Beware of Dog

"Beware of Dog" - Roman Mosaic

Eighth grade students learned that mosaics are pictures that are created by gluing together small pieces of tile that fit together like a puzzle.  After viewing a "Beware of Dog" mosaic that was discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii, students created their own "security" sign using mosaic paper tiles.

Teasing Tessellations

The Alhambra

Seventh graders viewed a picture of the Alhambra, a palace and fortress in Spain that was constructed during the mid 14th century.  Today it is one of Spain’s major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known example of Islamic architecture.

M.C. Escher, Self-Portrait

In 1922, artist M.C. Escher visited the Alhambra and became fascinated by the ornate tile designs.  He spent many hours studying how they interlocked completely like a puzzle with no spaces in-between.  During his lifetime, M.C. Escher became obsessed with filling the page with pictures of creatures that did not overlap or leave spaces.  These pictures are called tessellations.

Tessellations are like jigsaw puzzles with the same shapes repeated throughout the picture.  When creating his tessellations, Escher used the following three principles of design:

·         Repetition

·         Pattern

·         Symmetry

      Students used these design principles to create their own tessellating patterns.  Then they used
     brightly colored mosaic paper “tiles” to fill in their tessellations with color.

Looking Outside

Painting views seen through a doorway or window has been a popular subject for many artists since the Roman times.  For example, in ancient Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, we can see frescoes painted within the homes, giving the illusion of looking outside.

In 1905, Henri Matisse painted this view of the sea through his window.

After discussing these paintings, seventh grade students were asked to:

• Sketch a scene from the inside looking outside
• Frame their picture with columns, a doorway or a window
• Add color using tempera paint
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Celestial Bodies

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

For this lesson on Byzantine art, sixth grade students learned that:

·    After the fall of the Roman Empire, Byzantine art focused on religious subjects such as icons, domed churches and decorative mosaics. 

·    One of the most famous examples of Byzantine art is the Hagia Sophia, a church in Istanbul, Turkey.  The inner walls are decorated with heavenly mosaics using small pieces of colored glass and the dome attracts your attention upwards towards the celestial bodies of the universe.

·    Celestial bodies are any natural body outside of the Earth’s atmosphere such as the Moon, Sun, planets and asteroids.

·    Astronomy is the oldest science in the world that studies celestial bodies including, but not limited to, planets, stars, and galaxies.

·    Early cultures studied the night sky to decide when to plant and what the best day was for a celebration.

·    Ancient astronomers only knew about the first five planets; the others are too dim to see without a telescope

·   The invention of the telescope propelled astronomy into a modern science.

Afterwards, students were asked to:

·    Use a pencil to sketch celestial bodies onto black paper and include overlapping objects and different sizes to provide a depth of space.

·    Add several other creative items to build an interesting composition. 

·    Go over pencil lines with glue.

·    Fill in composition with soft pastels after the glue dried.

Romantic Roman Gardens



The Roman Colosseum

Sixth grade students learned that the ancient Romans invented the arch and used it to build the Colosseum, one of the most famous buildings in the world.   

They also learned that the Romans made their gardens the heart and center of their homes.  Surrounded by a covered walkway with arches, Roman gardens were symmetrical and included such things as fountains, statues, vases and trellises. 

Using the same type of design elements, students created their own Roman gardens with oil pastels, glitter paint, and mosaic squares on black construction paper.

Greek Architecture in Savannah

Eighth grade students learned about the three types of columns invented by the Greeks...


Doric

 

Ionic

Corinthian



They also learned that the Greeks invented porticos;  a portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, supported by columns.  The influence of Greek architecture is apparent in many homes in Savannah, Georgia.    

The Sorrel Weed House




The Mercer Williams House

The Owens Thomas House

 

After viewing some examples of Greek-revival architecture, students used architecture templates, rulers, texture plates and colored pencils to design their own Savannah homes with porticos.