Unit Summary:
The objective of this unit is that students will create artworks inspired by the blacksmith Samuel Yellin and develop visual literacy through object analysis of ironworks. Students will respond in writing to what they experience seeing at the Yale University Art Gallery. Students will also be introduced to how the aesthetics of artworks made exclusively of iron or incorporating iron elements are shaped by different cultures and environments.
Lesson Plan 1: Draw and Design 3D Gates
Objective: Students will be introduced to the art of blacksmithing through the gates of the master blacksmith Samuel Yellin. Students will adjust their drawn designs as they translate them to a 3D model, based on their chosen materials and motifs and inspired by examples of Yellin’s gate on the campus of Yale University.
Procedures:
- Students will learn the art term motif and how it can be used to create a decorative design pattern.
- Students will do a motif scavenger hunt and circle as many motifs they can see in printed photographs of wrought-iron gates by the master blacksmith Samuel Yellin.
- Students will choose 1 – 3 motifs and design gates inspired by Yellin’s examples at Yale University using pencil and kneaded erasers.
- Following a demonstration by the instructor students will collage layered models of their gate designs using cardboard, glue and aluminum. Students will use the skills of measuring and cutting in this lesson. Students may choose to add accents to their gates with acrylic paint.
Evaluation:
Demonstrate willingness to experiment, innovate, and take risks to pursue ideas, forms, and meanings that emerge in the process of artmaking or designing. (VA:Cr2.1.8a)
Extension:
Students can use stencils to draw maps to be oriented geographically where gates of Samuel Yellin are located at Yale University. Students will be introduced to the blacksmith Samuel Yellin and look at images of Russian iron gates and, using a graphic organizer, will describe the characteristics they see. (VA:Cr2.1.8a)
Lesson II: Introduction to Object Analysis with Metallic Rose
This lesson is inspired by the organic forms in gates by Samuel Yellin at Yale University. Students will practice the object analysis of steel roses following the Prown method.85
Procedures:
- Students will have a first-hand experience of object analysis by looking closely at steel roses created through the process of blacksmithing by the instructor.
- Students will take notes on their observations using a graphic organizer.
- Then students will learn how to draw a rose using pencil.
- The lesson concludes with students creating 3D aluminum rose artworks with stems.
Evaluation:
Apply relevant criteria to examine, reflect on, and plan revisions for a work of art or design in progress. (VA:Cr3.1.8a)
Extension:
Students can develop their artistic practice by adding organic rose forms to their gate drawings or collage sculptures from lesson 1 in this unit. (VA:Cr3.1.8a)
Lesson Plan III: Object Analysis with Museum Field Trip
Students will take a field trip to the Yale University Art Gallery and engage in the Prown method of object analysis using notebooks. Students will develop visual literacy by visiting and responding to selected works by Samuel Yellin, African ironworks, and a contemporary artwork by an African-American artist with iron. Below are the steps I propose to take for material study with students.
Procedures:
- Students will be given a printed handout with an object list of 6 artworks at the Yale University Art Gallery.
- Students will circle 2 objects and write a sentence for each object about what attracted their attention to them.
- Students will be put into groups of 2 or 3 based on chosen objects. If certain objects have no one, groups will be adjusted.
- Students will go to the field trip with notebooks and do object research at a museum.
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Students will use Prown’s method of analysis: moving from description to deduction and speculation.
- Emotional response to the object: How does this object make you feel?
- What do you see?: Using descriptive words, explain what the object looks like. Ask students to take note of information in wall labels.
- Students will analyze the method of production, similarities and differences. This may be an opportunity for students to learn about 3D printing through the imaging of museum objects in an advanced project. Students can invent their own keywords based on their experience that they think would help other people find the object in a database if they looked for it.
- Students will return to the classroom and pick one of the objects from those analyzed and then create their best reproduction of the object. Before creation, students will use their analysis to predict which material, such as felt, paper, or clay, would best approximate the original.
Evaluation:
Interpret art by analyzing how the interaction of subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, use of media, artmaking approaches, and relevant contextual information contributes to understanding messages or ideas and mood conveyed. (VA:Re8.1.8a)
Extension:
Explain how a person’s aesthetic choices are influenced by culture and environment and impact the visual image that one conveys to others. (VA:Re.7.1.8a)
