di Niccolo's Triptych at SLAM

I always love the 15th century religious art. I particularly love triptychs such as this one by Lorenzo di Niccolo (di Martino). This is tempera and gold leaf on panel. The golden color is breathtaking. This one exemplifies the 15th century taste for elegance. 

Depicted here are Mary, Christ, and four saints. The saints are separated from the Virgin and Christ in their own individual compartments. Their names appear in the blue border at the bottom. This depicts St. Christopher, St. Blaise,  St. Sebastian, and St. Francis. God, the archangel Gabriel, and Mary are depicted at the Annunciation at the top. 

I viewed this at the St. Louis Art Museum several summers ago. 

I have never ventured into teaching artwork such as this at the elementary level. However, at the high school level, I would think this type of art would be essential to understanding art history. If anyone has ideas about teaching this at the elementary level, please share.

Although I've never taught triptychs, I can envision integrating math skills into this. Fractions, thirds, balance, proportion, symmetry, etc. would all be appropriate. 

If you have any thoughts, please share!

Guy Harvey at the Pensacola Museum of Art

Beware, this post has a lot of photos! I tried to narrow it down. I took a lot more than this on my visit to the Pensacola Museum of Art in 2015. I managed to narrow it down to these. I did my best! HA!

When I visited the art museum, this Guy Harvey exhibit was there. Honestly, I'd never thought much about Guy Harvey until then. I knew there were t-shirts, and that is about all I knew. 

After this visit, however, I was really intrigued with him. He is a marine biologist and artist. I love this combination! My students find it interesting as well. It shows them the value of art in science. 

I've used these photographs to teach several things. My favorite is to teach conservation and marine life. I welcome you to also use the photographs in your classroom. 

Here is a post about creating Jellyfish artwork after studying Guy Harvey.

Here is a post about creating sea turtle artwork after studying him. 

The colors are brilliant. My photographs do not do justice to the colors. 

My favorite thing about teaching with Guy Harvey is that kids always start wearing their Guy Harvey shirts to art. I love that kind of authentic engagement!

Have you ever taught Guy Harvey? Let's chat about it!

Closeups of the turtle.