Lesson Plan: You’ve got Food on your Face

Summer Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Italy 1572 LESSON OVERV IEW Students will explore how Giuseppe Arcimboldo used food to depict a human face in his painting Summer. They will then touch and examine various fruits and vegetables, and use these and other foods to design and sketch portraits of their own.

Suggested Grade (can be easily modified to suit younger/older students) 3rd Grade Utah Standards Health: (Note: Not mentioned in this lesson)

• Standard 6: Students will understand how a healthy diet and exercise can increase the likelihood of physical and mental wellness.

Objective 1b: Determine a balanced diet based on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid.

Visual Arts: • Standard 2: The student will analyze, reflect on, and apply the structures of art.

Objective 1: Analyze and reflection on art by their elements and principles.

• Standard 3: The student will choose and evaluate artistic subject matter, themes, symbols, ideas, meanings, and purposes.

Objective 1: Explore possible content in art prints or works of art.

• Standard 4: The student will interpret and apply visual arts in relation to cultures, history, and all learning.

Objective 3a: Use a visual arts form as a help in expressing an idea in a non-art subject; e.g., a science project, the writing of a poem, a social studies project. Length of Lesson One 50-minute lesson

RATIONALE - PURPOSE Analyzing Arcimboldo’s work encourages students to pay attention to the littlest details and increases their ability to observe carefully. Touching food helps them combine visual and tactile data, enhancing their understanding of the shape and texture of different objects. Putting all of this information together to create a portrait of their own helps students learn how to draw upon previous information to inspire creativity and imagination.

OBJECTIVES Students will be able to:

Discuss an artist’s choice of objects to create a larger visual image; Identify at least three types of food used in Summer; Create a portrait using fruits and vegetables as facial features; Describe their reasoning behind using various foods in their portraits; and Feel more comfortable using their imaginations to create a portrait using different

foods. CONCEPTS

Analyzing various pieces of work from one artist Critiquing works of art for their principles and elements of art Designing art using non-art materials Mimicking pieces of work from one artist

MATERIALS

One piece of poster board for each student (at least 20 x 20 inch) Paper or sketchbook and pencil for each student Colored pencils, crayons, pastels or washable markers An assortment of foods used in Summer for the students to touch (green grapes,

plums, mulberries, melon, hazelnuts, assorted pears, cherries, peaches, corn, garlic bulbs, onions, pea pods, eggplant, various squashes, cucumber, artichokes, and wheat)

One copy of Play With Your Food, by Joost Elffers (Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 1997), or images of food being used in different ways (go to http://images.google.com/ and search “play with food” to find images)

Art Rubric (Attached) Digital camera About the Art Sheet on Summer (Attached) One color copy of the painting for every four students, or

the ability to project the image onto a wall or screen (Attached)

Critique Walk Handout (Attached)

RESOURCES BOOKS:

Play With your Food – By Joost Eiffers (used in lesson plan) Hello, Fruit Face! – By Claudia Strand Giuseppe Arcimboldo – By Werner Kriegeskorte Arcimboldo: Sticker Art Shapes Arcimboldo: Visual Jokes, Natural History, and Still-Life Painting – Thomas DaCosta

Kaufmann

VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ymKLWvfic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_RJzBmi7Cc&feature=fvwrel http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-

Z4GO42Y74hbJmm/the_tale_of_despereaux_2008_preparing_another_soup/

WEBSITES:

www.uen.org www.jasonmercier.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo http://www.giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/ http://www.abcgallery.com/A/arcimboldo/arcimboldo.html http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/wp-

content/uploads/2009/12/Arcimboldo_ECE.pdf (used in lesson plan) http://www.artsology.com/arcimboldo_foodfaces2009.php (used in lesson plan)

LESSON PROCEDURE INTRODUCTION (8 minutes)

1. Warm-up: Motivator and presentation of concepts a. Ask students if people ever use food to describe a person’s skin, parts of

the face, or other features of the body? Have them provide examples (e.g. skin as soft as a peach; lips as red as wine or cherries). Working in groups of three, have them come up with at least three more ways to describe a person’s face using food.

b. Have younger students handle the fruits and vegetables and identify the colors and textures of each one. Introduce common similes that use food (such as “skin as soft as a peach”) while students explore how the real fruit or vegetable feels, looks, and smells. Students will also identify which food group that the food is apart of.

