Stories told by art and with art: Van Gogh

Next month is the month of the art in the school, we'll have a class about Van Gogh. Here's the lesson plan:

First, a story about Vincent.

Imagine a small village in Holland in 19th century. A big family of the local pastor. Strange, "difficult" oldest boy - Vincent. He loves nature and enjoys long walks around the village.

He grows up and goes to a boarding school, then another. He's really miserable there.

His uncle owns a famous art gallery shop with stores in the Hague, London, Paris. Both Vincent and his younger brother Theo work in the gallery stores. Vincent learns a lot about art, he also visits museums and art galleries. Vincent tries his hand in several different professions, but finally at the age of 27, decides to be a painter.

Next, stories about Vincent's art.

Vincent moves to the south of France. He loves the warm climate and enjoys painting outside, especially in spring and summertime. The paintings that we'll discuss in class are created there: Wheat Field, Almond Blossom and Sunflowers. (We'll also discuss Starry Night.)

Arles and south of France inspired Vincent to create exuberant art. Can you think of a place that inspired or profoundly affected you?

Here are some of the places that really inspired me:

1) Jerusalem. The wonder of seeing the Jerusalem from above from Armon Hanaziv lookout.

2) Tel Aviv beaches. After Jerusalem, I had hard time getting used to Tel Aviv's aesthetics... But every time I got tired of it, I went to the beach, and there it was - beauty all around me.

3) Hayarkon park in Tel Aviv. When I first moved nearby, I used to get from the office and watch sunsets over the river. I used to think: "I can't believe I'm so lucky as to live here and watch sunsets over the river every day."

We'll divide the class into four workgroups. Each group will discuss a painting and try to find a story that this painting is telling us.

Resources from the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam:

Who was Vincent Van Gogh? https://youtu.be/Zy3K2Lcw7hQ

Vincent Van Gogh - my story https://youtu.be/3q5fuVFWe0Q

"What are you good at?!"

Comments

Stories about Summer - "Summer" by Rotraut Susanne Berner

Summer is in full swing in our part of the world, and it's a great opportunity to tell stories about the seasons, the changing weather and summer activities. "Summer" is a picture book by German artist and illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner . It's a part of the series called "All Around Bustletown" - or simply "Wimmelbuch" in Berner's native German . Wimmelbuch , or Wimmelbilderbuch literally translates from German as a "book abound with pictures". German philologist Cornelia Rémi describes Wimmelbooks as "a type of wordless picture books which display a series of panoramas teeming with an immense amount of characters and details". According to Rémi, Wimmelbooks have "the potential to accompany children ... along their path to literacy and introduce them to different strategies of coping with the world and of telling stories". Indeed, in our story circle focused on Berner's Summer,...

Storytelling with toddlers - story circle structure

When my oldest kiddo was a toddler, I've tried to have an art activitiy in our local mommy and me group. I've brought finger paints and a big roll of paper. Couple of kids in the group were so eager to participate, they had a blast. They painted with their hands and feet. They got undressed to their diapers and got all arty and messy. Not my kid! He remained fully dressed, spot clean as he refused to touch the paint, and mounted on his tricycle. He calmly observed all the fun and partook absolutely no part of it. I was bitterly disappointed. That day I learned that beautiful messy art activities aren't for everyone. However, if you are consistent and keep art activities in your kids life, eventually they'll find some form of art that is right for them (for example, my kid's favorite art activitiy is playdough. *Not* messy painting). Storytelling with toddlers is really similar in this aspect. Not every kid will be eager to participate in a storytelling c...

Taking Storytelling Outside - and Upside Down

I love love love having story circle outside. True, there might be more distractions. But there's much more freedom. And freedom is great for any creative activity, including storytelling. Pippi Longstocking, arguably one of the freest and open-minded characters in children literature, is often portrayed upside down. “[Pippi] always slept with her feet on the pillow and her head far down under the covers. ‘That’s the way they sleep in Guatemala,’ she explained. ‘And it’s the only right way to do it. This way, I can wiggle my toes while I’m sleeping, too.‘” Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking (translated by Florence Lamborn).

Storytelling with Kids

Search This Blog