Baldeck Blow-ups

Baldeck Blow-ups
by Erika Risko

Lesson Title:	Baldeck Blow-ups

Grade Level:	4th

PA. Standards for the Arts and Humanities

9.1.3. GRADE 3	Know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities Recognize, know, use and demonstrate a variety of appropriate arts elements and principles to produce, review and revise original works in the arts. Recognize and use fundamental vocabulary within each of the arts form

9.3.3. GRADE 3	Know that works in the arts can be described by using the arts elements, principles and concepts

Objectives

Knowledge:	The students will learn that Andrea Baldeck is a fine arts black and white photographer, and that positive and negative space is an important component of artwork.

Skill:	The students will learn how to blow up an image and create a design using positive and negative space.

Attitude:	The students will learn to appreciate photography as a fine art.

Prepare Ahead:	Collect plants (leaves, flowers, etc.) and press; overhead projector, scrap paper, pencils, 11"x17" white construction paper, 11"x17" black construction paper, scissors, glue.

Prior Knowledge:	Elements of Art

Motivation

Questions Leading Students to Discovery:	Raise your hand if you have heard of the words "positive" and "negative". Wow, that's a lot. If I was using the word positive, I might say that I feel very positive about the fact that so many students in this class have such good vocabularies. If I was going to use the word negative, I might say that a world without art would be a very negative place. (Student's name), please tell me what the word positive means.. Thank you. (Proceed to ask more students what their definitions of positive and negative are and write them on the board). Thank you. I can tell that this is a very smart class. In art, when we say "negative" and "positive", we are talking about negative space and positive space. What is negative and positive space? These are all very good guesses. The easiest way to describe positive space is to say that it is the space where something is, and negative space is where nothing is. (On overhead project three images of flowers from 'Closely Observed'). Where do you think the positive space is in these pictures? (One by one, select three students to point to the positive space in each picture). Excellent! Now, where is the negative? (One by one, select three students to point to the positive space). These photographs are part of a series of photographs by a photographer named Andrea Baldeck. She is a fine art photographer who takes black and white pictures all over the world. A lot of the time she takes portraits of people, but for this project she chose to do close-up photographs of natural objects. What do I mean when I say natural objects? Good, things from nature. What are the objects in the positive space in these photographs? Excellent, flowers. Are they bigger or smaller than flowers you would see growing outside? That's right, they are larger. After Andrea Baldeck take close-up pictures of natural objects, she then blows up the image, or enlarges them.

Demonstration:	Each of you is going to make your own close-up of a nature object using positive and negative space. At each table I am putting a plate with nature objects on it. I want each student to choose one object. They are very, very fragile, so it is important that you are as gentle as possible. One you have chosen your object, I want you to take a piece of scrap paper and draw just an outline of the shape of your natural object. When you are finished, cut out the shape you have drawn. Now, you need to decide if you want your positive space to be black or white. Choose whichever color paper you have decided and line up at the overhead. I am going to blow-up your shape like Andrea Baldeck did with her photographs. (Attach paper to wall vertically and place each student's shape on the overhead projector. Resize until it fills up as much of the paper as possible). When I project your shape onto the piece of paper, I want you to trace it again with your pencil and then go back to your seat and cut it out. Now you need to pick the color of your negative space. It should be the opposite of your positive space. (Student's name), if my positive space is black, what will my negative space be? Excellent. (Student's name), if my positive space is white, what will my negative space be? Great! Once you have cut out our positive space shape and selected the paper for your negative space, glue the positive shape down to the negative space. Now you have created a nature object blow-up, just like Andrea Baldeck!

Visual Aids:	Closely Observed series by Andrea Baldeck, natural objects

Reference to Art History:	Closely Observed series by Andrea Baldeck, natural objects

Exemplars:	Teacher-made paper cutout of a leaf in black and white construction paper.

Activity:	Students will make a design using positive and negative space made from a natural object.

Supplies:	Dried and pressed plants, scrap paper, pencils, 11"x17" white construction paper, 11"x17" black construction paper, scissors, glue.

Vocabulary:	Andrea Baldeck, positive space, negative space, fine art photography, natural object, enlarge

Assessment Strategy

Rubric

Correlated Lessons

Students will examine the negative space in their designs to see what shapes they can find, much like finding pictures in clouds. They will then do drawings of those objects and write a short fictional story (paragraph or two) about them.

Interdisciplinary Domains

Students will incorporate learning about natural science as they study the shapes of nature objects.

Closure

What do we call the space where something is? What do we call the space where there is nothing? What did Andrea Baldeck take photographs of in 'Closely Observed'?

Reflections

Andrea Baldeck's photograph's proved to be a fantastic reference for learning about positive and negative space. The children really enjoyed seeing their drawings blown up by the projector. This helped them get more involved in the project. This was a quick and simple lesson that got right to the point.