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Words and Images: The Connection Between Artist Charles Demuth and Poet William Carlos Williams

Lesson Plan

Words and Images: The Connection Between Artist Charles Demuth and Poet William Carlos Williams

Grade Levels

10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade

Course, Subject

Arts and Humanities, Visual Arts
Related Academic Standards
CC.1.3.8.G CC.1.3.8.G
Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by directors or actors.
9.1.8.B 9.1.8.B

Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts.

  • Dance: • move • perform • read and notate dance • create and choreograph • improvise
  • Music: • sing • play an instrument • read and notate music • compose and arrange •improvise
  • Theatre: • stage productions • read and write scripts • improvise • interpret a role • design sets • direct
  • Visual Arts: • paint • draw • craft • sculpt • print • design for environment, communication, multi-media
9.1.8.E 9.1.8.E
Communicate a unifying theme or point of view through the production of works in the arts.
9.1.12.B 9.1.12.B

Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts.

  • Dance: • move • perform • read and notate dance • create and choreograph • improvise
  • Music: • sing • play an instrument • read and notate music • compose and arrange •improvise
  • Theatre: • stage productions • read and write scripts • improvise • interpret a role • design sets • direct
  • Visual Arts: • paint • draw • craft • sculpt • print • design for environment, communication, multi-media
9.1.12.E 9.1.12.E
Delineate a unifying theme through the production of a work of art that reflects skills in media processes and techniques.
Expand
  • Big Ideas
    Comprehension requires and enhances critical thinking and is constructed through the intentional interaction between reader and text
    Artists use tools and resources as well as their own experiences and skills to create art.
    People use both aesthetic and critical processes to assess quality, interpret meaning and determine value.
    The arts provide a medium to understand and exchange ideas.
    The skills, techniques, elements and principles of the arts can be learned, studied, refined and practiced.
    There are formal and informal processes used to assess the quality of works in the arts.
  • Concepts
    Textual features and organization inform meaning
    A vocabulary of critical analysis allows people to compare artworks and make judgments about quality even if the works are very different.
    A vocabulary of critical analysis allows people to compare musical works and make judgments about quality even if the works are very different.
    A vocabulary of critical analysis allows people to compare works in different arts disciplines and make judgments about quality even if the works are very different.
    Actors use in-depth script analysis to reveal emotional, social and intellectual dimensions of a role which enables them to create and sustain characters.
    Artist refine skills and techniques to carry out their intentions in their artworks.
    Artistic practice often involves collaboration among groups of people.
    Artistic teams may introduce new creative elements or place a play outside of its cultural or historical context to communicate a particular perspective.
    Artists and designers use the elements of arts and principles of design in strategic ways to convey meaning.
    Artists and students of art frequently engage together in formal critiques of artwork as part of the process of developing their practice.
    Artists assess the quality of their work using evaluation criteria that is specific to the media, material, or technique.
    Artists assess their work at each stage, making choices throughout the process of planning, creating, and exhibiting a work of art.
    Artists choose tools and techniques that convey emotion and evoke emotional response.
    Artists create art to provoke, entertain and challenge the status quo.
    Artists engage in critical response to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of art.
    Artists often produce work that is influenced by or references compelling ideas of other artists.
    Artists produce work that is influenced by their experiences, emotions, ideas and cultures.
    Artists sometimes create artwork to call attention to a social issue.
    Artists think differently when working through different media.
    Artists use various techniques to create strong reactions to their work.
    Artists work to develop skills, techniques, and ideas in a sketchbook or visual journal to document and refine their process.
    Contemporary theatre artists utilize modern technology in innovative ways to create, produce and perform.
    Critics combine their knowledge of the elements of theatre and play production with their personal ideas about what makes good theatre.
    Critics use predetermined processes and criteria to determine the quality of musical works.
    Dancers and choreographers use a variety of styles to choreograph, stage and perform original works in dance.
    Dancers and choreographers use elements of space, time and energy to create, notate, and perform dance.
    Dancers and choreographers use various musical rhythms and genres to create, notate, and perform dance.
    Designers draw inspiration from many things including objects, music, environments and other artist’s work.
    Directors and actors use and record planned stage movement and actions that focus audience attention.
    Marketing materials are often disguised as unbiased critiques.
    Modern dance offers choreographers a chance to communicate intent through an unrestricted range of movement.
