“Forces of Nature in Art”

Recommended for Grades 3-5:Wind, rain, snow! Volcanic eruptions!

Misty mountaintops and sunny summer days. Learn how artists capture the

forces of nature in works of art.

Science: 3.E.1, 3.E.2, 3.L.2

4.E.1, 4.E.2 5.E.1, 5.L.1, 5.L.2

Visual Arts: 3.V.I, 3.V.2, 3.CX.1, 3.CR.1 4.V.1, 4.V.2, 4.CX.1, 4.CR.1 5.V.1, 5.V.2, 5.CX.1, 5.CR.1

English Language Arts: 3.SL.1, 3.SL.2, 3.SL.3, 3.SL.4, 3.SL.6 4.SL.1, 4.SL.2, 4.SL.3, 4.SL.4, 4.SL.6 5.SL.1, 5.SL.2, 5.SL.3, 5.SL.4, 5.SL.6

North Carolina Common Core and Essential Standards Correlations:

Pre-Visit Key Questions:• What adjectives would you use to describe a force of

nature like a volcano? A snowstorm? Bright sunshine? Heavy rains?

• What colors and details would you use to make a work of art showing the season of spring? Winter? Summer? Fall?

• How many different kinds of natural materials can you think of that artists might use to make their works of art?

Ludolf Backhuysen, Ships in a Stormy Sea off a Coast (Dutch, c. 1700-05)

Thomas Hart Benton, Spring on the Missouri(American, 1945)

Frederick Carl Frieseke, The Garden Parasol (American, c. 1910)

Esaias van den Velde, Winter Scene (Dutch, 1614)

Geogia O’Keeffe, Cebolla Church(American, 1945)

Milton Avery, Blue Landscape (American, 1946)

John Beerman,Three Trees, Two

Clouds (American, 1990)

Albert Bierstadt, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite

(American, c. 1871-73)

Jennifer Steinkamp, Mike Kelley (video loop)(American, 2007-08)

Philips Wouwerman, Stag Hunt in a River (Dutch, c. 1650-55)

Thomas Moran, "Fiercely the red sun descending/Burned his way along the heavens" (American, 1875-76)

Pierre-Jacques Volaire, The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius(French, 1777)

Andrew Wyeth, Winter 1946 (American, 1946)

Skunder (Alexander) Bognossian, Night Flight of Dread and Delight (Ethiopian, 1946)

Bill and Mary Buchen (American), Wind Reeds (installed at NCMA in 2010)

Louis Remy Mignot, Landscape in Ecuador (American, 1859)

Vollis Simpson (American), Wind Machine, 2002

Model of a Boat

(Egyptian, c. 1985-1650 BC)

Greek, Neck Amphora, c. 530-520 BCE

Canaletto, The Rialto Bridge and the Church of S. Giorgio Maggiore

(Italian, c. 1750)

Ursula von Rydingsvard (American, born in Germany), Ogromna, 2009

Post-Visit Key Questions:

• Did you have a favorite work of art that you saw today? Which one, and why?

• What were some “surprising” forces of nature you learned about today? Think: materials, outdoor sculpture, wind, light and shadow…