THEME: Art speaks to us in special ways. Learn its language by discovering the four elements of art: line, color, shape, and texture. Using these elements, artists tell us about the world around us. Looking at art and talking about it makes us learn, wonder, feel, and imagine.

SOLs SUPPORTED:

English

Oral
The SOL objective:
2.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of oral language structure:
• Create oral stories to share with others.

How we address it:
Throughout the tour, students are invited to offer speculative narratives about artwork, especially portraiture, using visual cues from the artwork to inform their stories.

The SOL objective:
2.2 The student will continue to expand listening and speaking vocabularies:
• Use words that reflect a growing range of interests and knowledge.
• Clarify and explain words and ideas orally.

How we address it:
Throughout the tour, students are encouraged to talk about what they see, using vocabulary included in the suggested pre-tour activity section of the teacher resource packet.
Maier Museum docents use an inquiry/discussion method when conducting tours which encourages verbal articulation of ideas.

The SOL objective:
2.3 The student will use oral communication skills:
• Use oral language for different purposes: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.
• Share stories or information orally with an audience.
• Participate as a contributor and leader in a group.

How we address it:
Tours are naturally in a group setting, providing an audience with which individual students are invited to verbalize their observations.

History

Civics
The SOL objective:
2.11 The student will identify George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. as Americans whose contributions improved the lives of other Americans.

How we address it:
Tour leaders will discuss artist Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Mrs. Polly Hooper. Stuart also made several portraits of George Washington, the most famous of which is reproduced on the dollar bill.

The SOL objective:
2.12 The student will understand that the United States is a land of people who have diverse ethnic origins, customs, and traditions, who make contributions to their communities, and who are united as Americans by common principles.

How we address it:
Addressed throughout the tour, but emphasized at the beginning of the tour during the introduction when students are told that the Museum collects and exhibits only American art.

Math

Geometry
The SOL objective:
2.22 The student will compare and contrast plane and solid geometric shapes (circle/sphere, square/cube, and rectangle/rectangular solid).

How we address it:
Addressed throughout the tour and supported by the use of tangible props. Relevant discussion will center on how shape is part of the artist’s vocabulary and how artists are able to create illusions of three-dimensional shape).

Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
The SOL objective:
2.25 The student will identify, create, and extend a wide variety of patterns, using numbers, concrete objects, and pictures.

How we address it:
Throughout the tour, students are asked to identify where artwork incorporates pattern as a design element.

Visual Art

Visual Communication and Production
The SOL objective:
2.3 The student will identify and use
1. secondary colors—orange, violet, and green;
2. shapes—geometric and organic; and
3. three-dimensional forms—cube, cylinder, sphere, pyramid, and cone.

How we address it:
Color, shape and other design elements will be identified throughout the tour as tools of visual communication.

Judgment and Criticism
The SOL objective:
2.14 The student will express opinions with supporting statements regarding works of art.

How we address it:
Students will be continually asked to share their personal opinions regarding what they see. In Gallery 6, each student is asked to choose a favorite work of art and then take turns explaining why they chose it.

The SOL objective:
2.15 The student will categorize works of art by subject matter, including portrait, landscape, and still life.

How we address it:
Throughout the tour students will be asked to classify artwork using these categories.

The SOL objective:
2.16 The student will distinguish between natural objects and objects made by man in the environment.

How we address it:
This concept will be emphasized in Gallery 2 which houses landscape paintings created by the Hudson River School and in the American Impressionism section of Gallery 3 where good examples exist of landscape paintings depicting natural and man-made features.

Aesthetics
The SOL objective:
2.17 The student will describe the meanings and feelings evoked by works of art.

How we address it:
Throughout the tour students will be encouraged not only to interpret artwork by its formal qualities, but also to describe emotions evoked by the artwork.

The SOL objective:
2.19 The student will discuss the ways that the art of a culture reflects its people’s attitudes and beliefs.

How we address it:
The tour follows a chronological cultural development that is uniquely American, where changing ideologies and outlooks are reflected in the artwork of each period.