    Modern technologies have expanded the tools that dancers and choreographers use to create, perform, archive and respond to dance.
    Multimedia artists employ sound, image, and text together to communicate ideas.
    Music can be used to influence consumers to buy something.
    Music may be performed as a singular art form or in combination with the elements and principles of dance, theatre or visual arts.
    Musicians use both aesthetic and critical processes to assess their own work and compare it to the works of others.
    People can create music that illustrates different aspects of their lives.
    People use analytic processes to understand and evaluate works of art.
    People use critical processes to compare works in dance.
    People use the elements and principles of art as tools for artistic expression.
    People use the elements and principles of music as tools for artistic expression.
    Personal experiences influence a person’s response to works of art.
    Play production is the collaborative effort of many kinds of theatre artists.
    Technological advances have increased communication between cultures, allowing elements of theatre from many different cultures to be used by people all over the world.
    The artist’s creative process is reflective work that happens over time to integrate knowledge, solve problems, and synthesize ideas.
    The elements of music are shared through a universal system of musical notation that has changed through time.
    The quality of dances that are very different can be determined using the three models of artistic criticism: formal, intuitive, contextual.
    The quality of performances that are very different can be determined using the three models of artistic criticism: formal, intuitive, contextual.
    Theatre artists create habits of self reflection and evaluation to inform their work.
    Theatre artists use both aesthetic and critical processes to assess their own work and compare it to the works of others.
    Theatre artists use contemporary technology to establish a setting, convey a mood, illustrate a theme, and/or help tell a story.
    Theatre artists use improvisation to explore characters, relationships and motivations.
    Theatre artists use improvisation to explore ideas and themes and to create new works.
    Theatre artists utilize elements from many art forms to produce a fully staged play.
    Understanding the basics of sound amplification and set illumination helps a theatre artist work with a production team.
    Viewers of art often respond to a work intuitively, using subjective insight.
    Visual culture, art, and design are sometimes created to sell ideas.
    When assessing quality, interpreting meaning, and determining value, one might consider the artist’s intent and/or the viewer’s interpretation.
    While much of the school-based musical experience happens within a group, it is also important for people to be able to create, recreate, rehearse and perform music independently.
    Works in dance can be used to influence points of view or philosophies.
    Works in dance can document the experiences of a group of people.
    Artists create works of art that communicate their personal vision, concerns and life experiences.
    Artists often create work based on a philosophical position.
    Technology has the potential to change the way we perceive the value of art.
    The process of reflection and revision help dancers and choreographers to improve their works.
    Works in dance can be used to communicate a personal point of view or philosophy.
  • Competencies
    Identify and analyze the characteristics of various genre (e.g. poetry, drama, fiction) and explain the appropriateness of chosen form for author’s purpose
    Analyze a piece of visual culture that is designed to be effective in selling an idea and identify the techniques the artist uses to sell the idea.
    Analyze an American commercial or television show to identify elements from cultures around the world.
    Analyze and compare artworks from different genres using a vocabulary of critical analysis.
    Analyze and compare musical works from different genres using a vocabulary of critical analysis.
    Analyze and interpret a philosophical position and explain how it is manifested in a particular artist’s work.
    Analyze text and subtext in scripts to identify character relationships, as well as physical, emotional, and social characteristics of an assigned role, and apply this knowledge to deduce motivation.
    Analyze the techniques used by a controversial artist and explain how the techniques affect audience response.
    Analyze their own performances and compositions and make judgments about their own works as compared with those of other performers and composers.
    Analyze works in dance that document the experiences of a group of people.
    Apply elements of good design such as unity, balance, proportion and color to create designs for scenery, costumes and lighting.
    Articulate personal responses to works of art and explain how and why their personal experiences have affected their response.
    Choose an object or work of art that expresses the theme of a play; use elements from this object or work to design a costume, scenic element, prop, light or sound effect; and explain choices made in an artist’s statement.
    Choreograph, notate and perform a modern dance work, concentrating on communicating intent through movement.
    Choreograph, notate and perform complex dance sequences in various forms using elements of space, time and energy.
    Choreograph, notate and perform dances that attempt to influence the points of view or philosophies of others.
    Choreograph, notate and perform dances with multiple movement phrases to communicate a point of view or philosophy.
