Pre- and Post-Visit Activities: Grades 9 - 12

Sketching the Landscape
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.
  
  
• Ask students to visit the Museum's online collection to look for three to four landscape paintings. Have them print postcard-sized images of the works. Then, ask them to compare and contrast the works. What do they have in common? What is different? Does the work look as if it belongs to a specific culture, country, or time period? How can you tell?
  
  
• Have students research the life of an artist in different time periods. How do artists learn? What is the role of the artist? How do changing materials and techniques affect the artist and his or her work? What influence do society and world events have on the artist? What defines a great artist?
  
  
• 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? Why?
  
  
• After students return from the Museum, have them continue to sketch landscapes, only allow them to sketch outdoors. Ask them: What is the difference between sketching from a work of art and sketching en plein air? Did they approach the sketch differently? How? Did they make different choices? Which was more challenging — sketching from a painting or outdoors? In either instance, what changes did they make to their sketch that did not appear in the painting or the outside scene?
  
  
• Have students continue to sketch, but change the paper, materials and techniques they are using. How do these changes affect the sketch? Does changing color, textures, etc. change the mood or feeling of the artwork?
  
  
• Ask students to sketch abstract landscapes by reducing the imagery on the paper to colors, shapes, and textures. Compare and contrast the making of a representational landscape with one that is abstract.
  
  
• Invite a contemporary landscape painter into the classroom to share his or her work including materials, techniques and idea. Or, plan a studio visit to meet the artist onsite.

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