Terra Teacher Lab 200708

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• Terra Teacher Lab 2007-08
• The Changing American Landscape
• and Georgia OKeeffe
• To create ones world in any of the arts takes
  courage.
• Georgia OKeeffe
• Bob Finn
• Wildwood World IB Magnet School
• Grade 8
• Language Arts/ Humanities

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We started with 3 representative pieces from
Georgia OKeeffes vast body of work.

• 1 was chosen because it easily aesthetically
  linked to 19th century American landscape
  painting
• 2 were chosen because they are in the Art
  Institute of Chicago collection
• Please note What we are doing with OKeeffe has
  its roots in our lessons last semester when we
  studied 19th century American landscape painting
  through the lenses of both romanticism and
  realism

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• Georgia OKeeffe
• Lake George, Autumn
• 1927
• oil on canvas
• Milwaukee Art Museum

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• Georgia OKeeffe
• Red Hills with Flowers
• 1929
• oil on canvas
• Chicago Art Institute

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• Georgia OKeeffe
• Black Cross,New Mexico
• 1927
• oil on canvas
• Chicago Art Institute

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The Changing American Landscape

• Chama Again, Blue River
• 1937
• Oil on canvas

• OKeeffe was an aesthetic descendant of 19th
  century Hudson River School. Nature inspired her
  and she expressed ecstatic feelings of nature in
  her minimalist style through
• o Vibrant colors
• o Organic forms
• o Uninhabited, dramatic vistas
• OKeeffes landscapes were representational and
  delicate. She eliminated the superfluous. During
  her marriage to renowned photographer Alfred
  Stieglitz, OKeeffe spent much time in the
  natural areas around Lake George in New York
  states Adirondacks as well as in New York City.
  But ultimately she could not resist the stark
  beauty, infinite space, and natural elements of
  New Mexico, which she called the faraway.
• "Nothing is less real than realism ... It is only
  by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we
  get at the real meaning of things.
• Georgia
  OKeeffe

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Modernism

• In our study of modernism in early 20th century
  literature, we learned modernist authors sought
  to capture the essence of modern life in both the
  form and the content of their work. Themes were
  implied, not directly stated, forcing the
  observer to draw independent conclusions. To
  these authors, their fragmentary works reflected
  the fragmentation of the modern world.
• OKeeffe I often painted fragments of things
  because it seems to make my statement as well as
  or better than the whole couldI had to create an
  equivalent for what I felt about what I was
  looking atnot copy it.

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It was Arthur Dow who affected my start, who
helped me to find something of my own.I decided
to start anew, to strip away what I had been
taught. Georgia OKeeffe

• OKeeffe was influenced by
  the ideas of Arthur Dow. Dows abstract
  methodology was to use geometric shapes to fill
  space in a beautiful way. Profoundly influenced
  by classical Japanese painting, Dow believed an
  artists subject matter was best realized through
  harmonious arrangements of line, color, and
  Notan- the Japanese system of lights/darks
• A major figure in American art since
  the 1920s, OKeeffe was chiefly known for
  artwork in which she synthesized abstraction and
  representation in paintings of flowers, rocks,
  shells, animal bones and landscapes. Her
  paintings present crisply contoured forms that
  are replete with subtle tonal transitions of
  varying colors. She often transformed her subject
  matter into powerful abstract images.
• Red Canna
• 1923
• Water color on paper
• University of Arizona Museum of Art

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Imagism provides a link

• Imagist poets called for a return to what were
  seen as more classical values, such as directness
  of presentation and economy of language. These
  poets displayed a great willingness to
  experiment with non-traditional verse forms. They
  focused on the "thing" as "thing" in an attempt
  at isolating a single image to reveal its
  essence. Imagist Ezra Pound believed that
  Imagism isolated objects through what he called
  luminous details.
• Pound was profoundly influenced by Japanese
  poetry which strove for vivid conciseness while
  linking emotions or ideas to natural objects.
  Although restrictive in form, the gem-like
  brilliance of Japanese poetry was exceedingly
  attractive to Pound.
• When I read these words describing the
  influence of Japanese poetry on the American
  poets under study I was struck by the ideas of
  non-traditional, revealing essence, luminous
  details, vivid conciseness and gem-like
  brilliance. These terms seemed so relevant to
  Georgia OKeeffes body of work that logically,
  the next step was to utilize her amazing artwork
  to inspire my students to write poems in the
  Japanese forms of haiku and tanka.