    Choreograph, notate, and perform dances for flexible groups with multiple movement phrases using various musical rhythms and genres.
    Collaborate with other artists to explore and invent unique solutions to problems.
    Compare and contrast their own musical performances with works in other arts disciplines using a vocabulary of critical analysis.
    Compare own work to the works of others using a vocabulary of critical analysis.
    Compare the quality of two distinctly different dances using the three models of artistic criticism.
    Compose a multimedia work that uses sound, image, and text to communicate an idea.
    Construct a critical analysis that compares an interpretation of two works art: one that relies heavily on the artist’s intent for interpretation, and one that relies solely an individual interpretation.
    Construct an intuitive critical response to a work of art based on subjective insight.
    Create a logo in which elements and principles work together to enhance the meaning of the image and represent the personality of a company or organization.
    Create a multimedia presentation designed to guide the viewer through analysis of a work using formal, contextual and intuitive criticism.
    Create a work of art in response to or referring to a compelling idea presented in another artist’s work.
    Create a work of art that calls the viewer to action.
    Create a work that integrates knowledge and ideas from different aspects of their lives.
    Create an artist statement that explains the intent of their artworks.
    Create an artwork that challenges a current practice by promoting a new way/method.
    Create an original play using group improvisations and the process of creating, performing, reflecting and revising.
    Create and edit a five-minute video illustrating a theme.
    Create and record blocking for a play or a scene, including entrances and exits, stage pictures and use of levels and space for emphasis.
    Create works of art that reflect their experiences, emotions, ideas and/or culture.
    Create, notate and perform music that incorporates elements and principles from different arts disciplines.
    Create, rehearse, reflect and revise to prepare and film a performance, then respond to that performance using intuitive and formal criticism.
    Critique a performance using the three models of artistic criticism.
    Demonstrate the ability to independently create, recreate, rehearse and perform musical works and explain why this is important.
    Describe the role of inventions in the history of art, e.g. how the invention of the camera influenced the valuation and perception of paintings.
    Determine the quality of works in many distinctly different styles of dance using the three models of artistic criticism.
    Develop and present a personal body of work that documents personal vision, concerns and life experiences.
    Document the choices they make in the stages of planning, creating and exhibiting a work of art.
    Document the process of reflection and revision while choreographing and rehearsing works in dance.
    Document the reflective process and explain how reflection assists in integrating knowledge, solving problems and synthesizing ideas.
    Engage in critical discussion with peers to describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate a work of art.
    Evaluate promotional marketing materials and compare them to a critical review.
    Evaluate the quality of a finished print using criteria appropriate for a specific type of printmaking (engraving, intaglio, linocut, etc.).
    Experiment with different media to create a work of art and explain why they made choices to use each medium.
    Explain how artists choose tools and techniques to convey emotion and evoke emotional response.
    Generate a series of entries in a sketchbook or visual journal that demonstrates attention to skills, techniques, and ideas in process.
    Identify and explain the different roles required to produce a fully-staged production.
    Identify how notation has changed through time and perform and notate music using modern musical notation.
    Identify the features and functions of light and sound boards and demonstrate the ability to operate light and sound boards safely.
    Identify the processes and criteria that critics use to determine the quality of musical works.
    Independently choreograph, stage and perform an original work in dance that synthesizes a variety of styles.
    Listen to, analyze, and create music and lyrics that are intended to persuade a consumer to buy something.
    Manipulate line, shape, etc. to plan and create pieces of art that express multiple ideas or a range of emotions.
    Manipulate rhythm, melody, form, etc. to create, notate and perform pieces of music that express multiple ideas or a range of emotions.
    Participate in a formal critique with peers to assess the developing qualities in their own artwork.
    Read and discuss critiques of plays or films and evaluate them to identify the type of criticism and response.
    Reconceptualize scenes or plays, placing them in other time periods or cultures or breaking conventions in order to shed light on human behavior, e.g. Taming of the Shrew conceived as an episode of The Honeymooners 1950’s sit-com.
    Use contemporary web technologies to archive and analyze their own and others’ performances, then use formal models of criticism to make judgments and compare and contrast their work with the work of others.
    Use modern technology tools to create, perform, archive and respond to dance.
    Use projections, media and modern technology in staging a scene.
    Using prompts from poetry, abstract ideas and other sources, improvise and sustain characters and interact with each other in role.

