1. Albrecht Durer
Albrecht Durer was born in Germany. He was one of 18 kids – does anybody in here have 17 brothers and sisters? That had to be a big kitchen table for them all to sit around. His dad was a gold smith – A gold smith is somebody who works with gold or metal to make things. His dad used to make silverware, plates, cups and jewelry. Albrecht was trained by his father to do the same job, when he was very young, maybe even your age. Do you think a gold smith would be a hard job? You would probably have to really pay attention to details when you are creating designs on an itty bitty fork handle. Well, Albrecht took all of those skills he learned from his dad, and used them in his art. He not only painted, like in this picture here – he also made pictures by carving them out of a block of wood and also did engravings in other pieces of metal, and he needed to pay attention to the details to make these awesome works of art.
This is a self-portrait of our artist – can anybody tell me what a “self-portrait” is? The artist painted a picture of himself. He was 28 years old in this picture.
He was considered one of the greatest German Renaissance artists of his time. “Renaissance” represents the changes that took place in Europe during that time of his life – representing characteristics and values of the new modern world. Albrecht was known for his attention to detail in his artwork

2. Rhinocerus
Albrecht Durer was one of the first artists to focus on animals. People were starting to travel and see new things and come back with stories of what he has seen. He drew this picture of a Rhinocerus (upper left hand corner), based on a story that he had heard. He had never seen a Rhino in real life. He drew this picture to guide him as he turned into this bottom picture that he carved out of a bolck of wood. Do you think that would be hard to do? He owes it all to his dad, for teaching him attention to detail. How long do you think it would take him to make this picture?
Throughout all of the Art Masterpiece lessons you have had in Kindergarten, now in first grade, and all the way up to 6th grade, you are going to learn that every masterpiece you see is made of shapes. Albrecht also used a bunch of shapes to create this Rhinocerous….Can anybody tell me what shapes you see? Circles, Ovals, Squares, Lines – curved lines, straight lines. Who can make all of those shapes? Then you too could be a famous artist like Albrecht Durer.
With all these shapes and details on this Rhinocerus, Albrecht was trying to add texture to his carving. Texture is something added to artwork to make you think how it would feel. If you could reach out and touch this Rhino’s leg, how do you think it would feel? What if you scratched him under the chin? Or touched is pointy horn?

3. Wing of a Roller
Can anybody tell me what this is? This is a picture of the wing of a bird called a Blue Roller. Why do you think Albrecht would draw this picture? Do you think it would be fun to paint? Everybody shut your eyes….now open then and tell me what is the first color that you see? How many colors do you see in this painting?
If you could reach in and touch this wing, what do you think it would feel like? Why do you think it would feel that way? Do you think those green feathers on top would feel a little different than the black feathers on the bottom? How did Albrecht make them look like they would feel different?

4. Young Hare-1502
Can anybody see something on this painting that was on all of the other paintings as well? Albrecht always signed his work with his initials A.D. and the year that he painted the picture. (you might want to scroll back through the pictures to see if anybody can find his signature on the other paintings.)
This is the piece of artwork that we are going to focus on today. This painting is titled “Young Hare” – Does anybody know what a “Hare” is? It is a small bunny…….And we are going to focus on the “texture” that we can see in this painting. If you could reach into this painting how do you think this bunny would feel? Do you think his ears would feel any different from his back? What about his paws. How do you think that Albrecht was able to paint this to make it feel soft and furry? Did he use any shapes? (Lines) Did the colors help? How do you think the colors helped? (different colors made the fur look differently, and made it look like you could reach in and feel the fur – see how he used some white on his back I the fur)
Now it is your turn to create texture! Instead of painting a picture where you can “imagine” how something would feel, we are actually going to put texture on our pictures. You are each going to pick between three different drawings, we have pictures of a sheep, a porcupine, a horse and a fish. You will each get to pick one of these animals to add “texture” to the picture. We are going to pass these out, and the first thing I want you to do, is use your crayons and markers and color a background for these animals. Maybe your sheep is in a field, or your horse is in a barn, and your fish in the ocean. Don’t color the animal yet, just focus on working on the background. When you are done, I want you to wave me down, and I will come over to help you add the texture to the picture. We are going to use cotton balls for your sheep, toothpicks for your porcupine, yarn for your horse, and sequins for your fish. Here are some examples of what they could look like…..Maybe you guys can come up with your own signature for your painting as well.