Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

Weaving: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Central Focus
Grade Level
Class Size
Time
Class Demographics

Students will be learning weaving techniques while also forming a dialogue between historical
Iroquois and Onondaga culture and contemporary artistic culture.
3rd
8
9:00-10:50
N/A

National Visual Arts Standards Addressed

VA:Cr3.1.3a Elaborate visual information by adding details in an artwork to enhance emerging meaning.
VA:Re.7.1.3a Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art.
VA:Re8.1.3a Interpret art by analyzing use of media to create subject matter, characteristics of form, and mood.
Forms
Frames
Conceptual
Framework

2D
Cultural

Subjective

3D
Structural

4D
Postmodern

Artwork

Artist

Audience

World

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
1.
Create a woven section of a collaborative sculpture that is at least two square feet in size, using found
objects that have meaning. VA:Cr3.1.3a
2.
In writing, define any one of the vocabulary terms by correctly using it in a sentence and relating it to an
activity we did in class, or an artist we learned about in class. VA:Re8.1.3a
3.
Orally explain how an art-making process affects the final products meaning by answering the question,
how did the specific image you drew change after you cut it up, then wove it together again? VA:Re.7.1.3a

Native American Artifacts

scissors
magazines
wire

TEACHER MATERIALS
PRINTED:
-images of ash tree identification/
-vocabulary words
images of different paper weaving
techniques
images of artists works
STUDENT MATERIALS
cut paper for short weaving activity
traditional weaving materials: yarn,
fabric, natural fibers
found objects: plastic bags, leaves,
sticks, cds, corn husks cut into strips,
corn fuzz, flowers...etc

teacher examples
name tags for students
thumbtacks
Large sticks

worksheet

ARTISTS IN CONTEXT
Key Artists

Gail Tremblay, Ashleigh Echevarria

EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12

Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

Key Artworks

Gail Tremblay, Since High School My Most Wanted Has Been to See
Roles for Red ReadersAmong All the Images of Blacks & Whites on the
Silver Screen.

Gail Tremblay, It Was Never About Playing Cowboys and Indians, 2012.
16mm film, leader, rayon cord & thread. 24.25 x 14 x 14 in

EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12

Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

Ashleigh Echevarria, Ramen Number 1

Key Critical Questions

Gail Tremblay
What material do you recognize being used? Does the title
mean anything to you at first? Lets look at its title and unpack
it. clue: High School and Most Wanted were titles of movies she
was deconstructing. everything else the artist wrote.
Does anyone know what a Silver Screen is? What do you think
Roles for Red Readers means? What does the artist mean by
among all the images of blacks and whites on the silver
screen?
Ashleigh Echevarria
What material is this artist using? What do you think about when
you see this material being used, instead of yarn? Why do you
think the artist didnt just use yarn?
VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Vocabulary

Language Functions
Language Demands
Language Tasks and
Activities
Language Supports

Culture - The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time
Indigenous- original inhabitant of land
Medium/media- materials that are used to create a work of art
Found Object- an undisguised material, used for art, that originally had a non-art purpose
define a vocabulary word, use this word in a sentence
Syntax
Discourse
Students will practice syntax by using a vocabulary word in a sentence and, and practice
discourse by relating that word to an activity we did in class, or an artist we learned about.
Students will practice this through repetition throughout the class period, by prompts from
the teacher.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND LEARNING TASKS

Launch
Instruction Methods
Yarn web activity as students are gathering *yarn ball
Hands-on student involvement
-teacher will have students sit in a circle. Teacher will sit with students. Teacher will
share her name, along with one thing that defines herself. Students will share their
names, and one thing they like to do that defines themselves.
Instruction
Instruction Methods
EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12

Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

History/Native American Culture (5 minutes): *Powerpoint

- teacher will recap / explain the vocabulary word culture
- 562 recognized tribes. Tribes are ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse.
Teacher will explain the vocabulary word indigenous
- 1880 - 1932 the Allotment Era. Reservation system established. Closing of the
frontier. late 1870s boarding schools. cultural practices outlawed (sun dance,
use of tribal medicines and medicine men..etc).
- One of my cultures is being an artist. When I was your age, if my parents
took away my culture it would mean they took away my paint and crayons and
sent my to my room. What is culture to you? Does your family have certain
things you normally do together? Is there a class in school where you have
certain routines, when the class would not feel the same without it?