Rationale

To explore ways in which a visual artist might respond to a work of poetry.

Vocabulary

 

Modernist Poetry- type of poetry that has no prescribed meter or rhyme.  This type of poetry was first created in the mid 1800"s.

Symbols- something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance

Elements of Art- line, shape, color, value, form, space, and texture

Depth- the direct linear measurement from front to back

Distortion- a lack of proportionality in an image resulting from defects in the optical system

Interpretation-to explain according to prior knowledge and surrounding factual information

Expression- an act, process, or instance of representing in a medium

Analyze- to study or determine the nature and relationship of the parts of something

Basic linear perspective- the technique or process of representing (on a plane or curved surface) the spatial relationship of objects as they might appear to the eye

Fragmentation- the process of making something incomplete or disjointed

Mood- the expression of a conscious state of mind found in art, literature, music, and dance

Analogous color- colors that sit side-by-side on the color wheel

Complementary color- colors that sit opposite on the color wheel

Principles of art- contrast, rhythm, unity, movement, emphasis, pattern, balance

Transparency- the property of transmitting light through its surface and allowing one to see through it

Objectives

 

1. Students will explore connections between modern poetry and visual art style and form. 

2. Students will experience semantic language in visual art through symbols (both direct and indirect) and the layers of these symbols.

3.  Students will research the similarities and connections between the poetry of Williams Carlos Williams and Charles DeMuth.

4.  Students will implement critiquing formats in visual art.

5.  Students will break down modern poetry into basic elements similar to those found in visual art.

6.  Students will break a painting down into its basic elements using the elements of design.

7.  Students will draw connections between the written word and the visual symbol.

8.  Students will use brainstorming techniques to write a modernist poem about an everyday object or experience.

9. Students will use basic design elements to produce a thumbnail sketch that is a visual representation of what they wrote.

10.  Students will represent their poems through the use of visual symbols.

11.  Students will use basic one and two point linear perspective to manipulate their first thumbnail sketch.

12.  Students will learn how to color blend using analogous color schemes.

13.  Students will assess their personally created artwork and poem using a rubric.

Lesson Essential Question(s)

How do artists work in collaboration?

How are artists influenced by other artists and ideas?

Why do artists create?

How do artists assess their work at each stage of their artistic process?

How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?

           

Duration

This lesson will take about ten 45 minute classes

Materials

The poem The Figure Five by William Carlos Williams

The artwork The Figure Five in Gold by Charles Demuth

Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

sticky notepaper

pencils

erasers

permanent markers

miscellanesous everyday objects

brainstorming graphic organizer

rubric

oil pastels

q-tips

rulers

 

Suggested Instructional Strategies

W: Students will have examples that have been done in the past to use as springboards for their ideas.  They will also receive a rubric at the beginning of this lesson which outlines what is to be produced and how it will be graded. 
H: Students will experience both forms of art simultaneously. They will see the Figure Five in Gold by Demuth while teachers and students read the Figure Five by Williams Carlos Williams.  They will also see a spectrum of visual demonstrations to guide them.
E: This lesson has a variety of sensory cues that will allow students to experience poetry and visual art in a variety of ways.  Additionally, to guide the writing, students will be able to select their own objects as well as a graphic organizer that best suits their learning style.
R: Due to the nature of this inter-art analogy lesson, the development of both art forms uses continual revisiting, revising, and rethinking of the poem and the artwork.  Both art forms should develop and emerge together.
E: From the presentation of the essential question at the beginning of this lesson until the completion of the assessment rubric at the end of this lesson there will be continuous self evaluation.
T:

Individual selection of a graphic organizer and a common object will be tailored to meet student abilities. This would be for the writing of the Minimalist Poem.

Other ways to differentiate instruction are:

In the case of gifted learners, students could go to “The Artchive” and look up Charles Demuth.  While students are in that site they will see highlighted key words that relate to Demuth and the American Modernist movement.  After investigation, these students could write a brief synopsis about how the American Modernist Movement was part of a larger International avant-garde movement and compare/contrast the two styles.

