Pre- and Post-Visit Activities: Grades 5 - 8

Perspective in Depth
Gallery Exploration

Pre-Visit Activities

• Introduce students to the Allentown Art Museum by describing where it is, where it is located and what it contains. Ask students: What is a museum? Has anyone ever been to the Allentown Art Museum or another museum before? What did you see at the museum? Explain to them why they are going and how the trip connects to what they are studying at school.
  
  
• Discuss the concept of perspective with students. Ask them: What is perspective? Why is perspective important in art? What is the difference between two- and three-dimensional art? What are some of the other ways artists create the illusion of depth in two-dimensional art? Use images from the Museum's online collection to support the discussion.
  
  
• Using your classroom or the schoolyard, have students stand in one location and write down what is close, what is far, and what is in-between. Then have them switch positions. What happens to the things they observed?
  
  
• Review Museum Etiquette with students to ensure they understand the unique qualities of museums as compared to other places that are familiar to them — the library, their house, the grocery store, etc.

Post-Visit Activities

• Review the trip with students. Ask them: What did they see? What did they do while they were at the Allentown Art Museum? What was their favorite artwork or activity?
• Building on the techniques explored at the Museum, have students create an artwork that incorporates the various ways artists create the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
  
  
• Using images in the Museum's online collection, have students compare and contrast two paintings. Do both make use of perspective? Does the perspective appear accurate? Is it accurate when plotted? What other techniques does the artist use to create the illusion of depth?
  
  
• Have students design a house, doghouse, or some other cube-type shelter. Ask them to use all that they have learned about perspective to help them create an accurate representation of the shelter.
  
  
• Invite a landscape painter into the classroom to demonstrate his or her technique to students.

More Pre- and Post-Visit Activities

Kindergarten - Grade 4
ART DETECTIVES
THE FOUR SEASONS
MY FIRST VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
SENSATIONAL SENSES
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND

Grades 5 - 8
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
PERSPECTIVE IN DEPTH
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND
THE RENAISSANCE CONNECTION

Grades 9 - 12
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
SKETCHING THE LANDSCAPE