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Art Grade 1 - 6 (1985)

© Alberta Education, Canada 
 Table of Contents   Program of Studies
Program Rationale & Philosophy

Art education is concerned with the organization of visual material. A primary reliance upon visual experience gives an emphasis that sets it apart from the performing arts. Acquiring proficiency in art requires systematic instruction in how we see, interpret and make sense of visual stimuli. It requires an understanding of how others interpret the visual messages that are products of this kind of activity. It requires an education in the use of traditional and contemporary tools, materials and media.

Art education is concerned with having individuals think and behave as artists. For the purposes of art education, the term “artist” is equally valid to describe one who has worked for a lifetime or someone who is a relative beginner. Ultimately, art is accessible to all individuals. Its practice results in changing the individual, in changing the relationship among individuals or in changing the social–physical environment.

Art education is concerned with pointing out the values that surround the creation and cherishing of art forms. Art is not merely created, it is valued. The relative values given to art products not only tell us about those who produce them, but introduce notions of how values have changed over time. Learning to see gives us the means to view the work of others and perhaps to relate that to our own works. In this case, however, searching for organization may be helped by knowledge about other people’s priorities.

Art education deals with ways in which people express their feelings in visual forms. Art takes the human condition as the focus of study. Persons involved in the visual arts reflect upon and externalize their personal feelings and intuitions or those of their fellow human beings. As artists, they share this ability with the writer, the poet and the musician. In making parallels and discovering relationships with the performing and literary arts we gain a sense of common purpose.

Art education deals with making and defending qualitative judgments about artworks. Becoming a perceptive critic attunes the individual to the unique contribution of the artist. By adopting the stance of critic we can develop methods of qualitative differentiation. We gain a sense that not all art is the same, and we are able to articulate reasons for preferring one work over another.

General Learner Expectations

The elementary visual arts program, through the four components of REFLECTION, DEPICTION, COMPOSITION and EXPRESSION, provides opportunity for a variety of experiences: a chance to grow and develop as an individual; to develop perceptual awareness; to learn visual arts skills and concepts; to interpret and communicate with the visual symbol; to create; to value, reflect upon and appreciate the cultural aspects of art; to relate and appreciate art in everyday life.

The major goal of the program should be to give the child a complete set of experiences. The child should have:

An Individual Experience

The individual is at the centre of visual education. Each student is special, with a need for recognition and a need to develop self-confidence. Each pupil may enter the program at a different stage or level and each may progress at a different rate. Art education is ultimately for the self-realization of the individual, developing the ability to see, understand, react, create, appreciate and reach.

Opportunity should be provided for the child to experience:

  • pride in achievement
  • valuable group activities
  • a sense of worth
  • practice in making decisions.

Opportunity should be provided for enabling the child to grow in:

  • independence
  • individuality
  • self-realization
  • self-awareness
  • creativity.
A Visual Experience

Seeing is a discipline that can be fostered. Visual education speaks to systematic instruction in perceptual skills: how we see, interpret, discover relationships, make decisions.

Opportunity should be provided for experiences that:

  • contribute to the child’s development of perceptual awareness in natural and manufactured forms.
A Learning Experience

Art education involves skill development in the areas of drawing, painting, print making, sculpture and fabric, photography and technographic arts in order to extend the child’s capabilities to express oneself—communicate through image making. Art education is the acquisition of knowledge through the elements and principles of design from functional and fine arts contexts. Art education is a schema of instruction.

Opportunity should be provided for experiences that contribute to:

  • a knowledge of the vocabulary of basic art terms and expressions appropriate to the student’s level of development
  • skills and techniques necessary for meaningful self-expression by the child
  • an understanding of art media, materials and processes and their appropriate use
  • an understanding of the expressive content inherent in visual forms.
A Communication Experience

Visual images communicate to the individual and the individual can communicate through visual images. In a world heavily populated by visual images, created by humankind, happened by humankind, spewed by machines, dealt by nature, severe communication demands are placed on the individual. Art education is visual reading and expression.

Opportunity should be provided for experiences that contribute to the child’s:

  • ability to interpret images
  • ability to express through images
  • ability to reflect about images.
A Creative Experience

A natural outgrowth of seeing, interpreting and discovering relationships is expressing. The language of art is available to all and can be used to express both thought and feeling. Art education provides the means and opportunity for creative activities of a wide nature; encourages the use of the imagination, inventiveness and a spirit of inquiry; and provides decision-making opportunities.

