some Louise Bourgeois-inspired art from our end of year Donut Art Show!
In my Art History 2023-2024 blog post, I decided October would be Louise Bourgeois. Here are some resources and my planning notes:
1911 - 2010
also
art examples from Tate Kids
Cell (Eyes and Mirrors), 1989–93
Spider, 1994
Man, Keys, Phone, Clock, 1994
lesson plan ideas from Tate Kids
- Cell Design
- Spider Poem
Spiders Spin Webs
by Yvonne Winer
photos of cells
example #1
example #2
example #3
lesson plan ideas from Tate
- Opposing Forces
- Journeying
- Your Bedroom as a Cell
- Exquisite Corpse with Objects
- Celebrating Friendships
- Words and Phrases
art examples from The Studio, June 2018
Maman, 1999
Spiral Time, 2009
Ode à la Bièvre, 2017
lesson plan ideas from The Studio, June 2018
- Diary Entry, week 1, p.7
- Family Member Animal Sculpture, week 2, p.5
- Geography Assignment, week 3, p.1
- Spiral Art, week 3, p.6
- Larger Than Life Sculpture, week 4, p.1
- Fabric Scrap Collage, week 4, p.3
lesson plan ideas from The Studio, October 2023
- Monumental Artwork, p.21
- Sculpture Model, p.22
- Paper or Fabric Journal, p.23
- Childhood Memories, p.24
- Expressive Feelings, p.25
- Geometric Abstraction, p.26
- Geography, p.27
Encyclopedia of Artists
volume 1, pp.56-57
Nature Study: Eyes, 1984
YouTube video recommended by Lotus
This video documents the installation of Louise Bourgeois' giant spider sculpture in the garden of Fondation Beyeler in Riehen (Basel, Switzerland). The video shows how the legs of the spider are assembled, and how the different parts of the sculpture -- legs, body, eggs, head -- are put together and how the sculpture is erected.
Inspired by the "family of repairers" quote, I could teach the children how to patch their clothes! I just attended a workshop on this -- "Three Saucy Mends to Enhance Anything" with Kate Sekules -- a few days ago during the Making Zen online retreat.
We could also do some weaving (with the cordage we made?) and there was a workshop about that too! "A Practice Project Wall Good Enough to Display" with Ruth Woods.
The chapter book read aloud recommended by Lotus for this month is Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Great idea! When we finish it, I can also
introduce the Charlotte's Web cursive workbook for the older children.
teacher background information:
-
Early Works by Louise Bourgeois
Craig Starr Gallery
Structures of Existence: The Cells
2016 exhibit at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Louise Bourgeois Themes: Spirals
MoMA
The Art of Louise Bourgeois
Tate
I decided to join Lotus Stewart's full Art History Kids website (The Studio) and get access to her past lesson plans. I think it will really help me this year to have so much already done for me. There are old lesson plans for Louise in the Archives (Jun 2018) and the new plans are out right NOW (Oct 2023)!
OCTOBER 2023: LOUISE BOURGEOIS
week of Oct 2:
- Wed - set up Louise Bourgeois display
books:
Encyclopedia of Artists, vol 1, pp.56-57
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
Louises Bourgeois: She Saw the World as a Textured Tapestry
Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn't Sorry
images:
Louise Bourgeois in the garden of her home in Choisy-le-Roi in 1916
Femme Maison, 1945-47
Personages, 1946–54
-
Left: Deux Figures Qui Portent Un Object, 1950
Center: Depression Woman, 1949-1950
Right: Pillar, 1949-1950
images in She Saw the World as a Textured Tapestry
The Sweet Smell of Indigo, 1968
Eyes, 1982
image in the Encyclopedia of Artists
Nature Study: Eyes, 1984
art examples from The Studio, June 2018
Maman, 1999
Spiral Time, 2009
Ode à la Bièvre, 2017
read
look at Spiral Time, 2009
do fiddlehead fern artwork (green scrapbook paper background, green marker spirals) for 2024 Handmade Calendar Project (April)
Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature
by Joyce Sidman
Sat - read
weaving projects! give students the choice of making a potholder, weaving on a small shoebox loom, or learning how to weave on our 48 inch tapestry loom (our current tapestry is the Nine Norse Worlds)
week of Oct 9:
- Sat - Opposing Forces activity from Tate
read quote #8, look at pictures of Maman, what is this piece of art saying about life?
create artwork that explores opposites - good vs evil (Smeagol's transformation into Golem), light vs dark (today's annular eclipse), etc.
