CURRENT QUESTION

Why did the Native Americans carry medicine pouches?

Please send answer to: cathcarts@rlasd.net

Native American Medicine Pouches

The 4th grade students are learning about Native Americans in connection with utilitarian art, objects of art that are created to serve a purpose.  Common objects such as pottery used for cooking, and textile works used as rugs or for carrying items are examples of utilitarian art objects.  The 4th grade artists will be making Medicine bags in the manner of the Mohawk tribe.
Think of a Medicine Bag as like a sacred purse, a place for the wearer's most secret and valuable items to be kept.  The wearer of the Medicine Bag never shows its contents, however the bag is usually passed down to the next generation.  Traditionally the contents of the Medicine bag represent the four "kingdoms" recognized by the Native Americans: Animal, Plant, Mineral and Technology.

As our fourth grade artists make their own medicine bags and consider what modern items might belong inside, they are being introduced to the Mohawk culture. 

This lesson has been written and taught by our current student teacher, Mrs. Barr.  Her great-grandfather was born a Native American of the Mohawk tribe!

Alexander Calder: A Pennsylvania Artist

Alexander Calder was born in Philadelphia in 1898.  His father and grandfather were successful sculptors.  Calder received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology but he chose to be an artist instead.

He is considered to be one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century.  He invented mobiles and stabiles (see photo at right).  He created a whole circus from wire.  Many of his figures were animated showing his background in engineering.

Fourth Grade art students are learning about the 3 dimensional art of sculpture.  We will be working with wire, which is a 3D line.  The students will begin the unit by drawing a simple shape with a continuous line to see how creating a form from wire will make it necessary for them to think and plan ahead. No erasing possible!

This is a fun project.  Watch for this one to come home in late January 2013.

FRAKTURS by GRADE 4 ARTISTS

When Germans moved to our area in the late 1700's through the 1800's, they brought with them many traditions from their homeland. One of these traditions was the making of Frakturs to celebrate the great occasions of their lives. Frakturs are a form of Folk Art and the fourth grade students are creating their interpretation of the tradition.

We are creating a symmetric design using traditional Fraktur images and adding our names and birth dates. The coloring is done with Prismacolor pencils.

This is definitely a project worthy of a frame!

ANDREW WYETH

OUR FIRST PROJECT OF 2010-2011

The fourth grade students will begin with the artist Andrew Wyeth who was a resident of Pennsylvania and Maine. He was born in Chadds Ford, PA in 1917 and he died in 2009. His paintings were realistic in style and often evoked a feeling of loneliness and longing. Using egg tempera as his medium and mostly earth tones in his colors, he achieved very sharp contrasts in his paintings as well as extreme detail.

The students will be using scratch art to create a highly detailed drawing of fall weeds. We will concentrate on using lines to create textures in our artwork.