5th Grade Visual Art Training The Cleveland Art Museum

1
5th Grade Visual Art TrainingThe Cleveland Art
Museum
2

• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
  narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it
  sorely. Broad, wholesome, charitable views can
  not be acquired by vegetating in ones little
  corner of earth.
• - Mark Twain
• From Innocents Abroad, 1869

3
Two Visual Art Trainings in 2009-2010

• September 22nd
• Video-Conference Cleveland Art Museum Aztec,
  Maya and More! with Tyson Ledgerwood
• September 23rd
• 5th Grade Level PLC with Carey Linder

4
5th Grade Visual Art TrainingThe Cleveland Art
Museum
5
School Wide Art Show 2009-2010

• The winners of the individual school art shows
  will be framed and displayed downtown at the
  Center for the Arts May 1.

6

• The word art, derived from an ancient
  Indo-European root that means to fit together,
  suggests as much. Art is about fitting things
  together words, images, objects, processes,
  thought, historical epochs.
• - Jeffrey J. Schnapp
• Director of Stanford Humanities Lab
• Stanford University

7
Hour 1
8

• Virtual Classroom Lesson
• Questions and Answers from Docent
• Sign-up for Video-Conference in your classroom.

9
Front Face of a Stela (Free-standing stone with
relief), Mexico, Maya c. 692 CE.
10

• Seated Figure, Mexico, Olmec, 1200-300 BC, c.
  900-300 BC,

11
Male and Female Figures, Mexico, Nayarit, 1st C.
BCE- 4th C. CE.
12
Figure of a Warrior, Mexico, Aztec, c.
1350-1519. CMA
13
Hour 2
14
Hands On Classroom Lesson 1Mayan Art

1. Make a faux stone finish.
2. Let dry.
3. Cut out stencil of a Lord or Lady
4. Trace the shape on the side of your paper with
   pencil.
5. Draw the details with pencil.
6. Fill the blank space with a symbol that
   represents you or your family with pencil.
7. Trace the lines with a black oil pastel.

15
Hour 3
16
Hands On Classroom Lesson 2Aztec Art

1. Put name on back of brown mask.
2. Cut out stencil for backing.
3. Cover the mask by gluing turquoise blue, light
   blue, and dark blue and green squares of paper to
   make a mosaic look.
4. Add rocks and beads for decoration.

17
Resource Kits

• The Cleveland Art Museum have a printable PDFs
  on the website that includes many pages of
  activities including but not limited to art.
• The website link is http//www.clevelandart.org/
  educef/distance/4312127.aspx

18
What a Fifth Grade Needs to Know about The Maya,
Aztecs and More!

• Centuries before Europeans came to the New World,
  great civilizations had already arisen in Central
  and South America the civilizations of
• The Maya
• The Aztecs
• The Incas.

Mayan Art Detail of Front Face of a Stela
(Free-standing Stone with Relief), Mesoamerica,
Southern Lowlands, Maya people (AD 250-900),
Classic Period (AD 200 - 1000) 692.
19
What a Fifth Grade Needs to Know about The Maya,
Aztecs and More!

• The Maya, in Central America, were the earliest
  of the three, starting as far back as 500 B.C.
• The Aztecs developed their empire much later, and
  flourished in what is now Central Mexico.
• The Incas thrived about the same time as the
  Aztecs, and lived in the Andes Mountains of South
  America.
• These great early civilizations that were
  inhabited by peoples who were here long before
  the Europeans started their small settlements at
  Jamestown and St. Augustine.

Aztec Art Hunchback Seated on a Stool, Central
Panama, Conte Style, c. 600-800
20

• Mayan Civilization

Front Face of a Stela (Free-standing Stone with
Relief), Mesoamerica, Southern Lowlands, Maya
people (AD 250-900), Classic Period (AD 200 -
1000) 692.
21
The Maya

• If you travel to Guatemala or parts of Mexico
• You can still meet people who call themselves
  Maya.
• These people can speak he Mayan language.
• They are descendents of the ancient Maya who
  built and ruled dozens of highly civilized cities
  in Central America.

