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DISCUSS:
Ask your students if they collect anything.
What do you collect? Why do you collect these things? How
do you display and care for your collection? Why do you think a museum collects certain objects? Ask
your students what they think they will see when they visit the Orange County Museum of Art. What types
of art do you think you will see? (Sculpture, painting, drawing, etc.) Ask your students why it is important
not to touch anything at the museum.
Explain that a museum collects beautiful, valuable, fragile, historical, and thought-provoking objects,
such as artworks like painting and sculpture. A museum cares for these objects, and shares them with
people who come to visit their exhibitions. The Orange County Museum of Art is a special museum
because many of the works of art in the collection were made right here in California! Some were made
almost 100 years ago, and some were made just last year! By visiting the museum we can see how art has
changed, and how California has changed, over the course of a century. We can also see the impact
artists living and working in California have had on the nation’s cultural development. There is a lot to
discover at the Orange County Museum of Art. We are going to look at one example of what we might see
when we visit the museum.
LOOK:
Project the transparency provided.
Tell your students that this is a painting by the artist William Wendt.
What do you see in this painting? Where do you see this? What adjectives can you use to describe what
you see? For example, if a student says she sees clouds, ask her to identify where (near the top) and how
she would describe these clouds (puffy, white).
This is called a landscape painting. A landscape is a view of the outdoors.
Imagine yourself standing inside the painting.
What would the weather be like? How can you tell?
Where do you see the light of the sun in this painting? William Wendt was especially fond of nature’s
“green phase”. What time of year does it usually become green outside? William Wendt called this painting
Spring in the Canyon. How does the artist express this season? What do you think this landscape would
look like if it were called Winter in the Canyon?
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Does this look like a place in California? The artist, William Wendt, painted this nearby in Laguna Canyon,
and he loved painting along the Southern California coastline. He actually took his paints, his brushes, his
easel, and canvas and carried them outside to paint. Why do you think he wanted to work outdoors?
Perhaps he wanted to capture the light and the colors of the seasons as they changed right before his
eyes. Maybe he wanted to stand in the warm sun and breathe the fresh air as he painted.
There’s a French name for painting outside: “plein air.” “Plein air” means in “full air” or in the
open air and some French painters started painting outside in “plein air” before William Wendt. They were
called “The French Impressionists” because they captured an impression of the French landscape as it
changed due to the seasons, or the light of the sun. And William Wendt is called a California Impressionist
because he did the same thing here – capturing impressions of a changing California landscape.
This was painted in 1929, more than 75 years ago. How do you think this landscape has changed since
then? What does California look like today?
DRAW:
Ask students to imagine that William Wendt was transported forward in time, from 1929 to 2007!
What
might he see in the current landscape that could surprise him? Brainstorm ideas and list their suggestions
on the board. For example, could there be more houses and roads? Cars? Telephone poles? Office
buildings, shopping malls, schools, or factories? Airplanes? People? Tell students that they are going to
be the artist, adding elements to William Wendt’s landscape to represent a view of California today.
Demonstrate to the class how to draw a very faint outline with pastel of the main shapes from William
Wendt’s painting. Point out the high horizon line where the earth meets the sky, the rolling lines of the
hillside and the gentle slopes in the foreground. Explain to students that the foreground is the part of
the painting that looks closest to us while the background looks farthest away. To make an object look
closer to us, it can overlap something that should appear farther away. For example, a billboard could
overlap the tree in the foreground, blocking our view. Closer objects can also be drawn larger than those in
the background, and placed lower on the page. For example, additional billboards should diminish in size
as they recede up the hill. Demonstrate a couple of additions to the scene, but remind students to use their
imaginations in creating an impression of today’s changing landscape.
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Next, demonstrate adding color to the landscape with pastels. Show students how to create the texture of
foliage by making short strokes with the tip of the pastel, much like William Wendt did in his painting. To
simulate the flat, smooth surface of manmade materials, demonstrate making broad strokes with the side
of the pastel, and blending edges together with a finger.
Distribute paper and pastels.
Tell students it is their turn to ‘redesign’ the landscape. Remind students
to start with the main shapes from Wendt’s painting, then draw in any buildings, freeways, schools,
churches, even theme parks or skate ramps that may have ‘appeared’ over the last 75 years.
When students have completed their drawings, have an exhibition of their artwork! Ask each student to
display their drawing on their desk, or hang them on the walls. Instruct students to walk around and view
each work. Ask students to look closely and appreciate the application and content of each drawing, but
remind them not to touch. When students are re-seated, ask them to describe what they noticed about
each other’s drawings. Note that each drawing is different and represents a unique view of the world.
Congratulate students on their achievements, and conclude by reminding students that soon they will see
more unique works of art at the Orange County Museum of Art.
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WRITE:
Ask students to narrate a sequence of events from the point of view of a Californian from the past, who
has been suddenly transported to the present. The protagonist can be from any period of California
history, but they should have lived at least 75 years ago. What causes them to travel to the future? How
do they react to today’s society? How do they interact with the locals? Do they welcome the changes in
present-day California and decide to stay, or do they reject today’s culture and return back to the past?
Thank you for taking the time to complete these activities with your class. We hope they will provide a
more meaningful educational tour experience for your students. Come prepared to look, listen and learn
when you visit the Orange County Museum of Art!
VOCABULARY:
Landscape
Plein-air
Exhibition
Impressionist
Horizon line
Foreground
Background
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