Hippoposites
by Janik Coat
take a class field trip to SIU Saluki Stadium to view the eclipse (maximum eclipse at 11:59 am)
week of Oct 16:
- Thu - Journeying activity from Tate (colored pencil drawing)
The Elephant from Baghdad
by Mary Tavener Holmes
Sat - the plan was to give them a choice between two art options:
read quote #5, look at pictures of Ode à la Bièvre, do "Childhood Memories" activity from The Studio, October 2023, p.24
OR
read quote #7, do "Family Member Animal Sculpture" activity from The Studio, June 2018, week 2, p.5
As it turned out, everyone wanted to do the Family Member Animal Sculpture activity. I think they don't have enough Art time with sculpture materials (I gave them the choice between plasticine and modeling beeswax). So we sat and chatted while they modeled, did three Mad Libs, and played Poetry for Neandertals.
If I had premade some small books with drawing paper I do think they would have been more open to the Childhood Memories activity. The bookmaking seemed intimidating to them. I'm thinking three pages of drawing paper, folded in half, with a simple sewn spine.
week of Oct 23:
- Mon - Body Hybrids activity from Tate, inspired by
Femme Maison series (1946–47)
Tree with Shoes (1998)
Sat - Celebrating Friendships activity from Tate, inspired by
10 am Is When You Come To Me (2006)
-
print multiple copies of the image so that each child can have a copy and can examine it closely
point out that this artwork was done on an unusual kind of paper; show an example of musical score paper and see if students can identify it
why might she choose this kind of paper as the background? one child said that music can be a way of showing love; another possibility is that their friendship could be like a dance
my personal idea is based on the fact that the word tempo (which in music refers to speed) means "time" in Italian, so I think it's referring back to the title and "10 am"
this activity was a HUGE hit! pencils, drawing paper, friends, skin tone crayons
OR
work in teams to build and decorate Pumpkin Racers for today's Pumpkin Race
week of Oct 30:
I so wanted to have us do something with spiders on Halloween! But the younger group is currently doing the Quality of Numbers block, and so it made the most sense for us to wait and do Spiders for the number 8.
week of Nov 6:
- Tue - read
read
write a Spider Poem (Tate Kids)
OR
make a spider sculpture out of craft wire
Wed - watch video of the assembly of Maman in Basel, Switzerland
Favorite Quotes
"Tell your own story and you will be interesting" - Tate Kids website
(also The Studio June 2018 plans, week 4, p.6)
"My complaint about language is that it is perfect, indispensable, but not enough. It doesn’t say everything." - Craig Starr Gallery article
"I need to make things. The physical interaction with the medium has a curative effect. I need the physical acting out. I need to have these objects exist in relation to my body." - Tate website
"The written, the spoken (into a tape recorder), and my drawing diary, which is the most important. Having these diaries means that I keep my house in order." - Tate website
“My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama. All my work of the last fifty years, all my subjects, have found their inspiration in my childhood.” - The Studio June 2018 plans, week 1, p.1
"I came from a family of repairers. The spider is a repairer. If you bash into the web of a spider, she doesn’t get mad. She weaves and repairs it." - The Studio June 2018 plans, week 2, p.3
"In my sculpture, it’s not an image I am seeking, it’s not an idea. My goal is to re-live a past emotion." - The Studio June 2018 plans, week 2, p.3
"Art is not about art. Art is about life, and that sums it up." - The Studio October 2023 plans, p.40
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