INSTRUCTION/DEMONSTRATION (15 Minutes)

2. Preview: Play With your Food by Joost Elffers a. Tell students that sometimes artists use food to do more than just

compare people’s faces to it; they use it to make people’s faces. Show children pictures from the book. Ask the students to talk about why an artist might use particular foods to create an animal, plant, or face (e.g. color, shape, texture).

3. Meet: Giuseppe Arcimboldo a. Share that artists have been inspired by food for centuries and that you

are going to look at one example. Show students Arcimboldo’s Summer and, using the About the Art sheet, read information about Arcimboldo and his painting.

4. Identify and Analyze various fruits and veggies a. In pairs, have students identify as many fruits and vegetables as they can

and critique how the artist used them to portray the face. What are their three favorite uses of food? Why?

WORK PERIOD (17 Minutes) 5. Introduce Activity: Food Self-Portrait

a. Show examples (http://www.artsology.com/arcimboldo_foodfaces2009.php) Be sure to remind students that creativity is not limited to the layouts depicted in the examples presented.

b. Model appropriate behavior when working with pairs 6. Design, Sketch & Photograph

a. Allow students to touch and manipulate the food that you’ve brought in (legumes, fruits, veggies) to get a better sense of the texture, shape, etc.

i. OPTION 1: Have older students sketch a portrait using the foods they just explored to create a profile, the same way Arcimboldo did. Encourage them to include secret messages and humor in their painting like Arcimboldo did with his ear of corn (Note: Not featured in lesson plan).

ii. OPTION 2: Have younger students arrange real fruits and vegetables to create a face in profile, then take digital photographs of their arrangements. Students may work in pairs, groups or individually depending on unique individual makeup of the classroom.

7. Inspiration & Support a. At some point along the way, have students stop what they are doing and

walk around to look at each other’s work. Encourage them to incorporate different techniques or images from their classmate’s portraits that they like into their own work. Share that each piece will still look unique because each person will apply the technique or idea in his or her own way.

CLOSURE (10 minutes)

8. Sharing a. Have students share their final pieces in small groups of four, describing

why they chose the foods they did, how the foods represent that facial feature, and bits of humor they included. Display photographs of the portraits.

9. Critique walk a. Provide students will Critique Walk Form

i. Have students critique all or some of their peers’ artwork, depending on time frame

ii. IF limited time, have students critique 2-4 pieces ensure they don’t all critique one work

ADAPTATIONS & D IFFERENTIATION Students with exceptionalities: There may be students who prefer not to touch the different textures that foods posses. If this is the case, provide gloves for those students. Students may also be paired or grouped with other individuals who can assist them with the actual touching of the food. Die cuts/paper representations of food might also be a good alternative. Depending on the severity students may also use a software program with Internet access and create a food portrait with images, finally printing off their picture. Little food: Although you may have not been able to gather adequate amount of food for all students to create their own food sculpture, students may work in pairs and groups. Also consider altering food by cutting; the food doesn’t necessarily need to be in its whole form.

EVALUATION & RUBRIC

TOTAL =  ______/100  

Category Accomplished Artist

Developing Artist

Beginning Artist

30-21 20-10 9-0

Material Application & Technique

Demonstrates qualities, themes, & characteristics found Arcimboldo’s art

Demonstrates some qualities, themes, & characteristics found in Arcimboldo’s art

Lacks demonstration of qualities, themes & characteristics found in Arcimboldo’s art

30-21 20-10 9-0

Understanding Of Content

Insight and depth of content understanding are evident

Some depth of content understanding is evident

Lacks content understanding and is clearly a work in progress

5-4 3-2 1-0

Completion

Most of the steps are completed to the best of the student’s ability

Some of the steps are completed but needs finishing touches

Artwork appears to be a work in progress

10-9 8-4 3-0

Tool/Material Responsibility

Demonstrates respectful use of tools & materials

Demonstrates some respect for art tools & materials

Demonstrates little or no respect for the art tools and materials

15-11 10-6 5-0

Craftsmanship

Artwork reflects deliberate control having good craftsmanship

Artwork reflects adequate control and having some craftsmanship

Artwork appears to have little or no control of craftsmanship

10-8 7-4 3-0

Creative Process

Expresses original idea & insightful perspectives with an appropriate amount of details.

