The 1920s: The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots

Teach American history through art & explore democracy through this print from the Great Migration series by Jacob Lawrence.

See also Art Alive: Summer Street Scene in Harlem and Jacob Lawrence’s Summer Street Scene in Harlem, 1948.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Civics, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith

About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith explores the lives and work of two artists within colonial Boston prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution: portrait painter John Singleton Copley and silversmith Nathaniel Hurd.

See also John Singleton Copley’s Unfinished Portrait of Nathaniel Hurd, ca. 1765.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Albert Bierstadt’s The Sierras Near Lake Tahoe,
California, 1865

Bierstadt’s paintings of the West gave nineteenth-century Americans a spectacular view of their expanding nation and its unique wonders. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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American Impressionism: Paintings from The Phillips Collection

Explore American Impressionism from this 2008 exhibition. Lesson plans include Capturing an Impression (Art), Impressionism in Literature (ELA) and The Landscape Architecture Movement (Social Studies).

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Ancient Egypt for Young Children

Mummies and more! Activities for pre-school to 3rd grade. Art, Math, Music, Literacy, Science, Social Studies lessons inspired by the coffins of Pa-debehu-Aset.

See also Egypt in the Art Room.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Animals in Art

Using objects in the Gallery’s collection, explore animals as pets, animals that work, animals in the wild, animal habitats, animals in fables, animals in myths, animals as symbols, and animals as teachers. Can be used as a pre-visit with the Animals in Art tour.

Standards: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Back from the Orchard

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Eastman Johnson’s painting Back from the Orchard.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Beach at Blue Point

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on William Glacken’s painting Beach at Blue Point.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Boomtown

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Thomas Hart Benton’s painting Boomtown.

See also Thomas Hart Benton’s Boomtown, 1928.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Genesee Oaks

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Asher Brown Durand’s painting Genesee Oaks.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Ice Cream Cones

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Reginald Marsh’s painting Ice Cream Cones.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Pittsford on the Erie Canal

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on George Harvey’s Pittsford on the Erie Canal.

See also George Harvey’s Pittsford on the Erie Canal: A Sultry Calm, 1837.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Summer Street Scene in Harlem

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Jacob Lawrence’s Summer Street Scene in Harlem.

See also The 1920s: The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots and Jacob Lawrence’s Summer Street Scene in Harlem, 1948.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Sunday Morning

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Jerome Myers’ painting Sunday Morning.

See also Jerome Myers’s Sunday Morning, 1907 and Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Sunday Morning model lesson plan.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: The Fox and the Heron

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Frans Snyders’ painting of Aesop’s Fable of The Fox and the Heron.

See also Picturing the Story: Narrative Arts and the Stories they Tell.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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Art Alive: Towing a Boat, Honfleur

Interactive activities—looking, imagining, questioning and reflecting—based on Claude Monet’s painting Towing a Boat, Honfleur.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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The Art of Observation

What is “the art of observation”? Chart compares guided looking at art and science as inquiry.

Standards: Art, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Art of Science; the Science of Art

Explore the interconnections between art & science. Includes questions for discussion.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Science

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Art Speaks: Reading, Re-interpreting and Re-creating Works of Art

Student and Teacher Guide to MAG’s 2004 exhibition Better Things, featuring photographic readings of the collection by Douglas Holleley.

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Art Works: Art and Global Studies

Images from the Gallery’s collection show ways to use art in the classroom.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Articulate Object: Chart and Worksheet

Visual literacy model lesson that may be used with any object. See also Peeling Onions and Sunday Morning model lesson plans.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Autumn Brook

Use MAG’s visual literacy “Learning to Look, Looking to Learn” model, to explore George Bellow’s painting Autumn Brook.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Calling Every Man, Woman and Child!: American World War I Posters

Explore the political power of the poster, from MAG’s 2006 exhibition.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Civics, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Chimú Burial Mask

