The relationships between humans and the other animals on our planet are complex and profound. Why Look at Animals examines the ways animals have been represented photographically over time, from the romantic pastoral images of P.H. Emerson, to the sardonic and edgy metaphors of John Heartfield, to the scientific documents of Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton. The exhibition showcases both familiar and unfamiliar selections from the George Eastman House collection and also explores the variety of ways in which photographs work, using images of animals to demonstrate taxonomy, formal aesthetic, humor, sentiment, and aide memoire.
Concepts: Zoology, human-animal relationship, photography history
Try one or more of the following activities while visiting Why Look at Animals during your tour. Remind the students that even though the art gallery is not a hands-on place, it is still a great place to explore and discover new things.
Pre-K – 5th grade
What is our relationship to animals? As you walk around the gallery with your students, notice that the photographs are broken into categories based on how we relate to animals. For example, “They Make Us Laugh” is the title of one of the text panels. Give your students 1-2 minutes to look at the photographs. Sit them down in the gallery and ask how do animals make us laugh? Ask them to tell a story about something funny their pets have done. Other questions relating to the text panels include:
How are animals valuable?
Why do you think animals are beautiful?
Why do we study animals? How they behave? The way they move? How they defend themselves?
How do they complete our families?
How do they inhabit our dreams?
How do they help us?
What is your favorite photo? As you look through the exhibit, have students choose image(s) that they like best. Discuss why they like those particular photographs. Ask if anyone in the class has photographed their pet and why?
2nd - 5th grade
What can you find? While visiting an art museum, one of the most helpful things to do is to read the label beside or near the works. The label provides valuable information such as artist name, place of birth and sometimes dates of birth/death as well as title of the work, date it was created, medium and who purchased the piece for that particular collection (see
Art Label for a student tutorial on how to read a label). Divide students into groups of 2 or 3 and give them a copy of the
Why Look at Animals Scavenger Hunt 1. Give them time to find all or at least some of the pieces in the scavenger hunt. Remind them that it is important to read the labels for each piece because this is where they will find some of the answers to their scavenger hunt. When they finish, give them time to talk about 2-3 of the pieces they liked best as they were completing the questions.
6 – 12th grade
What can you find? While visiting an art museum, one of the most helpful things to do is to read the label beside or near the works. The label provides valuable information such as artist name, place of birth and sometimes dates of birth/death as well as title of the work, date it was created, medium and who purchased the piece for that particular collection (see
Art Label for a student tutorial of how to read a label). Divide students into groups of 2 or 3 and give them a copy of the
Why Look at Animals Scavenger Hunt 2. Give them time to find all or at least some of the pieces in the scavenger hunt. Remind them that it is important to read the labels for each piece because this is where they will find some of the answers to their scavenger hunt. When they are finished, take time to have a discussion about some of the questions covered on the scavenger hunt.
Pre-K - 1st grade
Have students bring in pictures of their pets or magazines with animal pictures. On a sheet of construction paper, have students draw or paint in a backdrop of the animal’s surroundings and then cut out and paste the animals on to the drawings. (i.e. Is your animal on a farm, in a forest, in space, etc.?) Note: encourage them to bring in pictures they don’t want back so they will be able to cut them out.
Have students bring in pictures of pets that either they own or that belong to a family member or friend. Have them tell a story about that animal that is funny or that explains why that animal means something to them.
2nd – 5th grade
Have students bring in pictures of animals that they own as pets or that they find in magazines. Put all of the pictures together and have each student draw one at random. Students will research their animals and answer at least 2-3 the following questions from the Why Look at Animals exhibit.
Why does this animal make you laugh?
How is the animal valuable to humans?
Do you think this animal is beautiful? Why
Why might it be important to study this animal? What could we learn from it?
Would this animal ever make a good pet? Why or why not?
Could this animal have a job or be helpful to humans in any way?
6 – 12th grade
Animal extinction is a growing problem with humans encroaching more and more on animal’s natural habitats. In the Why Look at Animals exhibit artist Harri Kallio creates real photographic scenes featuring models or sculptures of the extinct Dodo Bird in its natural habitat. Have students’ research animals that are on the verge of extinction and answer the following questions. Why is this animal important to humans? What is causing it to become extinct? What are some ways that humans can help this animal to repopulate before it’s too late? What or who will be affected if this animal goes extinct?
“Migrations” brings together a collection of contemporary fine art prints from six Native American artists whose work, when combined, represents a wide spectrum of Native American cultures and experiences.
Concepts: printmaking, American history
K - 5th grade
Look at the two works by Marie Watt. Marie is not a printmaker, but usually works as a fiber artist making quilts and blankets relating to her Native American culture. Can you see the patterns she has incorporated into her printmaking works on paper? How else do you notice her fiber art influence on her printmaking work?
6 - 8th grade
Take a trip into the Why Look at Animals exhibit and find the photograph by Edward Curtis entitled Placating the Spirit of a Slain Eagle – Assiniboin (ask a Gallery Educator to help you if you are having trouble locating it).
