Bridges: The Art and Science for Creating Community Connections

Implementing District Standards

New Mexico Educational Standards

Visual Arts Standard 1: Learn and develop the essential skills and technical demands unique to dance, music, theatre/drama, and visual arts. Grade 5-8 students will:

A. Explore art materials, techniques, qualities, characteristics, and processes; understand what makes them effective in solving specific art problems and how they are used to enhance life experiences and ideas.

1. Engage in problem-solving activities that apply the principles of art to the elements of art.

Creating paintings and sketches using the different methods suggested in this curriculum will engage students in problem solving. They will use a variety of techniques as they explore application of materials needed to carry out the project.

Visual Arts Standard 4: Demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics of the creative process. Grade 5-8 students will:

A. Explore the influence of personal experiences, imagination, and the dynamics of culture to works of art.

1. Create art in which design elements and principles in conjunction with subject, themes and content are based on personal experiences to create meanings.

B. Understand how the qualities and characteristics of various art, media, techniques, and processes influence the creative process to communicate experiences and ideas.

1. Discuss specific instances in which culture influences art.
2. Identify and describe the emotional connotations of the use and placement of design principles and elements in a particular piece of art.
3. Describe orally or in written form a personal reaction to at least three pieces of art in different media.
4. Demonstrate how the use of traditional and different media can convey meanings, (softness of pastels and watercolors, texture of collage, sparseness of wire, etc).

Watercolor painting, drawing, and printmaking lend themselves to the presentation of personal experiences and the use of design elements created by the student. During this project students will be asked to use their own imagery and designs has the produce a series of paintings, drawings, and prints. Students will carry out writings in the form of short stories and classroom critiques. The writings done in class will demonstrate personal reactions to the works created during the unit activities.

Visual Art Standard 7: Demonstrate knowledge about how technology and invention have historically influenced artists and offered new possibilities for expression.

Grade 5-8 students will:

A. Use, review, and evaluate computers and other electronic media as tools for design and communication of ideas.

1. Identify the appropriate type of technology use to achieve a desired outcome. Demonstrate how all student participation can be enhanced through technology.
2. Incorporate the use of a least one means of technology in creating an original work of art.

Computers can be used in a variety of ways to meet these standards. Power Point presentations can be made by students and presented in class. Internet sites can be accessed, research carried out, and reports made with the use of computers. Bridge models can be created before the construction begins.