Expresses original ideas but has few details

Lacks original idea and has few details

About the Art

Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Italy, 1572

Who Made It? Giuseppe Arcimboldo [jew-SEP-pay arch-im-BOLD-OH] was born to a distinguished family in Milan, Italy, and began working as an artist at the Milan Cathedral, creating stained glass, fabrics, and paintings. His father, a painter, probably provided his early training. As the official artist and Master of Festivals for three successive German Emperors, Arcimboldo designed costumes, stage settings, chariots, and other diversions for courtly events and ceremonies. He was also in charge of making acquisitions for the royal cabinet of curiosities, which included art, antiques, curios, oddities of nature, and exotic animals and birds. He engineered creative water works, and even dreamed up a “color-piano” that was played by court musicians. He was perfect for the job and was richly rewarded for his inventiveness.

Arcimboldo was best known for his fantastical “composite head” paintings. These were portraits composed of objects such as fruit, flowers, books, or even a plate of meat. During his time, he acquired international fame and the public reacted to his paintings much the way we do today: with admiration, humor, and fascination. Summer belongs to a set of four paintings that depict the four seasons of the year. Arcimboldo and his workshop painted numerous copies of this set, as did many imitators of the master.

What Inspired It? Arcimboldo, a master of allegory, painted each portrait in the Four Seasons series using vegetation associated with that time of year. While his paintings amused and fascinated wealthy courtiers with their apparent whimsy, they also appealed to the intellect. For this set, Arcimboldo suggested that each season corresponds to a stage of human life: Spring stands for youth; Winter, old age; and Summer shows a man in his prime. The series also carried a specific political message—the paintings were meant to symbolically glorify the Emperor. As an Emperor ruled over human affairs, he could also be said to run the greater world, including the seasons. The harmonious combinations of fruit and vegetables reflect the harmony that exists under the Emperor’s rule. Each head also wears something that can be seen as a wreath or a crown. Because of the underlying political messages, these paintings were the perfect, flattering gift for the German Emperors to give to other courts.

Things to Look For

Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Italy, 1572

THE ARTIST’S “SIGNATURE”

The artist’s name is woven into the wheat on Summer’s collar. The date 1572 can be found on his shoulder.

ILLUSION Arcimboldo painted each piece of fruit realistically and arranged them to form an actual human face, imitating skin and musculature, all the while creating a character with personality. A row of peas in a pod make for perfectly spaced teeth, while ripe cherries form plump lips. A round peach creates the perfect rosy cheek and a cucumber imitates a bumpy weathered nose.

PROFILE

The profile format of this painting was probably inspired by portrait heads of Roman emperors, known to Renaissance artists as depicted on Roman coinage. By using the same format in his portraits, Arcimboldo associated Emperor Rudolph II—to whom these works were linked—with a powerful Roman emperor.

THE SEASON’S HARVEST

Summer depicts green grapes, plums, mulberries, melon, hazelnuts, assorted pears, cherries, peaches, corn, garlic bulbs, onions, pea pods, eggplant, various squashes, cucumber, artichokes, and wheat.

Thematic Unit Overview “Healthy Me” One Week

Lesson 1 - Healthy Mind

Students will learn use various ways including creating visual arts to manage stress. Students

will also identify their responsibilities and consequences for neglecting them.

Lesson 2 - Nutrition and Fitness

The students will understand how a healthy diet and exercise can increase the likelihood of physical and mental wellness. Students will record in a journal their food intake and exercise.

Students will use food pyramid to determine if their own diets are nutritious.

Lesson 3 – Healthy Food Proportions

Students will use fractions and ratios to compare quantities, find rates, and will determine whether two ratios are a proportion. This math lesson will be integrated with identifying

proper food proportions.

Lesson 4 – Food on Your Face*

*AS STATED AND FEATURED IN THE INCLUDED LESSON PLAN

Lesson 5 - Self-Portrait Reflection Students will reference their food self-portraits and construct their own food pyramid with the items they selected. After completing the food pyramid they will write a brief reflection of the actual activity. Reflection will call for students to respond to why the selected their food items

to represent features (i.e., potato shavings for hair because they are straight and sandy brown)

Lesson 6 - Substance Free Me Students will adopt health-promoting and risk-reducing behaviors to prevent substance abuse. Students will identify the risks of tobacco and alcohol. Students will use visual arts to create an

anti- tobacco campaign that highlights the unhealthy aspects not typically shown in real life tobacco ads.

Critique Form

Instructions: Activate your knowledge about the elements of art that we discussed in class. Use this knowledge to provide feedback for your classmates about their work of art. Write your own name and title on this sheet of paper. Go on the critique walk and provide comments and suggestions on the paper next to the artwork on the artist’s critique form. Sign your initials next to your comment.

   Artist’s Name: ____________________________________________________________ Title: ___________________________________________________________________

Tell me something you like:

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Give me a suggestion:  ____________________________________________________      

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