Serious and the Smirk Activities

Albany Institute of History & Art

125 Washington Avenue

Albany, New York

12210

518-463-4478

education@

albanyinstitute.org

The Serious and the Smirk

Pre Visit Lessons

"Pink Hat" from Portrait Series

Gayle Johnson (b. 1953)

1985-86

Gouache on paper, ht. 7 1/4" x w. 7 3/8" (unmatted), ht. 16" x w. 20" (matted)

Inscribed "May 1985 Pink Hat A. Gayle Johnson"

Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, Contemporary Art Collections Fund

1992.33.1

The Serious and the Smirk Pre Visit Lesson

For Grades 3 –8

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

Develop an understanding of what a portrait is.

Experiment with the artistic process of creating a

portrait

Teacher Planning: Prepare an example for the students to reference.

Time required for lesson: 45 – 60 minutes

Materials/resources: Paper (18 x 24), Drawing pencils

Technology resources: none

Pre-activities: Teacher should be aware of the basics about portraits, such as subject, background, pose, gaze, symbolic objects, etc. and the vocabulary list available on our website.

Activity 1: Select 8 students pretend they are posing for a portrait. Dependent on how much time you have, give each student 1 minute to 3 minutes to pose. Have some students stand, sit or have them create their own pose. While one student is posing, have the rest of the class sketch a portrait. Limit the size the student’s paper by using a large sheet and folding it into 8 squares. Explain that it is ok if the students can’ t finish the drawing, but just to get the general idea of the pose.

Afterwards, begin a discussion about what it was like to pose for a portrait:

Was it hard or easy?

Do you think you could hold that position for an hour? A day?

What would you think about while you were posing?

Then, talk to the artists:

How long do you think it would take to make a complete portrait? Why?

How much more time would you need to finish one of your drawings?

Would it make a difference if the paper were larger or smaller?

When you looked at the finish portrait, what would you look at first?

Assessment: Students may be evaluated on understanding, implementation and participation of the activity.

Follow-up Activity: Use a 30-minute session and one student or yourself (the teacher) to pose for a portrait. Give the students 8.5 X 11 paper to draw the portrait.

New York Curriculum Alignment:

Elementary and Intermediate:

The Visual Arts - Standards 1, 2, 3, 4

Social Studies – Standards 1

ELA – Standards 1, 3, 4

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