At 07:11 PM 2/28/02 EST, you wrote: 

>>>>

<fontfamily><param>arial,helvetica</param>I'm looking for good ideas for
teaching still life drawing.  What artists are important to highlight
when teaching this unit?    Dana 

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This is done in watercolor.  It could work with grade 3 to12.  I like to
go to the market and select a bunch of fruits and vegetables that require
the mixing of color in order to paint them.  When the assignment is
complete, I take the food home and we eat most of it as soup and salads. 
Student  teams do the arrangements for themselves on their tables. 
Overlapping is required.  They view the set ups through a viewfinder. 
Open composition is required (items must go beyond edge).  There is very
little background, but they must paint it first.  No color may be used
straight.  All color must be mixed color. White paper is left for
lightest part of each piece of food.  Lighting is important to see
highlights, shading, and shadows.  I offer to cut a few items open
(purple onions are beautiful).  Odor and taste enriches the motivation. 


After we finish, we put them up and discuss the effects of color, size,
shading, overlapping, etc.  


We then study and discuss similar effects in the still life work of
Charles Demuth and Geogia O'Keeffe.  These web sites have images.


http://www.tigtail.org/TVM/M_View/B/NAmerican/a.%20pre%20WW%20II/demuth/M/demuth_peachs.1923.jpg


http://sheldon.unl.edu/HTML/ARTIST/Demuth_C/Apples_TO.html


http://www.tigtail.org/TVM/M_View/B/NAmerican/a.%20pre%20WW%20II/demuth/M/demuth_apples+green_glass.jpg


http://www.maag.org/pages/anglais/magazine/historique/edito2_00.html


http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/visit/permanent.html


http://www.michelangelo.com/okeeffe/index-ns.html


Marvin 

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