EPHEMERAL ART LESSON

Dashia RicheyStudents: Johnny, Karin, Ashton,

Stella

Rationale

In this lesson, the students will begin to merge their considerations of environment with the concept of art and art-making. Environmental art is an umbrella that covers many types of artworks within our natural surroundings. Most importantly, students will become more aware of their environment and their roles in it. In these lessons, students specifically will learn about ephemeral works and environmental works. Students will experiment with the natural elements compositionally and as mediums in their works. Students will also observe their surroundings and begin to pick out things that are considered art. As students build knowledge of environmental art, they will also begin building relationships with their community and peers. In the final lesson, the students will produce a collaborative environmental piece for the school. This piece will be outdoors and visible to everyone. In doing such a large scale piece, students will gain a sense of pride as well as unity while considering their surroundings and habitat.

Key Concepts

Ephemeral art helps me understand my place in the world

Ephemeral art exercises the imagination

Ephemeral art allows freedom and self expression while manipulating natural elements

Ephemeral art fosters critical thinking

The LessonWhat is Ephemeral?

WWW.DRICHEY.WEEBLY.COM

The Activity

After our discussion, the learners were to go outdoors and create their own ephemeral composition.

They were to consider color and form.

They were allowed 25 minutes to complete their compositions.

Process of ephemeral art making

Stella-1st grade

Stella’s interpretation of ephemeral art was

representative. For her to understand it, she had to

make something that made sense to her.

JohnnyJohnny’s piece is interpretive.

He incorporated color and form. He also plays with the

idea of progression and growth. The leaf design began with seeds, moved into green for growth, oranges and reds, to

dark colors for decay and decomposition.

His interpretation deals with what the object is a part of.

Ashton-6th gradeAshton wanted to build something-so he made a habitat.

Again-representative, this made sense to him.

KarinKarin really struggled with this. She kept saying, “What do I make?” and “I don’t know what to make.” She did not like the lesson at all.

She made a dog bone vase and shoved some leaves in it.

Reflection Activity

Each learner was provided a token response card and assigned to another learners artwork. They had to go look at the artwork and write their reflections on the card.

Upon completion, they handed their cards to me and I read them out loud and we discussed.

Reflection Cards

Reflection Cards

Stella-“Kinda pretty”, “fall”

Johnny-“forest floor, decomposition, expired life leading to new”

Karin-“safety and strength”

Ashton-“leaf like” “pretty cool”- when asked what does ‘pretty cool mean?’ “because it grew from seeds to dead leaves”

What I Learned

Ask different questions in the beginning regarding interpretation.

Great lesson for all ages.

The website interaction was awesome.

Have a variety of token response cards and have them do a longer writing activity.

Different

Give learners more time to write reflections and have them discuss their responses instead of me reading them.

Encourage learners to use expressive words or more adjectives to describe their opinions.

Show more images of compositions that aren’t necessarily ‘something’ this would challenge their interpretative making efforts.