The Things We Carry: A Multimodal Composition in the Tangible and Intangible Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference 2015 Michelle Zoss & Teri Holbrook Georgia State University (With an assist from Nicole Pourchier and Teri Holbrook, Georgia State University)
Introductions
Purpose Of The Session The purpose of this session is to explore how artists and teachers use words and images to depict the tangible and intangible characteristics of things they carry with them in life.
Agenda for Today Viewing, Talking, Writing, Drawing, Sharing One King, Two Queens: What do you see? The Splendor of the Hapsburgs: Tell a story Drawing Lines: Ways to shout and whisper Drawing Ourselves: Showing a story Writing Ourselves: Telling more of the story Sharing the Lesson: Gallery walk
Essential Question How do artists and writers depict both tangible and intangible characteristics of people within the context of time periods and circumstances?
Overview Look at how artists depict both tangible and intangible characteristics in the subjects of their paintings and other artwork. Write brief character sketches of painting subjects based on what you can observe infer from examples from the Habsburg Splendor exhibit. Participate in a brief line drawing lesson to depict the things you carry with them to the session. Write about the “intangible things you carry” using Tim O’Brien’s short story “The Things They Carried” as a mentor text and integrate their writing into their contour line drawing. Discuss connections between what is tangible and intangible in your own experiences and making rich inferential readings of images.
Introducing the tangible and intangible The Habsburg Splendor exhibit
Emperor Frederick III, c Attributed to Hans Burgkmair the Elder. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
At your tables, look at the image provided. 1)What can you observe about the things they carry? 2) What can you infer about the figure’s daily life—including assumptions and expectations about their emotions and commitments--because of the things they carry? Give it a go!
Elsa’s coronation by Darika
Queen Elizabeth II coronation photo, Photo by Cecil Beaton.
Queen Elizabeth II coronation photo, Photo by Cecil Beaton.
Exploring the Habsburg Images
At your tables, examine and discuss the reproduction from the Habsburg Splendor collection. Focus on the tangible and intangible aspects of the characters based on what the artists have depicted. Individually, write brief character sketches of the painting subjects, drawing on what your observed and inferred from the artists’ depictions.
Martin van Meytens the Younger. Maria Theresa and Franz Stephan with Their Nine Children, c Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, GG 2739.
After Bernhard Strigel (1460 Memmingen–1528 Memmingen) Portrait of Maximilian I After an older original (probably 1486)
Attributed to Niklas Reiser (1498 Schwarz/Tyrol–1512 Schwarz/Tyrol) Mary of Burgundy c. 1500
Attributed to Lorenz Helmschmid (c ) Boy’s Jousting Armor of Archduke Philip, “The Fair” ( )
Giovanni Battista Moroni (1520/1524 Albino nr. Bergamo– 1592 Bassano) The Sculptor Alessandro Vittoria Possibly c. 1551
Giorgio da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione (1477 Castelfranco Veneto–1510 Venice) The Three Philosophers Venice, c. 1505
Gyula Éder (1875 Košice–1945 Košice) Empress/Queen Zita and Crown Prince Otto Descending from the Imperial Carriage before the Coronation in Budapest on December 30, 1916
Contour Line Drawing Lines that whisper, lines that shout Tin can Top hat Drawing what you see, not what you think you see
Drawing the bags Listening “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien Writing Compose an essay about the tangible and intangible things you carry
Gallery Walk
The Things We Carry: A multimodal composition in the tangible and intangible Teri Holbrook Michelle Zoss