• Yellow Hickory Leaves with Daisy
• 1928
• Oil on Canvas
• Chicago Art Institute

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• What I wanted students to learn
• abstractcomposition...impressionism...framing
  elementsminimalism
• I wanted students to meaningfully talk the talk
• organic formsrealismreductivismrepr
  esentational art
• I wanted them to understand how significant
  schools of thought (the isms) affect history,
  literature and the arts. They need to see these
  connections.
• I wanted my students to apply their understanding
  of the vivid conciseness and unique style of
  Georgia OKeeffes art in order to create their
  own original
• 1) tanka and haiku poetry
• 2) artwork

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A few major learning activities

• 1 Talking the talk learning the
  vocabulary
• 2 Study Modernist and Imagist poets in
  literature class
• 3 Introduce Japanese haiku and tanka
  poetic forms to class and clarify their
  influence on American poetry
• students
  create/illustrate original haiku utilizing themes
  from nature
• 4 Open Room 104s OKeeffe gallery
• read OKeefe paintings w/in gallery
• students apply taught vocabulary correctly
• 5 Students select their personal
  OKeeffe work and apply their reading skills
  to create an original tanka poem
• 6 Publish poems
• 7 Create original artwork in a choice of
  media

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Student Work

• Black Cross
• Black, bold, discontent,
• Graceful mountainous texture
• Breathtaking darkness
• Intriguing, illusional,
• Haunting, different
• Allan Ginden

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• Radiator Building
• Skyscraper hanging
• Sublime building in night skies
• Glimmering, white peaks
• Windows shining with bright light
• Dark night sky glowers
• Devin Lathan

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• White Pansy
• Dainty white pansy
• Petals opening, blooming
• Bright yellow center
• Baby violets surround
• Beautiful contour
• Andriana Mitrakos

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• Red Hills with Flowers
• Bright, flames of crimson
• Color Curving petals seem
• Smooth against distant
• Roughly reddish mountains frame
• Near beauty, afar
• 
  Erick
  Marquez

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• Lake George, Early Morning
• Greens. blues, yellowsSpring
• Vibrant, verdant, bold nature
• Glistening blue lake
• Delicate whites, soft yellows
• Refreshing spring scene
• DeeDee Harvey

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• What my students learned
• They are beginning to incorporatethe talk
  appropriately into relevant classroom activities
  and discussions.
• They have learned about the characteristics of
  romanticism, realism, naturalism, imagism, and
  modernism in American art, literature and history
  and apply this knowledge to their analysis and
  interpretation of both art and literature.
• They have learned to make the connections between
  art and the other curricula.
• Japanese forms of poetry, such as haiku and
  tanka, are now tools in their toolboxes.
• Students have learned to respond to American art
  through their own creative efforts.

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• What I learned
• I learned that Georgia OKeeffes body of work
  was far more expansive than paintings of big
  flowers and bones in the desert.
• I learned that I appreciated almost all the
  various stages of OKeeffes artLake GeorgeNew
  York CityNew Mexicothe flowers
• Through reading several biographies and various
  articles about OKeeffe, I learned why she
  painted the way she did.
• I learned that using appropriate American art in
  conjunction with our study of American history
  and literature memorably enlivens the curriculum
  for all concerned.
• I learned that the isms are of great importance
  in literature and can provide fabulous segues
  into history and the arts as well.
• Stressing the necessary vocabulary for these
  lessons improved by vocabulary too.
• ? I reaffirmed my belief that high expectations
  for students prod them to achieve at a more
  advanced level.

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Bibliography

• Books
• Bellavance-Johnson, Marsha, Full Bloom The Art
  and Life of Georgia OKeeffe
• Drohojowska-Philp, Hunters, Full Bloom The Art
  and Life of Georgia OKeeffe
• Lisle, Laurie, Portrait of an Artist A Biography
  of Georgia OKeeffe
• Lynes, Barbara Buhler, Georgia OKeeffe and New
  Mexico A Sense of Place
• Messington, Lisa Marie, Georgia OKeeffe, World
  of Art
• Robinson, Roxana, Georgia OKeeffe A Life
• DVD
• Great Women Artists Georgia OKeeffe
• Web Resources
• Artcyclopedia
• http//www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/okeeffe_georg
  ia.html
• Art History Archive
• http//www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/modern
  /Georgia- OKeeffe.html
• Artist.org
• http//www.artst.org/okeeffe/bio/
• Georgia OKeefe, a Bibliography
• http//hubcap.clemson.edu/sparks/gokbib.html
• Georgia OKeeffe, Biography