Opportunity should be provided for:

  • a wide range of experiences with various media and art materials
  • drawing from the total curriculum for the purpose of creating
  • examining and exploring a variety of visual communication forms and purposes
  • contemplating possibilities and exploring the imagination as a source of images and as problem-solving devices
  • expressing feelings and individual messages
A Cultural Experience

Art speaks a universal language of culture, spanning history and peoples. Art is part of humankind’s heritage. Art education is concerned with valuing, reflecting and appreciating this legacy.

Opportunity should be provided for:

  • awareness of and appreciation for the ethnic and cultural aspects of the visual arts in our society
  • an understanding of art as a common or universal means of expression among all peoples
  • an appreciation of artistic accomplishments, past and present.
An Environmental Experience

Environment—natural and human-made—affects the individual. Visual images and decisions happen continually in today’s world from choices of clothing to television programs, from choices of where to live to what to do with the front lawn, to the look of hubcaps on one’s car. Art education is concerned with informed choices of manufactured items and quality environment.

Opportunity should be provided for:

  • making aesthetic judgments about things in the environment
  • noting that the visual arts are an integral part of daily life.
Specific Learner Expectations - Overview

The elementary art program—level one (Grades 1 and 2), level two (Grades 3 and 4) and level three (Grades 5 and 6)—is a unified, sequential course that focuses on four major components of visual learning.

REFLECTION

  • responses to visual forms in nature, designed objects and artworks.

DEPICTION

  • development of imagery based on observations of the visual world.

COMPOSITION

  • organization of images and their qualities in the creation of unified statements.

EXPRESSION

  • use of art materials as a vehicle or medium for saying something in a meaningful way.

Because each of the content areas emphasizes a different aspect of art learning, the teacher can design an art lesson with any one of the four areas as the nucleus from which learning in the other three areas can evolve. It is necessary to see the relationships that exist among the four content areas so that teachers can emphasize each as it is appropriate to students and their program.

In Reflection, attention is given to three major aspects:

  • 1. analyzing structures in nature
  • 2. assessing designed objects
  • 3. appreciating art.

Observation of natural and human-made forms is a necessary component of Reflection. The skills involved in appreciating art for its content can be developed as lessons in themselves or used to precede or follow lessons in Depiction or Composition.

In Depiction, the basic skills of image making are developed using one or more of the three reflective areas as referents. These skills are developed according to forms and their proportions, actions and viewpoints and the qualities and details of those forms.

In Composition, the image-making skills developed in Depiction are employed to create integrated artworks. These organizational skills relate to emphasis, unity and craftsmanship.

In Expression, the focus is on purpose, theme and subject matter, as well as on media and techniques. Expression provides the means through which the student can employ reflective, depictive and compositional skills to create a meaningful artwork. Although the teacher should choose media and techniques from all six studio areas outlined, students should be given choices within each of these, as well as in theme and purpose. It is not necessary to teach every objective in “media and techniques”. Teachers are encouraged to choose areas based on their own resources and experiences.

The first section of the program contains the scope and sequence objectives for each level. These appear individually as Reflection, Depiction, Composition and Expression and not only show the relationship among levels but indicate the emphasis at each level for a particular subcategory of that concept area.

The second section of the program contains appropriate concepts for each of the three levels in each of the content areas: Reflection, Depiction, Composition and Expression. Each concept is developed by means of Suggested Methods or Strategies from which the teacher can choose. Several concepts might be taught in a content area before another area is approached. Expression is taught as an integration with the other three content areas. Also, as each concept is taught, suggestions are given for relating it to other content areas.

Each of the content areas is developed from simple to more complex learning, from personal to wider social concerns. Because of its structure, teachers need to refer to the building blocks used in levels preceding their own.

Level One - Grades 1 & 2
REFLECTION - Grades 1 & 2

Component 1 - ANALYSIS: Students will notice commonalities within classes of natural objects or forms.

Concepts

  • A. Natural forms have common physical attributes according to the class in which they belong.
  • B. Natural forms are related to the environment from which they originate.
  • C. Natural forms have different surface qualities in colour, texture and tone.
  • D. Natural forms display patterns and make patterns.

Component 2 - ASSESSMENT: Students will assess the use or function of objects.

Concepts

  • A. Designed objects serve specific purposes.
  • B. Designed objects serve people.
  • C. Designed objects are made by people or machines.
  • D. Designed objects must function well to be valuable.

Component 3 - APPRECIATION: Students will interpret artworks literally.

Concepts

  • A. Art takes different forms depending on the materials and techniques used.
  • B. An art form dictates the way it is experienced.
  • C. An artwork tells something about its subject matter and the artist who made it.
  • D. Colour variation is built on three basic colours.
  • E. Tints and shades of colours or hues affect the contrast of a composition.
  • F. All aspects of an artwork contribute to the story it tells.
DEPICTION - Grades 1 & 2

Component 4 - MAIN FORMS AND PROPORTIONS: Students will learn the shapes of things as well as develop decorative styles.

