Haida-style animal-shaped bowls

elementary: 28 grade 2 students between 6 and 8 years old | Willingdon elementary (Montreal) | September to December 2009

LESSON PLAN

Duration: 2 sessions of 40 minutes

Title: Haida-style Animal Bowls

Rationale: the students need to learn about Canadian Heritage and history relating to Indigenous people and rarely (if ever) have had an opportunity to experience the medium of clay.

Integration: this lesson is integrated with social sciences because of its relation to Haida art; the sculptures of a First Nations peoples.

Broad Areas of Learning: environmental awareness and consumer rights and responsibilities (by being aware of environment through learning about the Haida culture in Canada), citizenship and community life (by learning about the Haida culture as a community)

Cross-Curricular Competencies: Uses information (by learning about the Haida art, observing it, and being inspired by it to create a sculpture)

Visual Arts Competencies: Creates personal images (inspired by the Haida animal-shaped bowl), appreciates works of art and cultural objects from the world’s artistic heritage, personal images, and media images (by looking at Haida animal-shaped bowls, and by participating during the response).

Learning Objectives:

The students will demonstrate an understanding of the 3-dimensional form of a sculpture by making a sketch from 4 different angles of their ideas.

The students will then demonstrate their understanding of Haida art by creating sculptures inspired by the observation of Haida animal shaped-bowls.

Art Form: sculpture

Technique: pinching, carving

Materials, Tools, Equipment:

• Clay (air-dry is easier unless a kiln is available)
• Pencils
• Paper

Vocabulary: Haida, sculpture, carve, pinch, characteristics

Artistic and/or Cultural References:

• A book containing pictures of Haida animal-shaped bowls, for instance:

Duff, W. (1975). Images: stone: BC. Oxford University Press: Toronto, ON.

• or an animal-shaped bowl sculpture from the Haida

LESSON PHASES for part 1

Preparation: if you have a book, pick out ahead of time a few pages that describe or illustrate very well the concept of animal-shaped bowl

Motivation: Time allotted: 15 minutes

Procedure: Introduce the Haida people as First Nations living mostly on the west coast in BC. Just as people live in different cities and communities, the Haida were a community, some still are. The artworks they made were useful objects decorated depending on their owners and their uses. Look through the book with the students and examine the animal-shaped bowls. How can we tell they are bowl? How can we tell they are animals? What kinds of animals are they and how do you know? Look at their characteristics: their big rectangular lips, their almond eyes, their legs, hands, the designs on their bodies, etc. Explain to the students that they will be creating an animal-shaped bowl inspired from the Haidas’ art that they have seen in the book. Explain that sculptures are 3-dimensions which means that the students will have to think about what the front, back, sides, top and bottom are going to look like.

Development: Time allotted: 20 minutes

                        Procedure: The students will choose one animal and sketch what their animal-shaped bowl will look like from at least 4 different sides using paper and pencil. They must insert details and designs inspired by the Haida bowls.

Response: Time allotted: ongoing during the development

                        Procedure: ask questions such as what animals they chose and how they’ll represent it. Ask if they’ve thought about all sides of the sculpture and the designs that will be carved into them.

Clean-up: Time allotted: very short

                        Procedure: put away pencils and papers.

LESSON PHASES for part 2

Preparation: take out materials and display them for quick distribution

Motivation: Time allotted: 10 minutes

Procedure: Review part 1 and explain that they will be sculpting the animal-shaped bowl they have sketched. Show step by step the creation of an animal-shaped bowl (see development for details). Start with a ball of clay and dig your thumbs in to make a bowl-shape. Pinch the clay around the cavity to create arms, legs, tails, head, etc. The more you pinch, the thinner and longer the limb will be. Readjust the shape of your bowl cavity, the shapes of the limbs, and carve in details and designs with the tip of a pencil. Mistakes are easy to repair as clay will dry slowly and is malleable.

***NOTE*** if limbs are too thin they risk falling off or breaking during the drying process; instead, bring the limbs in against the body.

Development: Time allotted: 20 minutes

                        Procedure: Start with a ball of clay and dig your thumbs in to make a bowl-shape. Pinch the clay around the cavity to create arms, legs, tails, head, etc. The more you pinch, the thinner and longer the limb will be. Readjust the shape of your bowl cavity, the shapes of the limbs, and carve in details and designs with the tip of a pencil. Mistakes are easy to repair as clay will dry slowly and is malleable.

Response: Time allotted: 5 minutes

                        Procedure: after the sculptures are dry, ask the students what they liked about doing this activity, what they thought was difficult, and what they learned about the Haida people.

Clean-up: Time allotted: 5 minutes

                        Procedure: put away all leftover clay by storing it in an airtight plastic bag, place sculptures in drying area, and clean work surfaces with water.

Evaluation Rubric

Title:

Name of student:

Objectives:	Check whichever applies
The student has proven an understanding of 3-dimensional sculpture by sketching out his/her idea from at least 4 different angles	“        not at all “        only a bit (only 1-3 angles are present) “        yes, entirely “        expectations are exceeded
The student has demonstrated an understanding of Haida-style art by creating a sculpture inspired by their animal-shaped bowls	“        not at all “        unclear “        yes
The student’s sculpture contains a cavity which can be seen as a bowl	“        not at all “        yes
The student’s sculpture represent an animal (contains limb-like shapes)	“        not at all “        yes
The student has carved designs in his/her sculpture	“        not at all “        yes

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