Rembrandt Week & other Figurines

Today is Art Day Artists Figurines purchased via our ABC/25 Grant

I wrote an ABC/25 grant this year to purchase Today is Art Day artist figurines for the art room. At first I thought they would be useful when I teach students about caricatures (like this project) since each figurine is created with an exaggerated head and smaller body. As I had them out waiting to be unboxed, my students were taking so much interest in them, that I decided to unveil each figurine one week at a time and give the entire school population a little art history lesson with some video, image, or discussion at the end of class.

Week 1: Unboxed Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh:
We watched the trailer for Loving Vincent (below).
Some students watched this Dark Water painting of two Van Gogh pieces.
Students wondered why the box said you can remove Vincent's ear. It began a conversation about how mental health issues were not remedied with medicine when he lived. If he had lived now, he could have had a longer, happier life.

Week 2: Unboxed Leonardo DaVinci

We learned that Mona Lisa was made by Leonardo Da Vinci. We talked about persistence since Leonardo spent years and years perfecting the painting. Some of the kids shared the times when they went back and fixed something or worked for a long time on one project. We also watched this silly video about Mona Lisa's smile as told by Sherman and Mr Peabody (below).

Week 3: Rembrandt van Rijn

When I take my 4th graders to the Art Institute of Chicago, we walk right past a Rembrandt. It's at those moments that I realize it's my job to help students appreciate the great artists and their work. So I decided to dedicate a lego project to the Man with a Gold Chain and spend Valentine's Day working collaborativelyon this mural.

Making a #lego mural plan to introduce my #drydenrocks Ss to #Rembrandt We hope to see this painting in person on our @artinstitutechi #fieldtrip @LEGO_Education #MakerEd #makerspace #artsed #steam #edtech #arthistory #K12ArtChat #artsed #arteducation pic.twitter.com/NjC8Mj7r9s

— Tricia Fuglestad ☕️ (@fuglefun) January 31, 2019

Finished the #Rembrandt #lego mural #drydenrocks #steam #artsed #k12artchat #edtech @artinstitutechi pic.twitter.com/RMQJ4XyjAC

— Tricia Fuglestad ☕️ (@fuglefun) February 17, 2019

All classes had a chance to learn about the flash mob fad that was popular on youtube in 2012-13 where people surprised folks in crowded public spaces with pre-planned performances. We watched the flash mob based on Rembrandt's The Night Watch.

Then we compared and contrasted the 2013 flash mob (left) with the 1642 painting by Rembrandt