A Sense of Place

Part 1: Noticing Our Feelings

How Do You Feel? 

• Explain to students how when they go to different places, they may experience different feelings. Have them think about how they feel… 
  • In their home? 
  • In a park? 
  • At their school? 
  • At the gym? 
  • In an art museum? 
  • In a church?                                                                                                       

Imagine:

• Prompt students to close their eyes and imagine their favorite place. Ask:
  • How do you feel in that place? 
  • What colors would you use to describe it?

Part 2: Discussion and Making Connections

Discuss:

• Both of these works by Helen Frankenthaler and Alma Thomas evoke a sense of a place. Guide students through these prompts to have them IDENTIFY how these artists capture a sense and feeling of a place. 
  • Write a few adjectives to describe the place Frankenthaler paints. 
    • Then, consider the artwork’s title, Canyon. After learning the title, how does that alter how you view the painting? 
    • What has she done with color and composition (the arrangement of all of the parts of the painting) to capture the monumentality of a canyon?
  • Write down some adjectives to describe Thomas’s work. 
    • Then, think about the artwork’s title, Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers. After learning the title, how does that alter how you view the painting? 
    • What has she done to capture the essence of a breeze rustling flowers?

CONNECT:

• Have students connect the two paintings by thinking about how the following are similar and different: 
  • The words they used to describe the two paintings 
  • How each artist evokes a sense of place 
  • Each artist’s use of color 
  • The mood of each painting

Part 3: A Change in Perspective

Both artists use color and abstraction to capture the sense of a place. Let’s try a similar approach to EXPRESS our own sense of place: 

• Select an object from nature. It can be a flower, leaf, or anything that you can easily find outside. 
  • Place the object on the table. On a piece of paper do three continuous line drawings, each from a different angle. Think about seeing it from above, from the side, and from an unusual angle. 
• A continuous line drawing is produced without lifting the pen or pencil from the paper.  
  • Focus on the object, not on your drawing. Pay attention to the contours and details of the object. 
  • Set a timer (e.g., 30 seconds) for each drawing. 
• Try to make your drawing more abstract. Consider trying one of these approaches:
  • Focus in on one section of the drawing and enlarge and/or crop it 
  • Color your drawing with non-representational colors 
  • Combine all 3 drawings 
  • Imagine how your drawing/object might look from really far away, up close, or through a kaleidoscope

Additional Extended Activity: Know Your City (Grades 5-7) 

As an art teacher, Alma Thomas developed a lesson called “Know Your City.” She took her class to different locations around Washington, DC, talking about what was happening there and how the students felt in those spaces. Then she sent them out on their own to other locations and had them report back to the class. 

• Have students think about how they feel in some of the locations discussed in Part 1. 
  • Option 1: Have students research a local place that has personal significance to them.
  • Option 2: Connect each work of art to a major historical event happening at the same time or to a contemporary piece of literature or music.