Bringing the Outside In
Written by: Desiree Newhook
Grade 3
Duration:
1 session - 60 minutes (NOTE: There are several sessions that can be added on to
this lesson. Our group used this lesson as a starting point for our investigation into
Emily Carr for Women’s History Month, and Haida Totem Art for Aboriginal
Education Month)
Big Idea/Theme:
Students discover basic 2D sketching techniques while also learning about Emily
Carr and how she visually represented the forests of British Columbia, and her
significance as a woman in Canadian History.
Curricular Expectations:
D 1.1 – Create two and three-dimensional works of art that express personal
feelings and ideas inspired by the environment or that have the community as their
subject.
D 1.2 – Demonstrate an understanding of composition, using principles of design to
create narrative at works or at works on a theme or topic.
D 2.2 – Explain how elements and principles of design dare used to communicate
meaning or understanding in their won and others artwork.
D 3.2 – Demonstrate an awareness of a variety of works of art and artistic traditions
from divers communities, times, and places.
Materials for Students:
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Reproductions of Red Cedar, 1931–32, A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth, 1935,
and Above the Trees, c.1939
Background information on Emily Carr
Journal Entry – See attached
Sketch books
Pencils
Artists/Artworks
Talk with students about Emily’s experience with the group of seven.
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Look at Red Cedar, 1931, A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth, 1935, and Above
the Trees, c.1939. See Appendix A for reproductions.
Consider how Carr depicts the landscape, focusing on her perspective or
point of view: Ask the students where does Carr position the viewer in
relation to the scene depicted?
Read the following excerpt from Carr’s journal (Appendix B) in which she
discusses the importance of observing her subject first-hand.
Quality Art Education:
√ Looking at Art (by professional and amateur artists)
√ Discussing or writing about art
√ Making Art
Special Considerations:
This Lesson has been altered from its original format by the Vancouver Art Gallery
Teacher Resources. Please visit:
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/EmilyCarr/en/resources/index.php for
full resource listings.
Background Information:
Emily Carr was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1871. From an early age she
had a deep love of nature, which can be seen in her landscape paintings. She had a
particularly keen interest in capturing the forests that characterize this region, and
she preferred to observe her subject first-hand by travelling to the forest and
working there. Sometimes she worked close to home, at Gold Stream Flats,
approximately 18 kilometres from Victoria. Other times she went further afield, to
places like Pemberton.
Wherever she worked, Carr’s intention was to study the intense colours and
textures of the trees, foliage, lakes and sky, and to observe the way that light, wind
and weather affect how we see the world around us. She represented the landscape
from many different perspectives: some of her paintings show the great cedar trees
from a point of view directly below their branches, while others show only the tips
of the trees, with the sky above as her main focus. Carr would sketch her subject,
sometimes making numerous sketches of a single scene, then rework them later in
her studio, using them as a basis for paintings.
Lesson I:
Mental Set (W) – 15 min
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Show students two or three of Carr’s landscapes.
Have them describe what they see. What is Carr painting? From what
perspective does she represent her subject?
Read Carr’s background information and her journal entry. Discuss with
students her significance as a women artist during her time period and the
struggles she endured as a woman producing art in a man’s world.
Body (I) – 30 min
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Choose an outdoor area that is contained but diverse enough for students to
spread out and sketch in different areas, such as a park or green space.
Assign students a variety of subjects and perspectives to sketch from: a single
tree; a single tree sketched from below, looking up through its branches; a
group of trees that fill the drawing surface so that no sky appears; a view in
which the sky takes up more space than the land.
Have students make several sketches of their subject.
Closure (W) – 15mins
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Ask students to describe their experience of sketching outdoors - What was it
like to sketch outdoors?
Ask students why they chose the sketch that they did for their painting.
Further Engagement:
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Have students sketch a single scene outdoors at different times of day and in
different types of weather. Discuss the ways that light, atmosphere and
weather change the way we see.
Have students choose one of their sketches to paint indoors. Talk to them
about the differences in experience outdoors v.s. indoor work.
Reflection:
While teaching this lesson I felt there wasn’t enough time. I would start a rich
discussion on the life of Emily Carr but would have to move onto the next item
before being able to finish my thought. Looking at this I should have broken it
down into a history lesson and then an art lesson. Despite the rushed feeling of
this experience the students I learned how quickly an environment can change a
students learning experience. The students were ecstatic that they were able to
work outside. They kept on task and created several wonderful pieces of art. I
also learned how creative students can be when given the tools and guidance
and how caring students can be to one another – grade three students start to
realize that other students may be talented in certain subjects, but all of the
students during this activity were supportive of each other and proud of their
work.
Student’s Work: A succession of three sketches from three different students:
Branch, Trunk and Branches, Full Tree
Appendix A: Bringing the Outside In
Emily Carr
Red Cedar, 1931
oil on canvas
110.0 x 68.5 cm
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of Mrs. J.P. Fell
VAG 54.7
Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Emily Carr
A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth, 1935
oil on canvas
112.8 x 69.0 cm
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust
VAG 42.3.17
Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Emily Carr
Above the Trees, c.1939
oil on paper
91.2 x 61.0 cm
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust
VAG 42.3.83
Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Appendix B: Bringing the Outside In
November 28th, 1935:
“Working on a jungle. How I want to get that thing! Have not succeeded so far but it
fascinates. What most attracts me in those wild, lawless, deep, solitary places? First,
nobody goes there. Why? Few have anything to go for. The loneliness repels them,
the density, the unsafe hidden footing, the dank smells, the great quiet, the mystery,
the general mix-up (tangle, growth, what may be hidden there), the insect life. They
are repelled by the awful solemnity of the age-old trees, with the wisdom of all their
years of growth looking down upon you, making you feel perfectly infinitesimal—
their overpowering weight, their groanings and creakings, mutterings and
sighings—the rot and decay of the old ones—the toadstools and slugs among the
upturned, rotting roots of those that have fallen, reminding one of the
perishableness of even those slow-maturing much-enduring growths. No, to the
average woman and to the average man, (unless he goes there to kill, to hunt or to
destroy the forest for utility) the forest jungle is a closed book. In the abstract
people may say they love it but they do not prove it by entering it and breathing its
life. They stay outside and talk about its beauty. This is bad for them but it is good
for the few who do enter because the holiness and quiet is unbroken.”
Emily Carr, Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of An Artist. Toronto: Irwin
Publishing, 1966, p. 297.