Mayan Women Weaving, Francisco Dosamantes
(Mexican, 1911 - 1986)
22
The Maya

• One of the most impressive Mayan cities was
  Tikal.
• The citys ruins can still be seen in a jungle in
  Guatemala.
• The city has soaring temples and palaces
  decorated with
• Colorful paintings
• Writing (called hieroglyphics).
• Not many people lived there.
• The city was used for special religious
  ceremonies and sacrifices.

Mayan Women Weaving, Francisco Dosamantes
(Mexican, 1911 - 1986)
23
The Maya

• If you were a Maya, your familys ancestors would
  be extremely important to you.
• Depending on who your ancestors were, you might
  spend your life as
• A laborer hauling rocks from the local quarries
• A high ranking soldier serving the emperor.
• The Maya believed that the elite group who ruled
  them had descended from the gods.
• A familys line of descent was a common theme of
  Mayan art that decorated Mayan buildings included
  the many beautiful
• Sculptures
• Paintings
• Writings

Mayan Women Weaving, Francisco Dosamantes
(Mexican, 1911 - 1986)
24
The Maya

• If you were a Maya, your familys ancestors would
  be extremely important to you.
• Depending on who your ancestors were, you might
  spend your life as
• A laborer hauling rocks from the local quarries
• A high ranking soldier serving the emperor.
• The Maya believed that the elite group who ruled
  them had descended from the gods.
• A familys line of descent was a common theme of
  Mayan art, including the many beautiful
• Sculptures
• Paintings
• Writings that decorated Mayan buildings.

• Head from a Building's Façade, Mexico, Campeche,
  Maya style (250-900)

25
Maya Life and Learning

• Most Maya were peasants.
• They lived outside the cities.
• They worked as laborers
• They grew maize for the ruling lords.
• They visited the temple and palaces (at Tikal,
  for instance) on special occasions for religious
  ceremonies.

Tripod Vessel with Lid, Mexico or Central
America, Maya style (250-900)
26
Maya Life and Learning

• Inside a Mayan city, on a normal day, you would
  find
• Crafts people
• Artisans
• Weavers
• Stonemasons
• Jewelry makers
• Potters
• They worked hard to please their lords and
  princes.
• At the royal court there were people performing
  for their leaders.
• Musicians
• Poets
• Storytellers

Tripod Vessel with Lid, Mexico or Central
America, Maya style (250-900)
27
Maya Life and Learning

• We know that the Maya believed in many gods who
  controlled the natural elements, such as
• The rain
• The wind
• The sun
• The moon
• The stars
• The Maya were especially advanced in mathematics.
  
• Their knowledge of math was unequaled for many
  hundreds of years after their civilization had
  fallen.
• They discovered the concept of zero
• They designed a calendar that is even more
  accurate than the 365-day calendar we use today.

Axe, Mexico or Central America, Maya c. 250-900
28
Where Did They Go?

• By AD 900, the Maya were no longer a flourishing
  people.
• Their soaring cities were ghost towns, to be
  inhabited later by new peoples.
• How did an entire civilization break down and
  abandon its cities?

Deer Effigy Vessel, Mexico or Central America,
Maya style (250-900)
29
Where Did They Go?

• Archaeologists the scientists who sort through
  the remains of ancient cultures are still
  working like detectives to solve this ancient
  mystery.
• Some think that the cities collapsed because the
  lands were farmed so that the peasants revolted
  against the ruling elite, leading to war and
  chaos.
• The Maya may have left the answer staring us
  right in the face.
• The code to Mayan hieroglyphics has been mostly
  solved, and these writings may explain the
  breakdown of a once-flourishing and highly
  advanced culture.

Detail of Deer Effigy Vessel, Mexico or Central
America, Maya style (250-900)
30

• Aztec Civilization

Figure of a Warrior, Central Mexico, Aztec, from
Tetzcoco?, 14th century after 1325.
31
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• The Aztecs were a great warrior nation that ruled
  a large empire in central Mexico from the late
  1300s until 1519.
• In 1519 the explorer Hernando Cortes arrived on
  their shores from Spain.
• The Aztecs concentrated their power in the
  magnificent city of Tenochtitilan much of which
  now lies under modern-day Mexico City.