Full-size image with discussion question that introduces students to the culture of the Chimú people of northern Peru.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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The County Election

Teach American history through art and explore democracy in America through this print after George Caleb Bingham’s painting The County Election.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Civics, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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DeWitt Clinton Boutelle’s The Indian Hunter, 1846

Boutelle poignantly portrays the impact of Euro-American expansion on Native American culture. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also The Indian Hunter.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Edgar Degas: Figures in Motion

Lesson plan to accompany MAG’s 2002 exhibition of the same title. Includes artwork in MAG’s collection.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Egypt in the Art Room

Multiple lessons making art & exploring Egyptian art using objects in MAG’s collection.

See also Ancient Art for Young Children.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Evening Group

Use MAG’s visual literacy “Learning to Look, Looking to Learn” model to explore George Bellow’s painting Evening Group.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Extreme Materials & Extreme Materials 2

Includes a bibliography of resources in the Teacher Resource Center on artwork made out of unusual materials, from MAG’s popular 2006 and 2011 exhibitions.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Genesee Oaks

Teach American history through American art using Asher B. Durand’s painting of Genesee Oaks. Local geography/history connection!

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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George Harvey’s Pittsford on the Erie Canal—A Sultry Calm, 1837

In this painting, Harvey portrays nineteenth-century America’s romantic view of nature, as well as the young country’s pride in its technological mastery. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also Art Alive: Pittsford on the Erie Canal.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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George Luks’s Boy with Dice, 1923-24

Boy with Dice conveys George Luks’s affection for New York City’s workingclass children. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Georgia O’Keeffe

One Artist—Many Classroom Connections! Explore the art of Georgia O’Keeffe and her interest in the preservation of her paintings. From MAG’s 2006 exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Color and Conservation.

See also The Making of Small World Poems Inspired by the Art of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Guidelines for Leading a Guided Looking Process in the Classroom

Use these guidelines to create visual literacy lesson plans using any object. Try the Learning to Look, Looking to learn model lesson plans to see the guidelines in use.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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The Happy Survivor by Gregory Van Maanen and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Using artwork by Rochester artist Gregory Van Maanen and Timothy O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, students will experience the impact of the Vietnam War through multiple lenses. Accompanied MAG’s 2009 exhibition, Gregory Van Maanen: The Happy Survivor. See also the War Notebook that accompanied the exhibition.

Standards: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Secondary

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Honoring Heroes: American History and Public Sculpture

Explore American history and public sculpture through the art & life of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, from MAG’s 2004 exhibition. Includes Rochester connections.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Indian Hunter

One Painting—Four Art Standards! Explore DeWitt Clinton Boutelle’s painting of The Indian Hunter, comparing it with 19th century American landscapes and sculpture from the Memorial Art Gallery’s collection. This is a model lesson that can be applied to other works in the Gallery’s collection.

See also DeWitt Clinton Boutelle’s The Indian Hunter, 1846.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Jacob Lawrence’s Summer Street Scene in Harlem, 1948

Jacob Lawrence’s modernist painting captures the exuberance of post-World War II Harlem. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also The 1920s: The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots and Art Alive: Summer Street Scene in Harlem.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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James Henry Beard’s The Night Before the Battle, 1865

The Night Before the Battle, painted shortly before the end of the Civil War, “makes the spectator glad that peace is come.” This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Famous Names, 1998

In Famous Names, references to the artist’s Native American and European heritage are combined and transformed into a powerful statement of contemporary identity. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Jerome Myers’s Sunday Morning, 1907

Sunday Morning provides a loving glimpse of a New York immigrant neighborhood in the early twentieth century. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also Art Alive: Sunday Morning and Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Sunday Morning model lesson plan.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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John Koch’s Interlude, 1963

Artists’ works reflect the values of their times as well as their own points of view. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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John Singleton Copley’s Unfinished Portrait of Nathaniel Hurd, ca. 1765