In the case of a visually impaired student a textural collage could be made with various materials, such as bubble wrap, faux fur, sandpaper, other embossed textures, corrugated cardboard, duct tape, etc.  Tracers could be used to cut out shapes made with poster board stapled to the textured surface so that the student could cut slowly by touch. 

For the ADHD learner, lessons can be broken into smaller workable sections that include a “website break” where they search for other artworks by Demuth.  The flexibility to allow controlled movement from one task to the next allows student concentration on tasks to be continually refocused in new and revisited ways. 

For the student who has trouble with word recognition and writing, a word bank that uses flash cards could be created with the cards perhaps being color coded according to the word and the part of speech.
O: Opportunities for teacher modeling and scaffolding exist throughout the lesson. Completion of the project will require individual performance accompanied by teacher, peer and self review.

Prior knowledge/Skills

Students should have prior instruction about symbol use in visual art and ways in which meaning about a work of art is derived through design and symbol use.

Instructional Procedures

Day One/Two 

The question "How are visual artists influenced by other types of artists" will be posed, focusing on developing a definition of visual harmony.  Students will write sticky note responses to the question and paste them on a board. 

Preparation for the sticky note responses can include discussion of the word “harmony” and relational words like “dissonance” and “unison.” Musical examples of these concepts can be performed in a variety of ways and discussions of personal relationships (family harmony, thinking in unison, etc.) using these terms can be explored.

Sticky note responses will become a catalyst for class discussion and formation of a class definition for visual harmony. 

Using a white board or other presentational method, demonstrate unison, dissonance and harmony in art by using the elements of art.

  1. Take a circle and put another circle inside-harmony
  2. Take the circle and put a triangle interjecting into it-dissonance
  3. Circle on top of a circle-unison
  4. Ask students to give more examples of unison, dissonance, harmony as they relate to the elements of art

An optional way to present concepts toward learning visual harmony:

LEARNING STATIONS:

Station 1: Keyboard

            Two keyboards will be used to play a series of chords that feature major and minor harmonies. Students will select color strips to match the individual chords they are hearing (one color for major and one color for minor) and place them in the order that they are hearing the chords, matching both color and sound with the concepts of dissonance and consonance.

Station 2: Guitar

            Two guitars will be used. One plays a melodic line and one plays a series of chords.

When the definition has been established, a print of the "Figure Five In Gold" will be displayed and students will use a teacher-developed handout to read the poem "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams. The poem should be read three times out loud, first as a unison reading with subsequent expressive readings in front of the class from individual class members. Brainstorming sessions about the correlation between the visual representations that Charles Demuth painted and the poem should take place after each reading.  Students should make key entries about how the subject is portrayed in both the poem and the painting, noting compositional elements that allude to symbolic references and text used within the work.

Preparation for subsequent lessons: students will be asked to select and bring an everyday object to class, or the teacher can provide unique and interesting objects around which poetry and visual art work can be developed.

Day Two/Three

The questions "How Do Artists Work in Collaboration?” and “What kinds of connections can be made between poetry and visual art?” will be posed. Students will be given a project plan/assessment rubric that relates to the artistic works to be created in the upcoming lessons. The teacher will present an overview of the project plan/assessment rubric.

Figure Five in Gold

Project Design and Assessment Rubric

 

Advanced

Proficient

Basic

In Progress

Poem

Poem is presented following a minimalist design and text relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem design has minimalist qualities and most of the text relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem design lacks minimalist qualities and only some of the text  relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem lacks a sense of minimalist design and/or the text relationship to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object is vague

Preliminary Sketches

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from three unique and diverse different perspectives

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from three different perspectives

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from similar perspectives

Fewer than three sketches of a selected object are completed

Final Project

Initials are incorporated three times, demonstrating mastery of one point perspective

Oil pastel techniques reflect a strong understanding of contour as it relates to analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and all of the objects are outlined (demonstrating line quality) with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated three times but perspective needs sense of depth

Oil pastel techniques reflect a consistent understanding of analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and most of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated fewer than three times and/or lack perspective

Oil pastel techniques reflect an inconsistent understanding of analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and some of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated fewer than three times and/or are portrayed only in a linear fashion

Oil pastel techniques reflect little understanding of analogous color  mixing techniques, or are incomplete

Project does not have all miscellaneous pieces swept off and not all of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Work Habits

Engagement in the project included whole class time and beyond

Engagement in the project included whole class time

Engagement in the project included a majority of class time

Engagement in the project was minimal

 

The question "What types of experiences do artists and poets use as sources of inspiration" will be posed. Students will use the everyday object selected and write a minimalist poem (using Williams "The Great Figure" as a model) about that object. 