Concepts

  • A. All shapes can be reduced to basic shapes; i.e., circular, triangular, rectangular.
  • B. Shapes can be depicted as organic or geometric.
  • C. Shapes can be made using different procedures; e.g., cutting, drawing, tearing, stitching.
  • D. Animals and plants can be represented in terms of their proportions.
  • E. A horizontal line can be used to divide a picture plane into interesting and varied proportions of sky and ground.

Component 5 - ACTIONS AND VIEWPOINTS: Students will increase the range of actions and viewpoints depicted.

Concepts

  • A. Movement of figures and objects can be shown in different ways.
  • B. An X-ray view shows the inside of something.
  • C. Forms can be overlapping to show depth or distance.

Component 6 - QUALITIES AND DETAILS: Students will represent surface qualities of objects and forms.

Concepts

  • A. Texture is a surface quality that can be captured by rubbings or markings.
  • B. Textures form patterns.
  • C. Primary colours can be mixed to produce new hues.
  • D. Colour can be lightened to make tints or darkened to make shades. These tints or shades are also referred to as tone or value.
  • E. Images are stronger when contrasts of light and dark are used.
  • F. Details enrich forms.
COMPOSITION - Grades 1 & 2

Component 7 - EMPHASIS: Students will create emphasis based on personal choices.

Concepts

  • A. An active, interesting part of a theme can become the main part of a composition.
  • B. The main part of a composition can be treated thoroughly before adding related parts.
  • C. Contrast subject matter with the ground for emphasis.
  • D. Forms can run off the edges of the picture space in a composition.

Component 8 - UNITY: Students will create unity through density and rhythm.

Concepts

  • A. Families of shapes, and shapes inside or beside shapes, create harmony.
  • B. Overlapping forms help to unify a composition.
  • C. Repetition of qualities such as colour, texture and tone produce rhythm and balance.
  • D. A composition should develop the setting or supporting forms, as well as the subject matter.

Component 9 - CRAFTSMANSHIP: Students will add finishing touches.

Concepts

  • A. Finishing touches (accents, contrasts, outlines) can be added to make a work more powerful.
  • B. Stepping back from a work helps in judging how it can be improved.
EXPRESSION - Grades 1 & 2

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 1: Students will record or document activities, people and discoveries.

Concepts

  • A. Everyday activities can be documented visually.
  • B. Special events, such as field trips, visits and festive occasions can be recorded visually.
  • C. Family groups and people relationships can be recorded visually.
  • D. Knowledge gained from study or experimentation can be recorded visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 2: Students will illustrate or tell a story.

Concepts

  • A. A narrative can be retold or interpreted visually.
  • B. An original story can be created visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 3: Students will decorate items personally created.

Concepts

  • A. Details, patterns or textures can be added to two-dimensional works.
  • B. Details, patterns or textures can be added to the surface of three-dimensional works.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 4: Students will express a feeling or a message.

Concepts

  • A. Feelings and moods can be interpreted visually.
  • B. Specific messages, beliefs and interests can be interpreted visually, or symbolized.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 5: Students will create an original composition, object or space based on supplied motivation.

Concepts

  • A. Outside stimulation from sources such as music, literature, photographs, film, creative movement, drama, television and computers can be interpreted visually.

Component 10 (ii) - SUBJECT MATTER: Students will develop themes, with an emphasis on personal concerns, based on:

  • A. Plants and animals
  • B. Environment and places
  • C. Manufactured or human-made things
  • D. Fantasy
  • E. People

Component 10 (iii) - MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES: Students will use media and techniques, with an emphasis on exploration and direct methods in drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, fabric arts, photography and technographic arts.

