Cap O'Rushes

Too often teachers and librarians discuss the text of a picture book while ignoring the art which is half or more of the content of the book. True, they look at the pictures, and "read" them, but usually only for the story content. This lesson asks children to look at the art and to discuss it in artistic terms. On the back flap of early editions of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi (Houghton Mifflin) it states that Van Allsburg "...was interested in applying fine-art drawing style and sensitivity to the problems of illustration. The artwork in the book explores the areas that are of concern to him: Creating a balance on the page by placing dark tones next to light for contrast; constructing space solidly on the laws of perspective; using a light source to provide a variety of tones to show form; and manipulating the position of the viewer to create a more dramatic picture."

I. THE GARDEN OF ABDUL GASAZI.

• Read book to the children and ask them to look at how the artist uses light and dark. This book is illustrated completely with pencil drawings. Explain how the darkest that he can get depends on the pencil that he uses and the whitest is the paper. Drawing pencils, which are made of graphite, range from very soft and therefore very dark to very hard or light and silvery. Soft pencils are labeled B (8B,the softest, 6B, 2B, etc.) Hard pencils range from 1H to 6H, the hardest. In the middle is HB. Borrow some from the Art teacher to demonstrate the different qualities of the marks they make. Notice the picture with the dog's nose sticking out from under the couch. The only way that the artist can make the white nose glow is to make all of the rest of the picture darker.
• Also ask children to notice how Van Allsburg uses perspective, or making it look as though you could "go into the picture". Point out how things further away in the picture are towards the top and how making them smaller gives the impression of distance and depth on a two dimensional surface. As a demonstration take a piece of drawing paper and draw a horizon line one quarter of the way down from the top. Put a point in the middle of the line. Put two points about 2 to 3 inches apart at middle of the bottom of the page. Connect the lower points with the top point. This is a simple demonstration of perspective, and looks like a road (or add cross ties for a railroad) disappearing into the distance. "Atmospheric perspective" or making things in the distance lighter in color or tone to show the haze that distance creates is another way to give the feeling of depth.

(Text discussion: One can't read Van Allsburg without noting the unanswered question he puts in each story. One possible discussion: Defend either statement with evidence from the book: "Gasazi did (did not) change Fritz into a duck."),

II. JUMANJI. Recall the aspects of Van Allsburg's art discussed last session: light and dark, and perspective. We will now look at the artist's point of view. In each picture you can say whether the artist, and thus the viewer, is seeing the picture from the floor, sitting in a chair, or up on a ladder. (Note: defining the point of view for 3 or 4 of the most obvious pictures is sufficient to get the idea across). How does the point of view change your feelings about the picture?

III. THE WRECK OF THE ZEPHYR or POLAR EXPRESS. Recall the three aspects already examined (light and dark, depth, and point of view). Indicate that we will keep those in mind while the class is asked to consider the following question: What does the addition of color do for the work? Another interesting consideration is to examine the source of light in the picture since in both books there are several night scenes with dramatic lighting. Both of these books are done with oil pastels. Most elementary school art programs would not have real pastels for children to use but colored chalk or craypas are as close as kids would come. Again, ask the art teacher for some technical advice. She/He may have an example from her/his own work that you could show the children so they can see the actual texture of a pastel painting.

CapORushes

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