The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Integrated Art Lessons: A Classroom Resource for Teachers Presented by: Cameron Art Museum 3201 South 17th Street Wilmington, North Carolina 28412 www.cameronartmuseum.com In cooperation with: The A+ Schools Program The University of North Carolina at Greensboro P. O. Box 26170 Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6170 aplus-schools.uncg.edu Funded by a grant from the Corning Foundation Author: Martha Burdette

Lesson Fourteen Integrated Concepts Language Arts: descriptive language, oral language Mathematics: three dimensional shapes Visual Art: shape/form, simplification/abstraction, light and shadow, composition

One of the most widely popular forms of art is still-life painting. In still-life painting, the artist arranges objects such as fruit, vegetables, containers, cloths in an interesting composition and makes a painting of that arrangement.

In some still-life paintings, the artist chooses to make the objects appear very realistic. What objects do you recognize in this painting?

In other paintings, the artist may choose to paint the objects in the still-life in ways that make it difficult for the viewer to recognize them.

Take a few minutes and observe this painting very carefully. What objects can you identify in this painting? What do you see that you can not recognize? Do you see things that seem to be broken? Can you be sure where objects are located in the picture?

This painting is a good example of how artists use shape to create an illusion. We know that plates are usually round, but the plates in this image are painted as oval shapes. They look that way because the artist is showing us they are flat on a surface and he is not looking straight down at them.

The artist is showing the viewer that the fruit are spheres, not just flat circles by painting a shadow on the right side of some fruit and by painting a shadow underneath the side of some.

If you look carefully at the goblet in the center of this painting you will see the artist has used light and dark paint to look like shadow here too.

Information about the art and the artists Title: “Abstraction” Artist/Dates: Frank London. American, 1876-1945 Medium: oil on canvas Size: 27” x 22” Date: 1944 Title: “Peeled Orange and Pear” Artist/Dates: Hobson Pittman, American, 1900-1972 Medium: pastel Size: 8.75” x 22.5” Date: c. 1965 Title: “Virginia Tomatoes on Blue Silk Scarf” Artist/Dates: Wright-Frierson, Virginia, American, born 1949 Medium: watercolor Size: 7.5” x 10.75” Date: 1982 What else would you like to know about the art or the artists? How can you find out?