Grades: Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts 
Time Required:  4–5-part lesson 
Six or more class periods 	
Author: J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Featured Getty Artwork: 
Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel, Francesco Antonio Franzoni, about 1789
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1512
 
Lesson Overview
Students will examine a relief sculpture, focusing on its style, function, and design. They will then create a three-dimensional sketch for a decorative overmantel for a patron of their choice as part of a home makeover. This sketch should reflect a current fashionable style. 

Lesson Objectives
Students will be able to:
•	discuss and analyze the sculpture Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel  by Francesco Antonio Franzoni.
•	consider current styles of home interiors.  
•	create studies in 2-D and 3-D for a decorative overmantel for the celebrity patron of their choice.
•	research and read about the life and style of an arts patron and create a design for an overmantel that reflects the patron’s life. 
•	articulate in writing the processes they followed to create their overmantels. 

Materials List
•  Image of Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel by Francesco Antonio Franzoni
•  Drawing paper and pencils 
•  Air-drying sculpting clay, such as Crayola® Model Magic®
•  Modeling tools 
•  Web sites showcasing interior designs and/or home and interior design magazines

Lesson Steps
1. 	Show students an image of Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel by Francesco Antonio Franzoni and ask them suggested questions from the “Questions for Teaching,” found in the Image Bank, or by clicking the image in the Materials section above. Explain to students that an overmantel is an ornamental structure or artwork displayed above the mantel of a fireplace. Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel served as a preliminary sketch for the marble overmantel in a second-floor formal reception room for the Braschi family's grand Italian palazzo (palace) in Rome.

2. 	Discuss the style elements that make a fashionable interior home design today. If you were an artist hired to create a work of art for someone's home, what would you need to know about the client or patron to create a design that clearly communicates who the person is? Tell students that they are going to design an overmantel for a celebrity patron of their choice. 

3. 	Students will then pair up into design teams and research a celebrity patron and a current interior design style. They can look to interior design magazines or television shows like MTV Cribs or Extreme Home Makeover. 

4. 	Have students list four things that are important about the celebrity patron on the border of a 3-x-5-inch card. Ask students to brainstorm the best way to represent or symbolize each item on the list (e.g., for a film star, recording artist, model, or TV star, you might use studio lights, a director’s chair, microphone, film reel, or headphones). Prompt students to use Google's image search to find clean graphics that you could translate into a sketch.

5. 	Ask students the following questions: 
•	What attributes or props would you include so that people will easily recognize your celebrity patron's profession? 
•	How important is it to reflect the patron’s taste and style? 
•	Imagine what it might be like for guests in the patron’s home to be in the reception room surrounded by symbols included in the overmantel.

6.  Before setting ideas to paper, students should look at photographs and magazine or online articles about the patron in order to understand his or her personality. Students should work out multiple versions for the overmantel in drawings or collage. The first drawing or collage is an "ideation sketch"—an exploratory sketch that shows a variety of solutions and ideas for each product presented. Students should create at least three ideation sketches for their patron in collages or drawings. 

7.  Students will use air-drying sculpting clay to create a 3-D version of their favorite ideation sketch for the overmantel.

8.  Students will write a description of the process they went through to develop their overmantel. Students should state the four things about their celebrities they thought were important to represent, describe the research undertaken to find imagery that conveys those concepts, and explain their process for creating sketches and a final design for their overmantel.

9.  Discuss the following questions about the finished projects in a class critique: 
•	What were the challenges and successes of working in 3-D? 
•	What were the challenges and successes of working in clay? 
•	How successful were the students in conveying something about the patron and his or her work in the sculpture? 
•	How did each pair's sculpture change, from their first study drawings to the finished work? 

Assessment
Students will be assessed on their ability to complete the assignment, their three studies for the overmantel, the clarity of the subject in their design, and their written assignment outlining their process and research. 

Standards Addressed

Visual Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools

Grade 7
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing
4.4 Develop and apply specific and appropriate criteria individually or in groups to assess and critique works of art.

Grade 8
2.0 Creative Expression
2.2 Design and create maquettes for three-dimensional sculptures. 
Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools 
2.6 Design and create both additive and subtractive sculptures.

Grades 9–12, proficient
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing
4.4 Articulate the process and rationale for refining and reworking one of their own works of art.

Grades 9–12, advanced
2.0 Creative Expression
2.1 Create original works of art of increasing complexity and skill in a variety of media that reflect their feelings and points of view.
2.5 Use innovative visual metaphors in creating works of art.

4.0 Aesthetic Valuing
4.1 Describe the relationship involving the art maker (artist), the making (process), the
artwork (product), and the viewer.