friendswithyou

The Dance

Big Idea: Artists often create environments that can affect our emotions and feelings.

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to begin

 

Ask your students to spend several minutes quietly examining the images and videos. When they have had enough time to digest the exhibition, it’s time to explore further through quality questions.

As you lead this discussion, accept any response! Praise your students for sharing their thoughts. Paraphrase your pupil’s answer using your own words to make sure you’re both on the same page. When you’ve come to the end of their lines of thought, ask another question!

This exercise is meant to serve as a casual discussion. Feel free to add or omit questions so that the conversation can proceed organically. Remember to use inquiry based language when forming questions ( i.e. “What could be happening?” rather than “What is happening?)

Make sure that your students have pencils and paper while they explore this exhibition, so they can work out their thoughts through words, lists, and drawings!

quality questions

 

  1. Now that you have experienced The Dance, how did the performance make you feel? What elements of the performance made you feel this way?

  2. How did the movement and music relate to one another? 

    1. How would you describe the choreography? 

    2. What sorts of patterns did you notice, if any?

  3. How might the whole performance change if the scale was different? What if the friends were bigger, smaller, or equal to your height?

  4. Texture: How would you describe the texture of the friends? 

    1. What if it was different? Scratchy, sharp, smooth, sticky? 

    2. How might that change how you interact with the friends?

  5. Shape: How would you describe the friends’ shape? 

    1. What other things share this same shape that you see or interact with everyday? 

    2. How does this shape make you feel? 

    3. How might it be different if it was a different shape? Curved vs sharp edges?

  6. Color: What colors do you see? 

    1. How do these colors and their shades make you feel or add to the overall performance theme? 

    2. How might the space change if these colors were different? 

    3. What if there were patterns? 

  7. Expressions: Let’s study the facial expressions of the friends. What might their expression be conveying? 

    1. What might their expression be telling us about the personality of our friends? 

    2. How might the performance change if their expressions were different?

equal voicing opportunity

 

Using the coloring sheet below, have your students draw their own versions of the friends. Encourage sharing and discussion by asking questions such as the following:

  1. Did you change the friends’ facial expressions?

  2. Why did you choose these expressions? What might these new expressions tell us about the friends?

  3. What colors/patterns are the friends in your drawing? Why? What could this say about them?

  4. Did you include any patterns or textures? Why or why not?

  5. Are there any additional objects around the friends or on the walls in your version? How could this change the space?

  6. Think about what kind of sound might be playing in your version. How could this sound affect your experience in the space?

  7. Does it change the friends’ choreography? How so?

 

A Beautiful Place II

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quality questions

First, take several moments to silently examine the image and close ups. This mural is exciting, and your students may want to shout out characters they recognize! However, encourage your students to make a list of the first 10 things they noticed, before sharing with the class.

  1. Which characters did you notice first? Why do you think these caught your eye?

  2. Tell me where these characters come from? 

    1. Would we typically see them all in the same place? 

    2. Why then might the artists have chosen to put them all in the same world?

  3. What might this location be? Are we on earth? Another planet all together?

  4. What seems to be the general vibe from all of these characters?

    1. How are they interacting with each other? Do they seem to be getting along?

    2. With so many different characters, that have so many different traits and personalities, how is it that they all seem to be ‘coexisting’?

  5. What can we learn from that in our own lives?

Interness

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quality questions

Again, allow your students to silently examine the image and close ups for several moments, encouraging them to make a list of the first 10 things they noticed, before sharing with the class.

  1. What did you notice first? Why do you think this caught your eye?

  2. What might we be able to learn about the artists from their selections in this artwork? Judging from what we’ve assumed about them, how might these artists spend their free time?

  3. Let’s focus now on the material the artists used to create this piece. What can we tell about the material just by looking? 

    1. If we were to imagine how it might feel to touch this artwork, what would the surface texture be like? Do you think it might change/be altered if we touched it?

    2. Why might the artists have chosen to make this work out of something so soft and malleable (changeable)?

    3. This work is from a series of paintings called “The Play Series.” How does knowing the title of the series the work belongs to change your opinion of it?

      1. Emphasize the word “PLAY.” The artists were clearly playing + enjoying themselves.

the big idea

 

How do these artworks relate to the Big Idea?

The artist has created an environment for the characters that normally live in different/separate worlds.

Key Information:

Remember to allow your students to derive their own narratives from this artwork before revealing any information about the artist!