Jim Maxwell - Two Pigs
Curriculum Connections: Fine Arts K-4: A.1.4, A.1.6, A.1.9, A.3.4, A.3.8; 5-8: A.1.3,A.1.15, A.1.18, A.3.17; 9-12: A.1.23, A.1.24, A.1.25, A.1.28, A.3.21
Lesson Objective: students will make distinctions between documentation and art.
Jim Maxwell's photograph appears to be a simple picture. Many photographers take pictures of animals, but most are classed as wildlife photography, while Maxwell's photograph is in the collection of an art museum.
Materials:
Library and internet resources for research
Investigate animal photography. Let students research photographs of wild and domestic animals. If possible print the photographs from the internet, and photocopy the ones from books. If this is not feasible, let the students keep lists in which they describe the photos. Lead a class discussion about what makes a photograph art. Can any photograph be art? Is wildlife photography just a special class of art? Is beauty the determining factor or is it the photographer's intention? Do students find Maxwell's photo beautiful? Why do they think it is in an art exhibit? Make an exhibit of photos, or create a list in which photos are classified as either documentation, art or both.
Cross-curricular study
Curriculum Connections: Science K-4: LS.1.2, LS.2.5, LS.3.1, LS.3.3; 5-8: LS.2.5,LS.2.9, LS.2.12, LS.3.2; 9-12: LS.2.4, LS.2.10, LS.2.11
Lesson Objective: students will learn about the biology of pigs, their history with humanity, and stories that deal with pigs.
Most of us think of the pig as nothing more than an animal we raise for food. Have students investigate pigs. What is Arkansas' connection with pigs and why? Are there any wild pigs still left in Arkansas? If yes, where do they live? How did pigs come to be in America? How do pigs live in the wild and how is that different from the way they live on farms? Are wild pigs biologically different from pigs raised as food? Can students think of any stories that have to do with pigs? (Charlotte's Web, Babe the movie, Animal Farm) Introduce classical stories about pigs - Hercules and the Boar, Artemis sends the Kalydonian Boar, other Greek, Roman and Rena issance stories about boar hunts. (Visit http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/tour/boar/BoarArt.html for a discussion of wild boars in each of these periods, with art depicting boars from each culture. You might recognize the statue at the very bottom of the page since there are at least two copies of it in Little Rock!)
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