Several minimalist poems and minimalist artworks should be prepared for analysis of design and form that would relate to visual art creation (i.e., repetition of text=repetition in the visual art work, etc.).

Day Four

The teacher will lead a review about one point perspective.  Students will then sketch three views of the chosen object. Holding the objects in positions suspended in the air or rotating them so that undersides and foreshortened sides are made clearer can serve as options for student sketching.

As students are working the teacher will be circulating throughout the room pointing out to students where their work lies within the rubric and how to make adjustments to advance both their poems and their sketches. 

Day 5 

Students will select their favorite view of their chosen object and enlarge it onto oak tag.   Students will incorporate their initials or a nickname into their artwork three times (just like Charles Demuth's "Figure Five in Gold" has three sets of initials and names).

As students are working, the teacher will circulate through the room with sketch paper in hand to offer ideas about depth perception, lettering, composition manipulation and other ideas that might arise.

The teacher will continue to circulate throughout the room pointing out to students where their work lies within the rubric and how to make adjustments to advance both their poems and their sketches.

Days 6 thru 10 

Students will work on drawing, outlining, and coloring with oil pastels.  Before the end of day five, the teacher will present a demonstration showing color mixing with analogous colors.

The teacher will continue to circulate throughout the room pointing out to students where their work lies within the rubric and how to make adjustments to advance both their poems and their sketches.

 Prior to the end of the final day, students will utilize a self-assessment rubric.

Formative Assessment

Figure Five in Gold

Project Design and Assessment Rubric

 

Advanced

Proficient

Basic

In Progress

Poem

Poem is presented following a minimalist design and text relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem design has minimalist qualities and most of the text relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem design lacks minimalist qualities and only some of the text  relates to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object

Poem lacks a sense of minimalist design and/or the text relationship to the shape, color, function and sounds of the selected object is vague

Preliminary Sketches

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from three unique and diverse different perspectives

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from three different perspectives

Three sketches of a selected object are completed from similar perspectives

Fewer than three sketches of a selected object are completed

Final Project

Initials are incorporated three times, demonstrating mastery of one point perspective

Oil pastel techniques reflect a strong understanding of contour as it relates to analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and all of the objects are outlined (demonstrating line quality) with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated three times but perspective needs sense of depth

Oil pastel techniques reflect a consistent understanding of analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and most of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated fewer than three times and/or lack perspective

Oil pastel techniques reflect an inconsistent understanding of analogous color mixing

Project has all miscellaneous pieces swept off and some of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Initials are incorporated fewer than three times and/or are portrayed only in a linear fashion

Oil pastel techniques reflect little understanding of analogous color  mixing techniques, or are incomplete

Project does not have all miscellaneous pieces swept off and not all of the objects are outlined with permanent marker

Work Habits

Engagement in the project included whole class time and beyond

Engagement in the project included whole class time

Engagement in the project included a majority of class time

Engagement in the project was minimal

 

Related Materials & Resources

 Multiple web pages offer information about both the poet and the artist:

http://www.wisdomportal.com/Christmas/Figure5InGold.html

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.59.1

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/119

Mark Harden’s Artchive http://artchive.com/

 

Internet resources can be used to create the following:

A handout about Charles Demuth and William Carlos Williams

The Figure Five poem by William Carlos Williams

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

The Figure Five in Gold by Charles Demuth

Other works by Charles Demuth showing his abstraction

 

The Guitar   by Federico García Lorca
translated by Cola Franzen

The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible 
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant 
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.

 

The home of Charles Demuth in Lancaster, PA (If your school is local, field trips to the home are available)

http://www.demuth.org/

 

Author

Stacey L. Miller Art Teacher/Artist Middletown Area Middle School Middletown Area School District

Date Published

June 13, 2011
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