Copley’s portrait of the colonial silversmith offers a view of pre-Revolutionary Bostonians: who they were and how they wanted to be seen. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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John Sloan’s Election Night, 1907

Election Night captures the excitement—social, political, technological, and even artistic—of the early twentieth century in the United States. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Jonas Lie’s Morning on the River, ca. 1911-12

Morning on the River celebrates the energy and beauty of an urbanizing America in the early twentieth century. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Killing of Richard II

This interdisciplinary lesson explores Art as political propaganda, story telling and as a reflection of its time and culture.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Genesee Oaks model lesson plan

Visual literacy model lesson plan includes worksheets guiding students through the process of looking at an art object and understanding its story.

See also Genesee Oaks, Art Alive: Genesee Oaks.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Peeling Onions model lesson plan

Visual literacy model lesson plan includes worksheets guiding students through the process of looking at an art object and understanding its story.

See also Lilly Martin Spencer’s Peeling Onions, ca. 1852.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Sunday Morning model lesson plan

Visual literacy model lesson plan includes worksheets guiding students through the process of looking at an art object and understanding its story.

See also Art Alive: Sunday Morning and Jerome Myers’s Sunday Morning, 1907

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Leaving for the Country: George Bellows at Woodstock

Explore the world of the Woodstock artist colony through George Bellows’ paintings Autumn Brook and Evening Group. From MAG’s 2003 exhibition.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Lilly Martin Spencer’s Peeling Onions, ca. 1852

Peeling Onions presents a sympathetic view of mid-nineteenth-century domestic life in America by an artist who knew that world intimately. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Peeling Onions model lesson plan.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Looking at Lincoln

Looking activities to accompany MAG’s 2009 exhibition Lincoln in Rochester, which included Lincoln-related objects from area collections.

Standards: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Making of Small World Poems inspired by the art of Georgia O’Keeffe

Local educator M.J. Iuppa explores the technique of making Small World Poems inspired by art.

See also Georgia O’Keeffe lesson plan.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA,

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Modern Art: Who, What, and Why?

Using the Memorial Art Gallery’s collection, addresses the historical context for the development of abstraction, exploring a wide range of works of art in the context of hands-on activities and discussion. Includes a quilt inspired by a MAG artwork.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Museum Careers

Explore careers in the museum.

Standards: Career Development, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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New York Heritage
The New York Heritage website provides a glimpse at the history and culture of the New York state. A project of the state Regional Library Councils, images are contributed by libraries, colleges, museums, archives, and historical and cultural organizations across the state. Images from the Memorial Art Gallery’s archival collections are included in this website.

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Odyssey Online

An interactive journey for students through the art and culture of the ancient world, the ancient Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, from the collections of the Memorial Art Gallery & the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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The Opposition

Explores William Gropper’s unflattering view of democracy in mid-20th century America.

See also Teaching American History Through American Art: Politically Aware Artists and William Gropper’s The Opposition, 1942.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Civics, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Paper Sculpture

Explore paper making and paper sculpture activities including vessel making & paper play. From MAG’s 2005 exhibition.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Participation in Government: The Role of the Artist in a Democratic Society

Create a visual product that will convince others to act on an issue of social and political importance.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Civics

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Passport to the Past

Introduces students to the Memorial Art Gallery’s popular tour of cultures of the past through 14 images from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Asia, and Medieval & Renaissance Europe in the Gallery’s permanent collection. Use the Passport to the Past Image Set as:

• pre-tour preparation for classes planning a Gallery visit
• post-Gallery tour discussions or activities
• a stand-alone cultural highlights resource

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Picturing My America

Explore immigration and the complex communities we live in. Includes art making, art analysis, and a link to the Rochester Homelands Exposition.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Picturing Ourselves: Teaching with Visual Documents

Peter Pappas uses art & photographs to analyze & discuss American history.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Picturing the Story: Narrative Arts and the Stories they Tell

An interactive website that uses works of art as a springboard for an interdisciplinary approach to culture, environment, language, and learning. It was developed for classroom use, using selected narrative works of world art from the permanent collection of the Memorial Art Gallery.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Ralston Crawford’s Whitestone Bridge, 1939-40

Whitestone Bridge is a visual interpretation of the mid-twentieth-century fascination with technology and its promises for the future. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Recycling the Past

Contemporary artist Willie Cole reinterprets his African roots: from Chi wara Crest to Sears Ross tji-wara (includes a worksheet on making art from recycled materials).