Go back into the Migrations exhibit and look at the two works by Larry McNeil. The pieces by both artists are taken from that artist’s point of view and mindset. What is the correlation between the two pieces? What is Larry McNeil’s apparent view of Edward Curtis’ work? See the Classroom Challenge section of the curriculum to learn more about Edward Curtis and to start further discussions with your students.
K – 5th grade
Marie Watt is an artist featured in Migrations and she is also a member of the Seneca Nation. As an artist she usually works in fabrics making quilts and other fiber artworks. For this exhibit she took her fiber art skills and applied them to printmaking on paper. The Native Americans have a rich history of quilt making. Each tribe has their own reasons for making quilts as well as their own symbols, colors and shapes that are significant to their particular tribe. As a class, choose 2-3 Native American tribes that are known quilt makers (Seminole, Hopi, Navajo, etc.). Why do they make quilts? What are some of the symbols, colors and/or shapes that are significant to their tribe? What is their process of making the quilt?
After your discussion, have each student think about what kind of quilt square they would make to represent themselves. What colors would they use? What symbols or objects would they use to describe themselves or their interests? Would they include words or just images? Give each student a 6x6 inch piece of construction paper and crayons, pencils, markers, etc. Have them create a square that represents them. When the entire class is finished, punch holes in the corners of the squares and tie the squares together with yarn. Have the students discuss and agree on a “tribe” name for the class. Hang the finished paper quilt in the hallway with the new “tribe” name displayed with the quilt.
6 – 8th grade
Larry McNeil is an artist featured in Migrations and is also a member of Tlingit and Nisga’a Nations. He takes a humorous dig at a body of photographic work created by Edward Curtis in the early 20th century. Edward Curtis, between the years of 1900 - 1930, set out to document the traditional Native American culture that was rapidly disappearing. Curtis said he wanted to document "the old time Indian, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners." While he accomplished this to a great length, he also romanticized and staged many of his “documentary” photographs by dressing Native Americans in ceremonial clothing as every day dress, staging sacred dances and removing modern objects and clothing that normally would have been captured in the candid scene.
Discuss as a class how photography can be used to document what is really happening at a given time or can be set up to capture staged scenes that don’t always give an accurate account. If a photographer were to document your life, what are some things that could be captured to tell a truth of who you are? How would you feel if certain images were set up to tell a half-truth or to give an overly good or bad account of who you are and the events of your life?
9 – 12th grade
Steven Deo is an artist featured in Migrations and is a member of the Creek Nation, Euchee Tribe. One of his works, Principle of Identity speaks of Native American boarding schools that were in existence from 1870s – 1950s. Though some still exist today, the curriculum is much changed. These early boarding schools were essentially created to assimilate Native American children into white American culture. The students were taught how to live as “the white man” and were not allowed to speak their native language or learn about their native cultures. Often times their hair was cut and their names changed as well.
Have students’ research Native American boarding schools, possibly focusing on one school in particular. How did the school operate? What was the intended purpose of the school? What were the pros and cons of these schools? How did the school ultimately affect Native American culture and history? How would you feel if you had to attend a boarding school such as this?
Migrations
K - 5th grade
http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_history/nativeam.htm
http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/quilts.pdf
6 - 8th grade
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/toc.cgi
http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2000-05/curtis.html
9 -12th grade
http://www.pbs.org/indiancountry/history/boarding2.html
http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/marr.html
http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/indian_boarding_school/
Using YouTube as the only resource, Sherwin’s “It’s All Relative” features twenty-five different versions of a lunar eclipse and solar eclipse, compiled together to give you a unique glimpse into this natural phenomenon of our universe.
Concepts: videography, photography, popular culture, appropriation
K – 12th grade
Take 7-8 minutes to sit and watch the lunar and solar eclipses that are playing simultaneously on the walls of the gallery. Listen to the audio from the videos as you watch, what does it seem like the people in the video doing as they are filming the eclipses? Are they having a party? Are they watching quietly by themselves? Are they all from the same part of the world?
K - 8th grade
What is a lunar eclipse? What is a solar eclipse? Are they rare or do they happen all the time? When they occur can everyone on the planet see them or can they only be seen from certain places?
Try the activity below to help your students better understand lunar eclipses. Note: A Styrofoam ball is a good alternative to fruit in this activity.
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/other_programs/lunar_eclipse/fruit_loops.shtml
9 – 12th grade
To appropriate an image means to take a work of art that someone else has created and make it your own. Today the internet gives us access to millions of images taken by other people. Michael Sherwin’s philosophy is why create new images and add to this growing pile when you can take images that already exist and manipulate them to create a new idea. One of the ideas that Michael Sherwin had was to type in various Google Image searches to see what popped up. He then compiled a book with the search results. Check out the link below to view some of the searches he turned into books.
http://www.michaelsherwin.com/port_searching.php
How can your students use the alternative resources available to them to create a work of art? Have students compile a list of possible Google search topics – enough for everyone to have one in the class. Put all of the options in a pile and allow the students to draw them at random. Allow students time to complete their Google search to find at least 5-6 images to include in a final art piece.