Concepts

  • A. Drawing
    • Use a variety of drawing media in an exploratory way to see how each one has its own characteristics.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of lines—curved, straight, thick, thin, broken, continuous.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of shapes—open, closed forms; straight, curved forms; geometric (rectangles, squares, circles and triangles) and free form.
    • Make drawings from direct observation.
    • Use drawing media in combination with other media such as painting, print making or fabric.
    • Use drawing to add details and textures, or to create pattern.
  • B. Painting
    • Learn simple brush skills: holding and unloading the brush, applying paint, cleaning the brush.
    • Experiment with the medium to explore its possibilities.
    • Work primarily with tempera paint or tempera paint with additives, using large brushes to paint.
    • Mix primary colours and lighten and darken colours.
    • Paint using experimental methods, including without a brush.
    • Paint directly without preliminary sketching.
    • Use paint in combination with other media and techniques.
    • Make small group and/or large group murals.
  • C. Print Making
    • Use frottage (texture rubbings).
    • Make lifts or transfers, using wax crayon or fabric crayon.
    • Explore the use of print-making materials and the application of paint, using brushes and rollers (brayers).
    • Explore found object printing and the making of pattern through stamping.
    • Use print-making images in making pictures or compositions.
  • D. Sculpture
    • Make two- and three-dimensional assemblages from found materials.
    • Learn the care and handling of clay, and explore the modelling possibilities.
    • Use simple clay modelling techniques of rolling, pinching, adding, pressing, making coils, texturing.
    • Create three-dimensional forms, using paper sculpture techniques of folding, scoring, cutting, curling, weaving, rolling, twisting, joining.
    • Cast plaster of Paris relief sculptures in sand molds.
  • E. Fabric Arts
    • Decorate fabric, using print-making techniques of relief printing, stamping, stencilling.
    • Use collage techniques for picture making with fabric.
    • Learn the basics of thread and needle manipulation, and use simple stitchery (running stitch and blanket stitch) for decoration and picture making.
    • Use a simple, handmade loom to weave plain or tabby pattern.
    • Braid wool or cloth strips to be used as enhancements.
    • Tie-dye using one colour of dye.
    • Use simple batik or resist dyeing using a safe resist such as flour and water paste, or margarine.
  • F. Photography and Technographic Arts
    • Take advantage of the visual art implications of any available technological device, and explore the potential of emerging technologies. Included at this level:
      • - simple camera for documentation and sequencing of events
      • - overhead projector for experimenting with shapes, colours, compositions and the relating of a story using cutout shapes, real objects or drawings on acetate rolls
      • - computer software packages and devices, such as the light pen and the mouse, to explore, design and compose
      • - copying devices for recording images and textures
      • - slides: handmade using ink, crayon, acrylic paint or felt pen for exploring line and shape
      • - emerging technologies, as available and applicable.
    • Employ technological media techniques, practices and capabilities to promote art understanding and create designs and compositions. Included at this level:
      • - storyboards to show a sequence of events
      • - roll movies to show sequence or tell a story
      • - different kinds of viewfinders to select and frame shots
      • - shadow puppets
      • - moving, changing, experimenting to obtain different effects, designs, compositions
      • - retaining copies of only that which is of particular interest
      • - photograms with found objects.
Level Two - Grades 3 & 4
REFLECTION - Grades 3 & 4

Component 1 - ANALYSIS: Students will make distinctions within classes of natural objects or forms.

Concepts

  • A. Each class of natural forms has distinguishing characteristics.
  • B. Natural forms are related functionally to their environment.
  • C. Earth and water forms reveal many variations.
  • D. Environments are altered by natural forces.
  • E. Change in natural forms occurs over time.

Component 2 - ASSESSMENT: Students will assess the visual qualities of objects.

Concepts

  • A. Form should follow function.
  • B. Durability influences the function of an object.
  • C. Materials should be used honestly.
  • D. Materials influence the form and function of an object.
  • E. Useful objects can be derived from designs in nature.
  • F. Surface treatments should harmonize with and not detract from the main form.

Component 3 - APPRECIATION: Students will interpret artworks by examining their context and less visible characteristics.   

Concepts

  • A. Contextual information (geographical, historical, biographical, cultural) may be needed to understand works of art.
  • B. Artistic style is largely the product of an age.
  • C. Technological change affects types of art.
  • D. Our associations influence the way we experience a work of art.
  • E. Art is valued for different reasons; e.g., aesthetic, economic, symbolic, associative.
  • F. Art serves societal as well as personal needs.
DEPICTION - Grades 3 & 4

Component 4 - MAIN FORMS AND PROPORTIONS: Students will perfect forms and develop more realistic treatments.

Concepts

  • A. Shapes can suggest movement or stability.
  • B. Many shapes are symmetrical.
  • C. Images can be portrayed in varying degrees of realism.
  • D. Internal as well as external proportions can be depicted.
  • E. Landscapes can show middle ground, background and foreground.
  • F. Size variations among objects give the illusion of depth.

Component 5 - ACTIONS AND VIEWPOINTS: Students will select appropriate references for depicting.

Concepts

  • A. Looking at negative shapes helps create a different view of something.
  • B. Drawing strategies, such as gesture to capture action, contour to study important edges and massing to show bulk or weight, are helpful in depicting animate forms.
  • C. Actions among things in a setting create a dynamic interest.
  • D. Objects can be depicted selectively from a broad range of viewpoints.

Component 6 - QUALITIES AND DETAILS: Students will refine surface qualities of objects and forms.