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Renaissance

A Sixth Grade Interdisciplinary Unit on the Renaissance created by Pittsford Middle School.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary

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The Rochester Homelands Exhibition

Explore the 1920 Rochester Homelands Exhibition, in which the Gallery collaborated with the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Education and the city administration in organizing a hugely successful 10-day exhibition celebrating the arts & culture of immigrant citizens.

Students explore original photographs & articles documenting Rochester’s celebration of its diverse population in 1920; includes guiding questions and art activities.

Standards: Art, Civics, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Rochester Images Project

This image database hosted by Rochester Public Library is the first place to look for historic images of Rochester.

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Seeing America through Artist’s Eyes

17 lessons explore objects in the Gallery’s American collection, supplementing a visit to our American Gallery and the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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The Story of Things: Writing about Art

Explore strategies that enable students to:

• Investigate visual materials
• Make inferences on their observations
• Develop critiques that reflect understanding

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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A Studio Art Experience: Painting Landscapes in Watercolor

Notes from a teacher inservice with noted local artist Dick Kane.

Curriculum Connections: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Teaching American History Through American Art: Politically Aware Artists

Explore artwork between WWI & WWII as artists critique American society. Includes 5 artists from MAG collections.

See also The Opposition and William Gropper’s The Opposition, 1942.

Curriculum Connections: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Teaching American History through American Art:
Rochester and the Genesee Valley

Explore art of Rochester, the Genesee River Valley and the Erie Canal.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Music, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Thomas Hart Benton’s Boomtown, 1928

Boomtown captures the spirit of a Texas oil town in the 1920s. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also Art Alive: Boomtown.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Thomas Ridgeway Gould’s The West Wind, 1876

The West Wind personifies the confidence of Americans as they celebrated the nation’s one hundredth birthday in 1876. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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Tradition in Transition: Russian Icons in the Age of the Romanovs

Brochure created to go with MAG’s 2008 exhibition of the same name. Includes discussion of MAG’s St. George Slaying the Dragon icon.

Standards: Art, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art

Lesson plans accompanying this 2007 exhibition from the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.

Standards: Art

Grade Level: Secondary

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Visual Literacy: “Learning to Look, Looking to Learn”

Use these resources to create visual literacy lesson plans using any object.

• Articulate Object worksheet
• Guidelines for Leading a Guided Looking Process in the Classroom
• Learning to Look, Looking to Learn: Integrating Art into the Art, ELA, and Social Studies Curriculum
• * Peeling Onions model Lesson Plan
• * Sunday Morning model Lesson Plan
• Art and Observation chart comparing the looking process in art and science

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Voices in the Gallery

Inspire writing by looking at John Sloan’s painting Chinese Restaurant and Lily Martin Spencer’s Peeling Onions. A model lesson that can be used with any object.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA

Grade Level: Elementary

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Who Lives in You? The Lion King

Art activities to coordinate with performances of The Lion King.

Standards: Art

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts and Michael James: Reinventing Quilts in a Digital Age

Lesson plans to accompany this paired 2008 exhibition.

Standards: Art, ELA, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: Elementary, Secondary

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William Gropper’s The Opposition, 1942

William Gropper fiercely satirizes the corruption and hypocrisy of the American Congress. This lesson plan accompanies an essay in the Seeing America collection catalogue.

See also The Opposition and Teaching American History Through American Art: Politically Aware Artists.

Curriculum Connections: Art, ELA, Social Studies

Grade Level: Secondary

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