the second graders had their pre-visit in Mrs. Cianciulli's art room.  They saw pictures of the Nasher Sculpture Center and Mr. and Mrs. Nasher.  They talked about the different kinds of things they might see and do during their GROW visits, and compared and contrasted two different works of art from the Nasher collection.  At the end, students decorated canvas bags that hold the journals they'll use during their Museum visits.

The second graders came to the Nasher Sculpture Center for their first visit on the Friday before Thanksgiving.  During a tour titled Sticks & Stones, the students explored the art of Giuseppe Penone, an Italian sculptor whose art is temporarily on view in the exhibition Giuseppe Penone: Being the River, Repeating the Forest.  

The students learned that Penone grew up in Turin, Italy, a village surrounded by forest.  Penone explores his relationship as an artist with nature in his sculptures.  We started at this sculpture, titled Spazio di Luce (Space of Light).  The students had many observations and questions to share about this sculpture made of bronze and gold leaf, which Penone created using a tree that had already fallen and been cut into sections.

We also viewed this drawing titled 5 propogazione - maggio 2011 (5 Propagations - May 2011).  Penone made drawings starting with his fingerprints in the middle.  He then traced the fingerprints with concentric circles that get bigger and bigger.  The students astutely noticed that these drawings resembled a tree's rings, which tell us the age of a tree.  They created drawings in their journals, starting with their own unique fingerprint, surrounded by a circle for every year of their age.

We had a great visit with the second grade students and look forward to seeing them again in the spring.  Stay tuned to read about the third and fourth graders' first Nasher visit later this week!

3rd Grade - Visit 3

Third graders had a "heavy metal" art experience looking at the welded metal sculptures of artist Melvin Edwards. We focused on the artist's use of materials including scrap metal and familiar objects as well as his love of jazz music.

Visit 3 Vocabulary:

Weld / Soldar
Homage / El Homenaje
Chain / La Cadena
Movement / El Movimiento
Suspend / Suspender
Familiar / Familiar

Meet Melissa Gonzales, our new Gallery Teacher for GROW!

We looked at works from Melvin Edwards's Lynch Fragments series, like this one: Some Bright Morning, 1963.

We also looked at rockers created by Edwards. This video from a recent gallery show demonstrates how they can move!

3rd Grade - Visit 2

Third graders continued their exploration of Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio with a focus on how designers transform ordinary things into something extraordinary.

Visit 2 Vocabulary:

Ordinary / Normal
Extraordinary / Extraordinario
Building / Edificio
Texture / Textura
Bridge / Puente
Park / Parque
Desert / Desierto
Climate / Clima

We looked at all sorts of designs by Heatherwick Studio, including a Hairy Building, a Rolling Bridge, and a park with a roof that looked like a desert landscape.

Discussing how imagination can make an everyday object or place into something unique.

 

Sketching our own designs.

  

 Imagining how we could create a building that would represent the United States after viewing Heatherwick's UK Pavilion.

2nd Grade - Visit 1

This year's second graders learned about animals in art during their first visit to the Nasher. We looked at a variety of objects in the permanent collection that were inspired by real and imaginary creatures.

Visit 1 Vocabulary:
Movement / Movimiento
Stability / Estabilidad
Assemble / Montar
Metamorphosis / Metamorfosis
Crescent / Creciente
Surrealism / Surrealismo

Looking at Isamu Noguchi's Gregory (Effigy) and discussing how the artist was inspired by the story of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis.

Writing our own stories about what we might do if we woke up as a creature one morning.

Walking around Joan Miró's Moonbird.

 
Sneaking a peak at the Thomas Heatherwick exhibition on the way out.

Special thanks to Carey for providing transportation for all of our GROW students!