Concepts

  • A. Texture can be represented from a range of different studio techniques.
  • B. Colour can be made to appear dull or bright.
  • C. Gradations of tone are useful to show depth or the effect of light on objects.
  • D. By increasing details in the foreground the illusion of depth and reality can be enhanced.
COMPOSITION - Grades 3 & 4

Component 7 - EMPHASIS: Students will create emphasis by the treatment of forms and qualities.

Concepts

  • A. The centre of interest can be made prominent by contrasting its size, shape, colour or texture from the other parts of the composition.
  • B. Format can be adjusted and composition tightened by editing or cropping the unnecessary areas from the edges of a work, after it is completed.
  • C. Details, accents and outlines will enhance the dominant area or thing.

Component 8 - UNITY: Students will create unity by interrelating the parts of a composition.

Concepts

  • A. The parts can be arranged so that movement in the picture space leads the eye around and not out of the picture area.
  • B. Parallel edges induce harmony within a composition.
  • C. Every major area of a composition should be interesting in itself.
  • D. Limited colours and materials tighten a composition.

Component 9 - CRAFTSMANSHIP: Students will improve compositions by refining, rehearsing and critiquing.

Concepts

  • A. Refinement of forms and surface qualities is necessary to give a finished appearance to a composition.
  • B. Rehearsals and ongoing critiques should be scheduled to improve composing skills.
EXPRESSION - Grades 3 & 4

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 1: Students will record or document activities, people and discoveries.

Concepts

  • A. Everyday activities can be documented visually.
  • B. Special events, such as field trips, visits and festive occasions can be recorded visually.
  • C. Family groups and people relationships can be recorded visually.
  • D. Knowledge gained from study or experimentation can be recorded visually.
  • E. Local and provincial events can be recorded visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 2: Students will illustrate or tell a story.   

Concepts

  • A. A narrative can be retold or interpreted visually.
  • B. An original story can be created visually.
  • C. Material from any subject discipline can be illustrated visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 3: Students will decorate items personally created.

Concepts

  • A. Details, patterns or textures can be added to two-dimensional works.
  • B. Details, patterns or textures can be added to the surface of three-dimensional works.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 4: Students will express a feeling or a message.  

Concepts

  • A. Feelings and moods can be interpreted visually.
  • B. Specific messages, beliefs and interests can be interpreted visually, or symbolized.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 5: Students will create an original composition, object or space based on supplied motivation.

Concepts

  • A. Outside stimulation from sources such as music, literature, photographs, film, creative movement, drama, television and computers can be interpreted visually.

Component 10 (ii) - SUBJECT MATTER: Students will develop themes, with an emphasis on personal concerns, based on:

  • A. Plants and animals
  • B. Environments and places
  • C. Manufactured or human-made things
  • D. Fantasy
  • E. People

Component 10 (iii) - MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES: Students will use media and techniques, with an emphasis on mixing media and perfecting techniques in drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, fabric arts, photography and technographic arts.

