Lesson #6: Preparing Work for an Exhibition

Part of the unit: Discoveries in Paint |

Goals

Aim: 
Why do artists exhibit their work?
Students will be able to:
Write labels for their paintings
Work with a partner to prepare their work for exhibition
Students will understand that:
Artists communicate their ideas to the public by exhibiting their work
Materials
Labels with spaces for the title, date, medium, size, and artist's statement;pencils, erasers,  glue sticks, 18"x24" white drawing paper ruled with 3" pencil borders
Resources
A photo of a museum or gallery wall showing framed works with labels
Motivation: 
Explain that students will be exhibiting their work in the school. 
  • Do you have any art at home?  How is it displayed?
Display the resource photo.
  • How does a museum display art?
  • Why do artists frame their work?
  • What information is on the labels next to the artwork?  (Assist students by having an enlargement of a label for them to see.  Chart responses:  title, medium, size, artist's statement.  Review the definition of each term.) 
Ask students to take out the artist's statement they wrote with their classroom teacher.
Demonstration: 
Demonstrate how to fill in the information on a prepared label. Show student work that has been mounted on 18"x24" white paper.
  • Why is the picture framed in white?
  • What would happen if we framed our very colorful paintings in red?
Demonstrate how two students can work together to mount their paintings.
Students will create labels containing their name, title of work, date, size, medium, and artist's statement. Students will work in pairs to mount their paintings.
Ask students to place their mounted work and labels on their tables.  Invite the students to read each other's labels.  
  • What did you learn about the artist's painting from reading the label?
  • What was your favorite part of this unit?  Why?