How'd They Do That?

Name:____________________ Date:_____________________ Subject: Art History Professor: Brandy Elford Introduction: How did they do that? As artists we need to know what sort of innovations came before us. How did the artist in medieval times create his work? What tools and materials were available to him and what was the process he went through to create his work? You will discover some of the processes are still very similar to what we do today while others were dramatically different. Put yourself in the shoes of the medieval artist and learn your new trade! Task: Your mission is to choose a piece of European art from the medieval time period and find out how it was made. You will then create a PowerPoint to present your findings to the class. The PowerPoint should showcase the type of art you are investigating, include several examples of similar work. You should include any findings on how the piece was made including a materials list if you wanted to recreate the piece based on period techniques. Process: • Step 1: Explore the museum pages on the list to find a piece of work that is interesting to you. It needs to be from Europe and made sometime between 500 and 1500 AD. Copy and paste the picture and any information that the museum has listed about the object into your PowerPoint. • Step 2: Find two more similar objects and add them to your PowerPoint as well. They should be from the same area and time as your first piece. This establishes a body of work and tells us that your first piece was not an anomaly but an established practice at the time. • Step 3: Make a materials list for your object. Look at the description provided by the museum. It should have a list of everything used to make the piece immediately following the title of the object. For example, a piece of jewelry might be made from gold and lapis lazuli. List both of those items in your materials list. Include the materials from all three of your objects. • Step 4: Where did the materials come from? Pick two of the materials and find out where they came from. For this step please clarify the path of the raw material from its source to the medieval artist. For example, the lapis lazuli is a stone that was mined in what is current day Afghanistan. It was taken from the mountains by various miners and sold to traders. It was then taken by caravan overland to trading centers in Europe. They were then sold to lapidary's who worked the stone into shapes for jewelry or inlay into other types of art. Local artisans then bought them to incorporate into their work. • Step 5: How was it made? Carefully read the full description of the object and look for clues on how it was made. The descriptions often contain a lot of information about the processes used to create the piece and where it was found. Use those clues to search for more information. For example, if it said it was created using lost wax process and found in Hedeby, search those two terms and see what you find. Put your findings into the PowerPoint. Make sure that you include all of your sources. This is the most important part of your quest so include as much information as you can find. List as many steps that you can find on how the medieval craftsman did what they did. What kind of tools did they have to work with? Include any pictures that you find that are related to the processes. To find this information, do searches on the web using key words. • Step 6: Present your PowerPoint to the class. Be sure to include all of your sources on the PowerPoint page. Resources: The information sources needed to begin the task are included here. http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=Try+it+out...&sid=583977&x=0&y=0 Evaluation: You will be presenting your PowerPoint to the class. In your presentation be sure to include the following: • Three related piece of European medieval art, including pictures and museum descriptions. • Complete materials lists for the three pieces. • Origins of two of the materials and how the medieval craftsman would have acquired them. • Steps used by the medieval artist to make the work. • All of your sources. Conclusion: At the conclusion of the presentations, each person will write a brief essay entitled "If I were a medieval artist, I would be . . .” You will write about the type of art you liked best and why you would choose this type of art form for your career. As a class we will pick the project we found most interesting and try to duplicate the form as closely as we can to the way the medieval artist did.