overview
Lesson 1 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 1 | ode to a view
language arts | grades 9-12
Throughout time, poets, essayists, filmmakers, painters, and other
artists have paid tribute to the landscapes that surround us—whether
contemporary or historic, natural or cultural, physical or conceptual—in
many media and materials. This lesson will use the form of the ode
in both written and visual media to explore how we pay tribute to,
receive inspiration from, and represent the landscapes around us.
activities
The following activities can be implemented individually or collectively
as a longer unit of study.
The Ode
This lesson introduces the ode as a traditional literary form
through writers like Keats and Shelley and presents the concept
of the visual ode. Students travel outside to practice writing and
drawing their own odes.
Ode to the Inanimate
The work of Vija Celmins and Hiroshi
Sugimoto is introduced as a basis for discussing visual odes
to inanimate objects. Students will read Keats' “Ode to a
Grecian Urn” and pay homage to an inanimate object by animating
it.
Ode to the Ordinary
This lesson presents the work of Jessica
Stockholder and Richard Tuttle
as inspiration to discuss elevating ordinary materials to fine art
media. Students will collaborate to install an ode to the ordinary
using found objects.
Ode to Everyday
After reading various works by Pablo Neruda and viewing photos and
sculptures by Gabriel Orozco, students
are challenged to reinvent a board game as an homage to a 'conceptual
landscape.'
Ode to Yesterday
Students examine the work and inspirational sources of glass
artist Josiah McElheny. After reading
T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, students create a written and visual
ode that extrapolates Eliot's concerns to today's issues or that
celebrates a writer of their choosing.
Ode to the Land
This lesson introduces the work of artists Sally
Mann, Collier Schorr, James
Turrell, and Paul Pfeiffer as
the basis for a long term project in which students read poems by
Frost, Wordsworth, and Emerson and design an outdoor installation
or structure for a site of their choosing.
Ode to a Landscape
Roni Horn's work inspires a discussion
of art which revisits one place time and again. Students create
a series of written and visual works that pay tribute to a particular
landscape or view and create a book.
objectives
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Students will learn
about the artwork, working processes, and inspirational sources
of a number of contemporary artists working in the United
States today and will be able to recognize and actively discuss
their work. |
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Students will understand
that there is a link between social context and the works
created by artists and writers; students will explore how
contemporary art and literary practice has evolved out of
a historical continuum, and will consider the ways in which
their own work and thought processes are influenced by visual
culture and historic precursors. |
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Students will learn how to create
work using a variety of art making processes, such as simple
book binding, installation, photography, painting, and sculpture,
will create original works in a variety of media, and will
be able to articulate the concepts and choices that informed
their work. |
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Students will understand the history
of the ode as a literary form, be able to write original odes,
and be able to translate written ideas into visual works.
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Students will read works created
by many important literary figures and will interpret meaning
from their works, as well as extrapolate the meaning of historic
works to contemporary issues. |
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Students will develop writing,
speaking, and teamwork skills, as well as demonstrate increased
sophistication in critical thinking, interpretive skills,
and concept development. |
critical questions
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What is the history
and the tradition of the ode? |
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How is the literary
or musical form of the ode related to visual forms of the
ode? |
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How have artists and writers represented
their relationship to, and the inspiration they receive from,
the landscapes that surround them? |
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How have these representations
changed as the landscape, both natural and conceptual, has
shifted over time? |
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Why do artists or writers feel
compelled to pay homage to their sources, the land, ordinary
objects, etc.? |
reflection & evaluation
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Have students demonstrated
understanding of the ode as a traditional literary form through
the creation of thoughtful and original writing and visual
translations? |
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Have students demonstrated
critical thinking skills and knowledge of current and historical
contexts of art practice? Have students demonstrated familiarity
with the concepts introduced by each of the artists in this
lesson? |
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Have students completed all writing
and artmaking activities? Have students demonstrated increased
sophistication in their own conceptual, interpretive, and
creative capacities, craftsmanship, writing, and verbal skills,
and collaborated effectively with other students? |
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Have students actively participated
in discussions and demonstrated awareness as to how visual
culture and art and literary precursors inform their work? |
national standards: language arts
| #1 |
Read print & non-print texts |
| #3 |
Apply strategies to texts |
| #4 |
Apply knowledge of language, media, & genres |
| #12 |
Use spoken, written & visual language in
tandem |
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Find out how this lesson plan correlates to
your state’s education standards by following the link
to PBS’s TeacherSource. |
going further
To create a longer unit or lesson based on these ideas, this lesson
could be combined with additional lessons such as:
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about this lesson
This lesson was written by Art:21 Director of Education
& Outreach Jessica Hamlin.
Additional contributors include Amanda Donnan,
Art:21 intern. The lesson was first published on this Web site September
2003, and was revised September of 2005. For questions and/or comments,
please contact curriculum@art21.org
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