Lesson Overview:

Students depict a scene from the life of Harriet Tubman, in the style of Jacob Lawrence.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• identify characteristics of paintings by Jacob Lawrence.
• learn methods for creating a collage, using overlapping shapes to create an illusion of space - or foreground, middle ground, and background - in an artwork.
• use cut paper to create a picture in the style of Jacob Lawrence.

Supplies:

• Projector
• 9x12 sheet of black construction paper for each student
• Construction paper: white, brown, assorted colors
• Pair of scissors for each student
• Glue for each student
• Notebook paper
• Pencils or pens

Instructional Plan:

Warm Up

Read aloud from the book Harriet and the Promised Land. Ask students to share any new facts about Harriet Tubman that they learned from the book. Add this information to the "L" column on the KWL chart created in the previous lesson. Have students consider whether the information was revealed through the text, pictures, or a combination of the two.

Ask students if they have additional questions about Harriet Tubman after learning more about her life and accomplishments. Record student questions in the "W" section of the chart.

Introductory and Developmental Activities

Use the illustrations in Harriet and the Promised Land to launch a discussion of the following characteristics of Jacob Lawrence's paintings:

• strong colors
• flat shapes
• little detail
• exaggeration
• depth expressed by overlapping images

You may wish to visit the following WebLinks for additional works:

• Jacob Lawrence's Art from the Whitney Museum of American Art
• Jacob Lawrence: Over the Line from the Phillips Collection

Have students observe and discuss the patterns and free-form shapes of Jacob Lawrence's work.

Discuss pictorial space and the conventions of "landscape" and "portrait" painting, pointing out how and why landscapes are generally done in horizontal format, portraits in vertical. Ask students to determine which format is most characteristic of Jacob Lawrence.

Guided Practice Activity

Display the following Jacob Lawrence painting for students:

• Harriet & The Promised Land, no.10: Through Forests, Through Rivers…
  Jacob Lawrence 1967
  

Discuss the concepts of background, middle ground, and foreground. Explain the concept of perspective by giving the example a train coming toward you. As it gets closer, it appears to grow larger. Conversely, as the train recedes from your view, it appears to get smaller. Explain that artists place objects in the foreground, middle ground or background of a painting to create a sense of perspective or depth.

Have students examine the people and objects in the painting Harriet & The Promised Land, no.10: Through Forests, Through Rivers…. Ask them to identify the objects that are in the foreground (here), middle ground (near), and background (far).

Explain that artists place the background objects—the items that are farthest away—first. These objects, such as far off mountains, stars, or the sky, will be small and not very detailed. Artists then use a process of overlapping to place items in the middle ground and foreground. Show illustrations from the book Harriet and the Promised Land and have students identify the items that are in the background, middle ground and foreground of each picture. Ask students to describe the order in which the artist placed the items.

Use cut paper to demonstrate the process of overlapping to create a sense of depth or space. Tell students that most of the background will be in the upper half of the picture. Middle ground will be next and will include the people and objects just behind the main focus of the picture. These will be at the middle of the picture plane, larger than the background images but smaller than the foreground images. Demonstrate how the people and objects that make up the main focus of the picture should be large and in the foreground. Remind students that ALL the background images should be done BEFORE the foreground images are placed, if the overlapping is to work.

Independent Activity

In this activity, students will create a cut picture in the style of Jacob Lawrence. Tell students that they will create an "action scene" in a landscape format, similar to the illustrations in Harriet and the Promised Land. The scene should depict some aspect of Harriet Tubman's life and accomplishments.

Have students plan what objects they will include in the picture. (Objects might include Harriet Tubman, the North Star, the trees and mountains that make up the landscape through which Tubman led the escaped slaves.)

Once students have planned the elements to be used in the picture, they should consider how they will make the collage look like Lawrence's work.

Review and model each step in the process:

1. Sketch a rough draft of the picture you will construct from cut paper. Pay careful attention to the size and placement of each object.
2. Select a piece of construction paper and decide the orientation of your picture (landscape or portrait).
3. Cut the main pieces first and decide on their placement.
4. Cut and paste the background pieces.
5. Experiment with the pieces that will make up the foreground and middle ground. Practice overlapping the pieces to create a sense of space or depth. Change the size and/or placement of the pieces as needed.
6. Glue the middle ground and foreground objects.

Monitor students at each step of the process, and encourage them to find new ways to use elements of Jacob Lawrence's style, such as strong colors, flat shapes, little detail, exaggeration, and/or depth expressed by overlapping images.

Closure

Have students share their artwork with the class. Have the class guess which aspect of Harriet Tubman's life or personal qualities are represented in the picture, and point out how the picture incorporates elements of Jacob Lawrence's style.

Assessment:

Students should use the Assessment Rubric Handout to evaluate their work when it is completed.

Extensions:

Have students create their own drawing tips in cartoon-style. Collect all of the tips and combine them into a "drawing tutorial." Some suggested topics for drawing tips are: showing motion, creating a horizon, drawing feet, etc.

Sources:

Print:

• Lawrence, Jacob. Harriet Tubman and the Promised Land. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1997.

Media:

• Lawrence, Jacob. The Harriet Tubman series: January 18-March 2, 1986, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. [Buffalo]: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, ©1986. Portraits, 12 pp., illus.

Authors:

• Gladys Van Der Woude, Library Media Specialist
  Catherine T. Reed Elementary School
  Lanham, MD