direct instruction, teacher

demonstration, hands-on student
involvement, group discussion

Iroquois and Onondaga Culture/Traditional Basket Weaving

(5 minutes): *Powerpoint
-Onondaga one of the six nations of the Iroquois.
Teacher will read to students about Black Elk and the first vision of the Black
Ash Basket (in PowerPoint). Black ash baskets: each type of weaving (shell
weave twist, has a name and history. due to human pollution, wildfires, and
natural diseases, the numbers of black ash are greatly declining
http://bio.sacnas.org/biography/Biography.asp?bio=138
-threats: Emerald Ash Borer, fires, pollution
http://www.extendonondaga.org/natural-resources/emerald-ash-borer-agrilusplanipennis-fairmaire/
-process of basket weaving: video?

paper-weaving activity (20 minutes)

-Teacher will demo a basic weaving technique using colored paper (5 minutes)
-Students will choose an image or multiple images from a magazine to cut up
and weave with. Teacher will tell the students to think about it like a mashup!
What would happen if you wove an image of a girl crying with an image of
yoshi? Would there be a relationship between those two images?

paper-weaving responses (10 minutes)

-When students are finished weaving, teacher will have them tack their works up
on the wall. Teacher will ask each student, how did the specific image you
choose change after you cut it up, then wove it together again? How did you
feel cutting it up? How did you feel reorganizing it? If you used two different
images, how do those two images talk to each other? Is it easier to see the
image, or harder to see? Do you feel like you understand the image more now,
or less? How does the time you spent on making this new image reflect your
feelings about it now?

Bathroom break (5 minutes)

Contemporary Artists (8 minutes):

*Powerpoint
- (Gail Tremblay, Ashleigh Echevarria)
-Before explaining the work by these two artists, teacher will ask students
questions like the ones listed above by images of artwork to unpack it.
-teacher will explain the vocabulary terms Medium/media and found object

EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12

Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

Students and teacher will go outside (20 minutes):

-students and teacher will identify a white ash tree on campus (#39). teacher will
explain how to identify a white ash tree compared to a black ash tree
-teacher will lead students on a short walk to find objects to be used for
weaving. teacher will encourage students to find objects that are long and
skinny

Weaving (1 hr / remainder of time)

-students will work on a collaborative weaving using found objects
Closure
Yarn web activity (last 5 minutes of class):
- Students will write a sentence using one of the vocabulary words learned in class
and linking it to an activity we did
- Teacher will ask refresher questions such as, What did you learn today? What did
you make? What new artists do you know?
- Teacher will gather students together in a circle. Students will pass the ball of yarn
to make a weaving of connections by sharing their sentence

Instruction Methods
hands-on student involvement, group
discussion

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR SPECIFIC DIVERSE LEARNERS

Adaptations and Accommodations
Images, and important vocabulary and information will be shown on Powerpoint and printed for classroom inspiration. Students
will be working individually and collaboratively.
Enrichment and Extensions
Students who want to take the collaborative sculpture further will be encouraged to bring weaving materials from home that
have meaning to them to include (this could be photographs, scraps from a blanket, old shoelaces...etc)
Activity for Early Finishers
Students who finish early can start working on the collaborative sculpture by wiring sticks together to make multiple negative
spaces to form a multi-faceted loom.

1.
2.
3.

OBJECTIVE-DRIVEN ASSESSMENTS
Students will have created a section of a collaborative sculpture that is at least two square feet in size, using found objects and
weaving processes.
In writing, students will have defined any one of the vocabulary terms by correctly using it in a sentence.
Students will have orally explained how an art-making process affects the final products meaning by answering the question,
how did the specific image you drew change after you cut it up, then wove it together again?
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS
Biology, History
REFERENCES
Emerald Ash Borer. (2015, May). Retrieved from Extended Onondaga website:
http://www.extendonondaga.org/natural-resources/emerald-ash-borer-agrilus-planipennis-fairmaire/

Kimmerer, R., Dr. (n.d.). SACNAS Biography. Retrieved from SACNAS website:
http://bio.sacnas.org/biography/Biography.asp?bio=138

The Legend of the Black Ash Basket (Cocobanoggan). (n.d.). Retrieved from Basket Makers website:
EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12

Level 3: ART 309 & Student Teaching

http://basketmakers.com/topics/bymaterial/blackash/blashlegend.htm

Mithlo, N., W. Wilson, P. Phillips. (2012). Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism.. Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

* Developed and written by (Whitney Johnson), Art Education, Illinois State University, 2015 *

EE = Early Elementary grades K-3 LE = Late Elementary grades 4-6 MS = Middle School grades 6-9
EHS = Early High School grades 10-11 LHS = Late High School grade 12