DESCRIPTION: Students sort postcards to discover the nature or modern art.

OBJECTIVES: This activity meet all of the Level III objectives. Students begin to make distictions between various periods in the history of art, the development of various artistic styles throughout history, a bginning of a discussion aboutr abstract art, and what choices the Walker Art Center has made in determining the kind of art the it will display.

PROCEDURE: I have a collection of art postcards that I want to share with you. (Display postcards on bench or floor.) They are artworks made during many historical periods. Can you tell me which ones are modern? Without looking at the date, separate the cards into two sections--ones that appear to be modern in one section and ones that do not in another. What things do the postcards you selected as modern artworks, have in common? Were there any postcards you weren't sure about? Some works are modern because they show aspects of modern life. Which postcards are about modern life? What other ways did you determine if something was modern or not?

Like all art, modern art reflects the world we live in. It can deal with a wide variety of subjects, ideas and feelings. All of the works at Walker Art Center are modern. Today we will look at, analyze and discuss the various characteristics of modern art and see what kinds of questions artists in this century have asked.

VARIATION: Give each student a postcard and ask him/her to place them in either the modern pile, non-modern pile, or a pile for those they can't decide about. Discuss their choices.

VARIATION: Give each student a postcard. Create a line with the students placing one student on one end as the most modern and another student at the other end as the least modern. Ask the rest of the students to place themselves in between the two according to how modern they think their postcard is.

MINNESOTA GRADUATION STANDARDS:
(1) Read, View, Listen
(2) Write and Speak
(3) Literature and the Arts
(5) Inquiry
(7) People and Cultures

Age level: Appropriate for grades 5 and up.
Artworks used: All paintings and sculpture in a follow-up comparison.
Props needed: Art postcards.
Related to Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: No
Notes: This would be a good activity to use at the beginning of your tour.


© 1998 WALKER ART CENTER