Concepts

  • A. Drawing
    • Continue to explore ways of using drawing materials.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of lines extending beyond Level One into character and direction—passive, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, parallel.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of shapes and structures beyond Level One into symmetrical and asymmetrical, skeletal, spiral, and into mass drawing (blocking in the main parts of a composition).
    • Place more emphasis on direct observation as a basis for drawing.
    • Use drawing to add details, texture or to create pattern including drawing for high detail.
    • Make quick sketches.
    • Make drawings from a wide range of viewpoints.
    • Experiment with blind contour drawing and continuous line drawing.
    • Use drawing media to achieve gradations of tone or value in drawings.
    • Use simple methods to indicate depth or perspective; e.g., increase details in the foreground, use lighter tones or values in the background, large objects in foreground.
  • B. Painting
    • Extend brush skills and further experimentation with the medium so as to achieve special effects such as textures.
    • Continue to paint, using experimental methods including without a brush.
    • Continue working with tempera paint or tempera paint with additives, and be introduced to water colour.
    • Mix paints to show intensity of colour.
    • Continue to use paint in combination with other media and techniques.
    • Apply washes, using tempera or water colour.
    • Use preliminary sketches as the basis for a painting, as well as painting directly.
  • C. Print Making
    • Further explore print-making materials and their uses and effects.
    • Make relief prints (printing from a built-up surface) using glue line, string, cardboard or collage materials.
    • Make prints using stencils.
    • Make smudge or blot prints by folding paper with ink between.
    • Explore printing with more than one colour.
    • Make monoprints, working directly with the plate or a surface.
    • Continue using print-making techniques learned in other grades.
    • Apply print-making techniques to compositions.
  • D. Sculpture
    • Continue to make two- and three-dimensional assemblages from found materials, reaching for more sophistication leading to specifics, such as puppets, mobiles, mosaics, papier-mâché.
    • Continue exploring the modelling possibilities of clay beyond Level One—techniques such as wedging, welding, making of slabs by rolling, throwing, paddling, impressing with objects, decorating with coils, pellets, extruded clay, firing, glazing.
    • Continue exploring paper sculpture as a means of making three-dimensional forms.
    • Explore wood relief using fastening techniques such as nailing and gluing, and finishing techniques such as sanding and staining.
    • Continue casting of plaster, advancing to include both relief and intaglio with a greater emphasis on composition and finishing work.
    • Explore the possibilities of simple wire sculpture, including bending, twisting, cutting, looping.
  • E. Fabric Arts
    • Decorate fabric, using simple stitching techniques, such as running stitch, blanket stitch, cross-stitch, couching, French knot, satin stitch.
    • Continue to advance weaving techniques beyond Level One to include such things as warping a simple loom; achieving interesting surface qualities with open weave, double weave; using looms that are not rectangular in shape; altering the weave of an existing, loosely woven fabric.
    • Use simple batik, using melted wax and one colour of dye.
    • Continue using collage, braiding and tie-dyeing techniques from previous grades, if possible.
    • Decorate and/or design, using appliqué.
  • F. Photography and Technographic Arts
    • Take advantage of the visual art implications of any available technological device, and explore the potential of emerging technologies. Included at this level, and advancing from previous grades:
      • - simple camera for recording specific effects such as textures, rhythm, pattern
      • - overhead projector for experimenting with shapes, colours, compositions and sequencing of events, using felt pen on acetate
      • - filmstrips handmade with felt pen for experimenting and sequencing
      • - slides as a basis for study and motivation in reflection and depiction; handmade for experimenting with line, shape and pattern
      • - computer and computer software packages and input devices, such as the light pen and the mouse, to explore, design, compose, animate and program to make simple geometric forms
      • - copying devices for making compositions and designs
      • - laserdisc visuals as a basis for study and motivation in reflection and depiction
      • - 8 mm movie camera for documentation, sequencing and animation
      • - lighting sources such as spotlights, flashlights, overhead projector light, disco lights for experimenting with effects
      • - emerging new technologies, as available and applicable.
    • Employ technological media techniques, practices and capabilities to promote art understanding and create designs and compositions. Included at this level and advancing from previous grades:
      • - adjustable framing devices to select and cut out scenes from a larger picture, and to sequence
      • - shadow puppets
      • - photograms to make compositions or develop a story line
      • - printers to record computer compositions, or direct photography off the screen
      • - animation techniques available through computer software packages
      • - simple film animation with jointed figures, movable paper shapes or plasticene models
      • - lighting techniques for highlighting and creating an effect or mood.
Level Three - Grades 5 & 6
REFLECTION - Grades 5 & 6

Component 1 - ANALYSIS: Students will study and analyze the individual character of natural objects or forms.

Concepts

  • A. Natural forms tell something about the way they were made.
  • B. Natural forms can be examined for less visible characteristics.
  • C. The conditions under which something is viewed affects what is seen; e.g., natural screens like snow and rain, or lenses such as telescopic, microscopic and coloured glass.
  • D. A form can be examined analytically to see how the whole is composed of its parts.
  • E. A form can be examined synthetically to see how the parts make up the whole.
  • F. Natural forms reveal many different structures; e.g., skeletal, spiral, orbital, radial, floating, grid, fan, arch, concentric, faceted.

Component 2 - ASSESSMENT: Students will impose standards on designed objects and invent improved versions.

Concepts

  • A. Shapes evolve and change over time.
  • B. Designed objects can be evaluated on the basis of function and attractiveness.
  • C. Criteria are necessary for the evaluation of designed objects.
  • D. Improved designs can be conceived for any object.

Component 3 - APPRECIATION: Students will interpret artworks for their symbolic meaning.

Concepts

  • A. Artistic style affects the emotional impact of an artwork.
  • B. An artwork can be analyzed for the meaning of its visible components and their interrelationships.  
  • C. Artworks contain symbolic representations of a subject or theme.  
  • D. Artworks can be appreciated at many different levels, literal and symbolic.  
  • E. An art critic helps us to understand works of art.
DEPICTION - Grades 5 & 6

Component 4 - MAIN FORMS AND PROPORTIONS: Students will modify forms by abstraction, distortion and other transformations.

