Art from Within - Historical and Cultural Context Lesson

Lesson Description:

To begin the unit on the work of Hilma af Klint, students will learn about her life and what the primary motivators for her art creation were. Students will watch a presentation and listen to a lecture on Klint while taking interactive notes in their sketchbooks. Students will spend the last few minutes of class practicing automatic drawing to music.
Grade Level:

High School - Beginning

High School - Advanced

Time Frame:

1 - 70 minute class period

Focus Artwork:

Lesson Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to:

  • Recall the main points of Hilma af Klint’s life such as years lived, country of origin, and occupation.

  • Describe the major motivation for Hilma af Klint’s creative expression and give examples in her artwork. 

  • Practice Hima af Klint’s technique of automatic drawing, describe the process, and how it felt.

Literacy Focus: 

  • Listening  - Students will listen to a lecture and presentation.

  • Speaking  - Students will share observations with an elbow partner about their automatic drawings.

  • Reading - Students will read the presentation and read over their notes as homework.

  • Writing - Students will take notes on the lecture and write an exit ticket on the way out of class. 

Art Materials: 

  • Sketchbook

  • Pencil

  • Ruler

  • Colored pencils

Instructional Resources:

  • Chromebook

  • LCD Projector

  • HP Sprout or Docucam

Procedures:

Day 1:

Anticipatory Set: 

  • An image of Hilma af Klint’s work will be projected onto the screen as students walk into class. Students will have a five-minute warmup to write down their observations, if they’ve ever seen the work before, and how the work makes them feel. 

  • Teacher will call on three students to share observations using equity sticks. 

Direct Instruction:

  • Students will watch a presentation about Hilma af Klint while taking notes. 

  • Students will take turns reading the slides. 

Guided Practice:

  • Teacher will demonstrate the proper way to take interactive notes using the docucam. 

  • Students will share their notes with one another. 

Closure:

  • Students spend 5 minutes practicing automatic drawing. 

  • Students discuss how automatic drawing feels to an elbow partner. 

  • Students will write an exit ticket about their feelings during the automatic drawing exercise on a post-it and stick the post-it on the door on the way out. 

Homework: 

  • Students will review their notes for homework and write a summary of the main points. 

Click here for a GoogleSlide presentation on Hilma af Klint.

Click here for a sketchbook graphic organizer example.

Modifications for Learners’ Specific Needs:

  • Students will be provided with a recording of the GoogleSlide presentation and lecture to review later/with an aide/tutor.

  • Students may choose or be given a graphic organizer version of the interactive notes. Instead of generating the interactive notes from scratch in their sketchbook, students may utilize the graphic organizer and paste into their sketchbook at the end of the notetaking session. 

  • During the automatic drawing portion, students may choose to use crayons and/or markers that are easier to hold instead of a pencil. 

  • Students may choose to draw their feelings about the automatic drawing on the exit ticket instead of writing a sentence. 

  • ELL Students: 

    • Students will be provided with a vocabulary list with pictures related to the vocabulary of the lesson. 

    • Students will be provided with sentence frames (resource page in their sketchbook) to utilize with their elbow partner.

    • Students may choose to discuss the work in their first language and work with a student or aide translator to translate into English. 

Multiple Intelligences Used:

  • Visual-Spatial 

    • Drawing and filling out the interactive notes.

    • Describing the visual characteristics of Hilma af Klint’s work.

  • Linguistic-Verbal

    • Using new vocabulary words introduced in the lesson.

    • Putting their thoughts about the art into words.

  • Bodily-Kinesthetic

    • Utilizing their body during automatic drawing.

  • Interpersonal

    • Communicating their ideas with their partner.

    • Practicing good communication skills including listening and questioning.

Vocabulary:

  • Abstract art - art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures.

  • Automatic drawing - pioneered by the English artist Austin Osman Spare, the hand is allowed to move "randomly" across the paper. In applying chance and accident to mark-making, drawing is to a large extent freed of rational control. Hence the drawing produced may be attributed in part to the subconscious and may reveal something of the psyche, which would otherwise be repressed.

  • Duality - an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something; a dualism.

  • Subconscious - of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings.

Criteria for Assessment of Student Learning:

Did students….

  • Recall the main points of Hilma af Klint’s life such as years lived, country of origin, and occupation?

  • Describe the major motivation for Hilma af Klint’s creative expression and give examples in her artwork?

  • Practice Hima af Klint’s technique of automatic drawing, describe the process, and how it felt?

Method of Assessment:

  • Formative

    • During anticipatory set, teacher will ask students for their observations and check for understanding.

    • During guided practice, teacher will stop at key intervals to assess that all students are on the right track. 

    • During guided practice, teacher will ask students to hold up their notes and/or give a thumbs up when they’ve completed the notes and are ready to move on. 

  • Summative

    • Exit ticket to be collected at the end of the lesson.

    • Homework note summary to be collected the next day. 

National Core Arts Standards Addressed:

  • HS Proficient VA:Re.7.1.Ia - Hypothesize ways in which art influences perception and understanding of human experiences.

  • HS Proficient VA:Re.7.2.Ia - Analyze how one’s understanding of the world is affected by experiencing visual imagery.

Click here for the PDF version of this lesson.