Up Close and Personal: Scientist as artist
www.insectidentification.org/Key Concept: communication
Related Concepts: structure and form
Global Context: Personal and Cultural Expression-artistry, craft
Statement of Inquiry: Form and structure can be communicated through artistry and craft.
Inquiry Questions:
Factual: Why are artistry and craft necessary when documentation is needed?
Conceptual: How can we communicate the concepts of form and structure? How are form and structure different frm each other?
Debatable: Can artistry and craft exist without each other?
G.R.A.S.P.S.
Goal: To reproduce a detailed image of an insect, in the style of an illustrator/naturalist.
Role: An entomologist who is documenting an insect you are researching.
Audience: Scientist or students who might be doing research and need specific information on a particular insect.
Situation: We can't always counton technology, so we need to have a backup plan...sometimes reinventing the wheel isn't necessary. Back to basics.
Product: An illustration of a particular, chosen insect...full body with details.
Standards: All 4 IB criterion, A,B,C,D. CA VAPA...Creative Expression and Historical & Cultural Context. National VAPA...Connecting and Responding
Process:
- We will start off the unit looking at several images and practicing VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) as a way to start seeing detail and talking about works of art.
- You be introduced to English Naturalist, Charles Darwin and his drawings of insects, looking at the importance of scientfic illustrations, especially before the camera was invented.
- You will then choose a specific insect to research and become an expert on (documenting and citing all research in your process journals).
- You will look at actual insects through a microscope (looking for detail) and then use images from books, magazines or online to draw a series of drafts of your chosen insect, with peer reviews inbetween (video will be used to model the process) until you have enough detail to move on to the final task.
- You will view demonstrations of and practice the mediums of colored pencil and watercolor before deciding on a medium to use for your final summative task (an illustratin for a scientific book).
- You will write reflections throughout the process as well as a final reflection on the summative task and process. You will also participate in a final class critique and complete a final written reflection, using a rubric.
Vocabulary:
form- the visual shape of an object.
structure- the arrangement of parts, proportion.
communication- a way of getting information from one person to another.
artistry- creative skill or ability
craft- an activity involving skill, usually making things by hand.
Charles Darwin- an English Naturalsit and Geologist who most well known for his work on evolution.
Naturalist- one who studies natural history, specifically animals (zoology) or plants (botany).
Entomologist- a persn who studies insects.
Scientist- a person who studies the natural or physical sciences.
illustration- to explain something using pictures, usually in the form of drawing.
pattern- repetition of shape or form.
texture- the way something feel or looks like it feels.
Resources...
Books:
The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson & Olivia Messinger Carril
Bugs: Up Close by Lars-Ake Janzon
Butterflies of the World by Myriam Baran
Insect Museum by Sonia Dourlot
National Audubon Society-Field Guide to Insects & Spiders...published by Alfred A. Knopf
One hundred Butterflies by Harold Feinstein
The Private Life of SPIDERS by Paul Hillyard
Videos/Webpages:
Slide Presentation
docs.google.com/a/nvusd.org/presentation/d/1tZIwtcEROAoXI34e_qrbHswtLZQw7cFt_26XrlJcRS4/edit?usp=sharing
How to Draw Insects Tutorial
http://johnmuirlaws.com/art-and-drawing/draw-insects-iridescence
Insect Inspired Artists
http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/05/12/jeepers-creepers-10-insanely-original-insect-inspired-artists/
National Geographic Articles and Video links
National Geographic 'Bugs' videos
National Geographic Website
National Geographic
Jean-Pierre Megnin-Skilled Illustrator and Pioneering Forensic Entomologist
https://rcvsknowledgelibraryblog.org/2012/10/19/jean-pierre-megnin-skilled-illustrator-and-pioneering-forensic-entomologist/
LadyBug Classifications
http://www.ladybug-life-cycle.com/classification-species-types.html
Insect Species Identifcation
www.insectidentification.org/
Mantis Classification
www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/species/
Butterfly Species
butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/common