14 Live Art

Dialogue

Cultivate creative sensitivity and foster depth in the perception of art by exploring different forms of art and reflecting on the meaning of art and its connection to environmental issues.

Making it Inclusive

Make sure to point out how art can be an important way to make inclusiveness a shared process. You can look at the pictures of the boy Luka in the photo series Little Prince, and refer to artists such as Christy Brown, Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch and Henri Matisse.

Task 1: Painting Dead Nature

1. Select several Still Life (“Dead Nature”) artworks from various periods and painters. Select one of the paintings to think about with the class by a voting system.

2. Set up a thinking session around the painting.

   Discussion Plan

   1. Why do people paint?
   2. Why do people paint nature?
   3. Why do people paint still lifes?
   4. Why are these types of paintings called still life or dead nature?
   5. Do paintings of nature have to look like nature?
   6. Do painters compose the scene before they paint?
   7. Do still life paintings make you feel like eating?
   8. How would you set up one of these scenes, and why?
   9. Could one paint a still life painting in black and white?
   10. Do you think still life paintings tell a story?
3. Finally select elements for a still life painting and have everyone give a go at painting it.

Task 2: Poetry

1. Read and write a poem. Select a poet from your country and read some of its poems.
2. Illustrate poems with drawings and build a comic strip with everyone's illustrations.
3. Organise a poem-writing session for the entire classroom (practise rhyming).

Task 3: Sculpture with recycled materials

1. Show children some sites with sculptures made from recycled materials, for example 13 Incredible Artivists Using Recycled Materials in Their Art, 12 Sculptures Made From Recycled Materials and 10 Artists Working in Recycled Art.
2. Ask children to collect material from home and in the school the whole week and set up a day to make sculptures. Ask them on the day to select a container with material and get started. Install an exhibition for the school.

Task 4: Movie Pictures

Watch a children's film (one connected to sustainability and climate changes references if possible, like Ice Age) and hold a discussion on art inviting children to explore whether films can be considered an art form.

Variations

• Graffiti Consider graffiti and after explaining it to children discuss if it is a form of art.
• Music Consider how music is similar and different from other forms of art.

Further Ideas

• At the Museum Visit a museum, and then visit a museum online with the classroom, and hold a session on the nature of a museum and why museums have mediators who show and explain exhibitions.
• Making the World a Museum Think if it is possible to explore the world like a person visiting a museum.