Integration of Art and Drama
Day 7 
Indiana Artists 1880-1905
Warm-up - Pantomime
(5 minutes)
T. C. Steele, John Adams, and William Forsyth, Otto Stark, and Wayman Adams.
Explain that these artists were well known Indiana painters who were friends. Three of these painters wanted to go to Munich, Germany to study painting at the Koniglichen Academy. They wanted the best art training, but didn't have the money to go to Germany. They asked everyone they saw to give them money so they could travel to Germany. Soon they had the money and set sail for Germany on July 24, 1880. This was an exciting time for art in Europe. Famous artists such as Degas, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Rousseau, and Cézanne were alive then. Painting was moving from Realism to Impressionism. (Review Realism and Impressionism with students.) When they were done with their schooling, most said for them to go to New York so they could make more money. They decided to make a life for themselves painting the land in Indiana instead. They were true fans of Indiana and its land. They later became known as the Hoosier Group. Show prints of these artists to the students.
Tell students that you will ask for a few volunteers to pantomime places, people, or things that make you like Indiana and want to stay here. (Perhaps they might mime playing in an Indiana park, or water skiing in one of Indiana's many lakes, and the Indy 500 or Brickyard 400) Choose a few students to mime and then ask everyone to guess what they mimed.
Activities
The Hoosier Group- Role play
(40 minutes- not including the video, which is an additional 20 minutes)
Materials Needed:
The video listed in the resources.
Acrylic Paint or Watercolor Paint
, Brushes, water jars
9"X12" (23 x 30.5 cm) white Drawing Paper
(taped to board)
Photographs of T. C. Steele and William Forsyth painting. (Pages 10 and 11 in the Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History magazine listed in the resources)
Prints of paintings done by the "Hoosier Group." Prints, books, and handcrafted objects can be rented for two weeks at $10. Call (317) 923-1331, ext. 219.
A free slide loan can be obtained from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, (317) 923-1331, ext. 226. Ask for the Slide Collection Coordinator.
Do this project when the weather is good to go outside. After students view the video on the Hoosier Group artists, tell students that they are going to pretend that they are part of the Hoosier Group and are going to go out and find a beautiful landscape to paint. Tell them to find something that one of the artists in the Hoosier Group would have wanted to paint. As students begin pointing to areas, ask all the students what they think and go where the majority wants to go.
Once students are sitting down, stress that these artists weren't as concerned with making the picture look exactly like what they saw. They used bigger paint strokes, but not as big and simple as the Impressionists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh. They used their own method that was half way between that and Realism. Show students the photos of T. C. Steele and William Forsyth painting so they are able to see the position they painted in. Tell them to imitate this.
Resources:
The Passage
Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, (Archive) Summer 1991, Vol. 3, No. 3. The Video, The Passage: Indiana Artists, 1880-1905, 1991, Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Hoosier Group: Five American Painters
Many resources that were out when this series of lessons was created are no longer in print. Following are existing resources on the Hoosier Group:
The House of the Singing Winds: The Life and Work of T.C. Steele
The Passage: Return of Indiana Painters from Germany, 1880-1905
Otto Stark, 1859-1926
Links:
Indianapolis Museum of Art's collection: William Forsyth
Indianapolis Museum of Art's collection: John Otis Adams
Indianapolis Museum of Art's collection: T.C. Steele
Indianapolis Museum of Art's collection: Otto Stark
Indianapolis Museum of Art's collection: Wayman Adams
Cool-down
The Hoosier Group- Pantomime
(10 minutes)
Materials needed:
James Whitcomb Riley poem. (a sample is listed on the next page)
Procedure:
Explain that The Hoosier Group became very popular when they came back from France because Indiana had received a lot of recent recognition. An Indiana resident was in the White House, and several Indiana writers, including James Whitcomb Riley, made national prominence.
Read a James Whitcomb Riley poem to the class and have them pantomime it while you read it. Have students stand at their seats, and express the poem as you read it. Tell them that they will not actually walk during the poem, just raise and lower their legs.
Sweet Brandywine!
Let's drift back to the 'olden days'
The pace 'twar slow, the livin' fine-
Kick off yer shoes, roll up yer pants
Wiggle yer toes in Brandywine! Pickin' wild berries in the bresh
In itchy, dirty, torn ol' clothes-
Gnats, 'skeeters, crawlin up yer nose!
The bobbin' cork's atwitchin' hard
Fightin' mad, 'twar thet ol' catfish-
Mama fried 'em, juicy n' sweet
My, warn't thet a lip smackin' dish!
O'er the Old Covered Bridge, we'd run
Skim stones 'crost the clear, ripplin' stream-
Take a dip near the noisy Dam
Lie down to rest- dream on, sweet dream!
Stumblin' round in thick bramble stand
Scratches 'long our hot, sweaty face-
Thorns snagged in our arms, legs, and tush
Not sure we'd e'er leave thet dern place!
Such joys we had in youngster ways
Fishin', swimmin', life 'twar sublime-
Songs n' laughter, soft carefree days
All up n' down Sweet Brandywine!
From Riley in Memoriam: A Celebrative Anthology by the Poets of Indiana
Incorporate The Hoosier Group lessons done with the Heritage Education theme in this lesson. This will tie in Riley more with the Hoosier Group.
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