Events & Activities

Hands On: Experience Asia

Grade: 6
Length of tour: 90 minutes

Tour Description

Participants compare and contrast the art from diverse cultures across the Asian continent with a particular emphasis on China. Tours visit one gallery of non-Asian art to consider how Asian art made its way to the Western hemisphere, and how it differs from European modes of expression. Following observation and discussion of objects in the Museum galleries, students visit the Museum studios to create a painting of bamboo using traditional materials and methods.

Goals

  • To discover the unique art styles and techniques that are used to represent the traditions, customs and beliefs of Asian cultures
  • To understand traditional materials, methods and motivations
  • To understand the impact of Asian art on other cultures

Rationale

By experiencing first-hand the materials and compositional elements often found in traditional Chinese art, students more deeply understand and retain their gallery discussions of original objects.

Topics

  • Types of art forms: scroll and album paintings, wood block prints, screen painting, ceramics, cloisonne, sculpture
  • The unique materials and tools used to create art in each culture i.e. ink, inkstone, paper and silk
  • The three perfections: calligraphy, poetry, and painting
  • Themes in Asian art: nature’s importance, funerary beliefs, man’s place in the universe, etc.
  • The cultural, historical and religious symbols and iconography of Asia

Arizona Education Standards

 

Visual Arts Standards
Strand 1: Create
Concept #2 Materials, Tools, Techniques (PO 002, PO 202)
Concept #5 Quality (PO 001)

Strand 2: Relate
Concept #1 Artworlds (PO 002, PO 105, PO 206)
Concept #2 Materials, Tools, Techniques (PO 001, PO 102, PO 304)
Concept #3 Elements & Principles (PO 001, PO 101)
Concept #4 Meanings & Purposes (PO 001, PO 102, PO 203)
Concept #5 Quality (PO 002)

Strand 3: Evaluate
Concept #1 Art Issues and Values (PO 002, PO 003
Concept #3 Elements & Principles (PO 001)
Concept #4 Meanings & Purposes (PO 001)
Concept #5 Quality (PO 001, PO 202)

Social Studies Standards
Strand 2: World History
Concept #2 Early Civilizations
Grade 6 (PO 5, PO 6, PO 9)

< Back to Tour Descriptions