Concepts

  • A. The direction of shapes determines the static or dynamic quality of the work.
  • B. Shapes can be enhanced with complexities, embedded or extended forms.
  • C. The metamorphosis and transformation of shapes can be depicted, one shape becomes another; e.g., a cloud becomes an animal; or one shape changes within itself; e.g., pupa to butterfly.
  • D. Forms can reveal their functions.
  • E. Shapes can be abstracted or reduced to their essence.
  • F. Shapes can be distorted for special reasons.
  • G. Sighting techniques can be used to analyze the proportions of things.
  • H. Receding planes and foreshortened forms create depth in a picture plane.
  • I. Gridding can be used for systematically capturing or distorting the proportions of things.

Component 5 - ACTIONS AND VIEWPOINTS: Students will refine methods and techniques for more effortless image making.

Concepts

  • A. Different drawing techniques; e.g., seeing basic shapes, noticing the direction of forms, plotting the position of extremities, are useful to depict actions.
  • B. Using a finder or viewing frame helps to see an action within a format.
  • C. Pushing out a shape from the inside to the edges allows a flexible means of catching the position.
  • D. Size interchange affects the apparent position of something.
  • E. Surface reflections, shading and shadows affect the viewpoints.

Component 6 - QUALITIES AND DETAILS: Students will employ surface qualities for specific effects.

Concepts

  • A. Colour harmonies affect the mood and feeling of the viewer.
  • B. Tonal interchanges enhance a work.
  • C. Distinguishing characteristics of things can be portrayed vividly or subtly.
  • D. The character of marks is influenced by drawing or painting tools and methods.
COMPOSITION - Grades 5 & 6

Component 7 - EMPHASIS: Students will create emphasis through the use of structural devices and strategies.

Concepts

  • A. Viewfinders are useful devices to determine the best format for what will be portrayed, and the centre of interest.
  • B. The important area in a composition can be enhanced by radial, conical and framing structures.
  • C. Rhythmic features can lead the eye to the dominant area in a composition.
  • D. Arrangements of forms into shapes and patterns can tighten a design, direct attention and hold interest in a composition.
  • E. Labelling (title and signature) demands artistic sensitivity as to placement, size, shape and medium.

Component 8 - UNITY: Students will create unity by integrating the parts of a composition into the whole.

Concepts

  • A. Implied line produces tensions and connections to achieve unity.
  • B. Foreground to background movement keeps the interest within a composition.
  • C. Transitions of colour, texture or tone relate the parts of a composition to a unified whole.
  • D. Attention should be given to well-distributed negative space, as well as to the balance of positive forms.
  • E. Interesting negative space complements and binds the positive areas into an harmonious whole.
  • F. Pervasive colour, texture or tone can unify a composition, as from an overall wash of paint, a glaze, a textural additive, a surface treatment, or the like.

Component 9 - CRAFTSMANSHIP: Students will perfect images through economical use of material and efficiency of effort.

Concepts

  • A. Minimal actions and limited media result in stronger forms, as in Chinese painting, cartoons or Inuit sculptures.
  • B. Skill in getting the most from the least.
EXPRESSION - Grades 5 & 6

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 1: Students will record or document activities, people and discoveries.

Concepts

  • A. Everyday activities can be documented visually.
  • B. Special events, such as field trips, visits and festive occasions can be recorded visually.
  • C. Family groups and people relationships can be recorded visually.
  • D. Knowledge gained from study or experimentation can be recorded visually.
  • E. National and international events can be recorded visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 2: Students will illustrate or tell a story.

Concepts

  • A. A narrative can be retold or interpreted visually.
  • B. An original story can be created visually.
  • C. Material from any subject discipline can be illustrated visually.
  • D. Slogans, causes and promotions can be told visually.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 3: Students will decorate items personally created.

Concepts

  • A. Details, patterns or textures can be added to two-dimensional works.
  • B. Details, patterns or textures can be added to the surface of three-dimensional works.

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 4: Students will express a feeling or a message.

Concepts

  • A. Feelings and moods can be interpreted visually.
  • B. Specific messages, beliefs and interests can be interpreted visually, or symbolized.  

Component 10 (i) - PURPOSE 5: Students will create an original composition, object or space based on supplied motivation.

Concepts

  • A. Outside stimulation from sources such as music, literature, photographs, film, creative movement, drama, television and computers can be interpreted visually.

Component 10 (ii) - SUBJECT MATTER: Students will develop themes, with an emphasis on global awareness, based on:

  • A. Plants and animals
  • B. Environments and places
  • C. Manufactured or human-made things
  • D. Fantasy
  • E. People

Component 10 (iii) - MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES: Students will use media and techniques, with an emphasis on more indirect complex procedures and effects in drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, fabric arts, photography and technographic arts.