Seated Figure Wearing a Skin, Mexico, Gulf Coast,
7th-11th Century 600-1000
32
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• The Aztecs began as a group of hunters and
  gatherers.
• According to Aztec legend, a god told these
  people to stop wandering when they found an eagle
  holding a snake in its mouth and sitting on a
  prickly pear cactus.
• The cactus was called tenochtli.

Hunchback Seated on a Stool, Central Panama,
Conte Style, c. 600-800
33
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• Aztec legend holds that around AD 1300, these
  people came across the eagle on the cactus.
• The cactus was on an island in the middle of a
  shallow lake, and the Aztecs chose to build their
  city right then and there, calling it
  Tenochtitlan.
• The island city grew to have nearly 150,000
  inhabitants.

Hunchback Seated on a Stool, Central Panama,
Conte Style, c. 600-800
34
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• Tenochtitlan had carefully planned avenues that
  led out from a great temple.
• There were the sites of study and training for
  the elite priests and warriors.
• Smaller temples
• Shrines
• A royal court
• Because the lake in which the city was situated
  was shallow, the Aztecs were able to build within
  their city
• Streets
• A maze of canals
• A main thoroughfares built with
• A water lane for canoes and rafts
• A dry lane for walking.

Pedestal Bowl, Mexico, Cholula?, Mixteca-Puebla
Style, 19th-16th Century c. 900-1519
35
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• Tenochtilan amazed the first Spaniards to set
  eyes on it as one of them wrote,
• Some of the soldiers among who had been in many
  parts of the world, in Constantinople, and all
  over Italy and Rome, said that so large a market
  place and so full of people ,. And so well
  regulated and arranged, they had never beheld
  before.

Pedestal Bowl, Mexico, Cholula?, Mixteca-Puebla
Style, 19th-16th Century c. 900-1519
36
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• The Aztecs gained their power by
• Conquering neighboring tribes
• Demanding tribute from them
• Tributes might consist of
• Corn
• Cloth
• Gold
• Men

Figure of a Warrior, Central Mexico, Aztec, from
Tetzcoco?, 14th century after 1325
37
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• The fierceness with which the Aztecs exacted
  tribute made them many enemies.
• This would cost them dearly when the Spanish
  came.

Figure of a Warrior, Central Mexico, Aztec, from
Tetzcoco?, 14th century after 1325
38
The Aztecs The Eagle on the Cactus

• At the height of its power, the Aztec empire
  stretched from
• The Pacific Ocean
• To the Gulf of Mexico.
• Its messengers and spies traveled in disguise to
  watch over warring neighbors its merchants
  covered great distances.
• One Aztec emperor living in Tenochititlan ate
  fresh fish caught and delivered daily from what
  is now Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.

Seated Male Carrying Maize, Central Mexico, Aztec
style, 13th-16th century 1325-1521
39

• You can read more in depth information about the
  Aztecs, Mayans and More in your Core Knowledge
  Teacher Handbook on pages 127-130.

40

• Story time

41

• Art is the cleverness of Odysseus the intimate
  knowledge of materials in a sculpture by
  Renaissance master Benvenuto Cellini or a dress
  designed by Issey Miyake the inventive genius of
  a Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, or computer
  visionary Douglas Englebart the verbal craft in
  everything from an aphorism (Time is Money) to
  an oration (Four Score and seven years ago, our
  fathers brought forth on this continent a new
  nation) to a commercial slogan (Just Do It).
  
• In short, art isnt to be found only in galleries
  and museums it is woven into the warp and woof
  of an entire civilization.
• - Jeffrey J. Schnapp
• Director of Stanford Humanities Lab
• Stanford University

42
References

• Text
• What a Fifth Grader Needs to Know
• Images
• All Aztec and Mayan pictures are from the
  Cleveland Art Museums website and are part of
  the collection of the Cleveland Art Museum.