Concepts

  • A. Drawing
    • Continue to explore ways of using drawing materials.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of lines extending beyond previous levels into illusion.
    • Use drawing tools to make a variety of shapes and structures extending beyond previous levels to exploring and enclosing forms, active and passive forms, concave, convex forms, concentric and branching structures.
    • Use models to make drawings with increasing accuracy.
    • Use drawing to add details, textures, create pattern or suggest volume including hatching and cross-hatching, shading, dotting.
    • Make gesture drawings or scribble drawings to show action or movement.
    • Use distortion of line and shape in drawing for special design effects, cartoons or caricatures.
    • Make serial drawings to simulate movement.
    • Abstract or simplify a form.
    • Indicate perspective in drawings.
  • B. Painting
    • Continue to strive for more sophistication in brush skills by using techniques learned in earlier years.
    • Continue to paint, using experimental methods including without a brush.
    • Continue working with tempera paint or tempera paint thickened with additives, such as liquid laundry starch, fabric softener, wallpaper paste and water colour, and be introduced to acrylic.
    • Mix and use colour tones to achieve perspective.
    • Use analogous colours, colours close to each other on the colour wheel, to harmonize the colours of the composition.
    • Continue to use paint in combination with other media and techniques.
    • Use washes under and over painted images to indicate colour value from light to dark, and simulate depth of field.
    • Create impasto effects.
  • C. Print Making
    • Further explore print-making materials and their uses and effects.
    • Continue to use print-making techniques learned in lower grades.
    • Make prints by using incised (carved or indented) surfaces—wood, soap, wax, erasers, plaster of Paris, clay, styrofoam.
    • Use prepared brayers or rollers to make pattern.
    • Apply printing techniques to composition, including block-out techniques, combination of types of printing, and use of more than one colour.
  • D. Sculpture
    • Continue to make two- and three-dimensional assemblages from found materials, reaching for more sophistication than at previous levels.
    • Continue clay modelling, going beyond previous levels to include more advanced slab techniques; e.g., cutting, welding to make cylindrical shapes, draping over objects; use of armatures, coil pots; coloured slip; application of stains.
    • Continue exploring paper sculpture techniques.
    • Advance wood construction from previous grades to include such techniques as pegging, using screws, finer shaping by sanding, filing, drilling, chiselling, carving and experimenting with the texture of wood.
    • Continue casting of plaster and advance to casting blocks of plaster of Paris mixed with a material such as vermiculite, zonolite or coffee grounds for the purpose of carving (substractive sculpture).
    • Advance wire sculpture to include tying, coiling, wrapping, soldering in combination with other materials.
  • E. Fabric Arts
    • Decorate fabric with more complex stitching techniques than previous levels, including variations of cross-stitch, feather stitch, chain stitch, daisy stitch.
    • Continue to advance weaving techniques to include more sophisticated looms and weaving in combination with other techniques, such as knotting.
    • Continue to advance batik techniques to include two or more dyes.
    • Continue to use collage, braiding and tie-dyeing techniques from previous grades, if applicable.
    • Continue to use appliqué as a designing or decorating device, and extend to quilting in selected areas.
    • Use stitchery methods of one’s own invention.
  • F. Photography and Technographic Arts
    • Take advantage of the visual art implications of any available technological device and explore the potential of emerging technologies. Included at this level, and advancing from previous grades:
      • - simple camera used for specific purposes such as close-ups, medium shots, long shots of same subject matter; various viewpoints, action, composition
      • - overhead projector for experimenting and composing with shape, line or colour including the use of fluid media (water, oil, food colouring), coloured acetates
      • - computer and computer software package and input devices, such as light pen, the mouse and tablets, to explore, design, compose, animate and program to make geometric shapes and designs
      • - copying devices for making compositions that involve paste-ups, distortions, reductions, block-outs
      • - laserdisc visuals interfaced with the computer for study and motivation purposes
      • - 8 mm movie camera for documentation, sequencing, capturing movement, animation
      • - lighting sources such as spotlights, flashlights, overhead projector light, disco lights for experimenting with effects
      • - video camera to compose
      • - slides for recording and sharing; handmade for understanding composition and pattern
      • - filmstrips handmade for documentation, sequencing and storytelling
      • - emerging new technologies, as available and applicable.
    • Employ technological media techniques, practices and capabilities to promote art understanding, and create designs and compositions. Included at this level and advancing from previous grades:
      • - pinhole camera construction
      • - developing film
      • - drawing directly on film or scratching for animation
      • - selecting and synchronizing music and/or sound effects for a set of slides, short film, videotape
      • - making or capturing visuals that carry a story and/or accompany a script
      • - handmade slides





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