This lesson is designed to further students’ knowledge of 3D figures and views of them from different positions.
Objectives
- We will develop our spatial ability and be able to interpret 3D drawings more meaningfully.
- We will be able to analyze a complex geometric figure and decompose it into its components.
- We will be able to draw a translation of a two-dimensional figure.
Assessment
- Participation in class discussions
- Color Boxes worksheet
- Translations worksheets
Time Required
1 hour
Materials/Resources Needed
- Document camera/projector
- Art Images (linked below in the activities)
- Activity pages (4–9)
- Rulers
- Paper
- Pencil
- Crayons or colored pencils
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
After your field trip to the Asheville Art Museum, have your students talk about their visit. Encourage them to discuss artworks they saw, identifying which ones they liked the most/least and why. Ask them to talk about the studio activity and what they created.
Activity One: Color Boxes
NOTE: All pages referenced below are linked above in Materials/Resources Needed as “Activity pages.”
- Project Pete Smith’s Color Boxes #8. Ask students to describe what they see and to make interpretations. Encourage students to examine the artwork carefully and deconstruct it into its component parts. Accept what they say but encourage the class to come to consensus. Note: This artwork is an intriguing piece. It takes some time to appreciate the subtlety of the work of art. One interpretation is that he has created five separate shapes; two L shapes and three 6 by 6 squares. These have been translated two times, to the left and up.
- After the discussion, provide students with the Color Boxes worksheet and a reproduction of Pete Smith’s Color Boxes #8 (activity pages 4–5). Review answers and discuss as a class or collect papers.
Activity Two: Translations
- Provide students with the Translations worksheets (activity pages 6–9). Students will use the reproduction of Pete Smith’s Color Boxes #8 for these activities. They can use pencils, crayons, or colored pencils for each grid drawing.
- Ask students to look at the artwork reproduction and find the 6 x 6 block of dark squares in the bottom right corner. Ask them to begin by drawing a 6 x 6 block in the center of the first piece of graph paper (activity page 6). Next, draw translations on the grid paper just as Pete Smith did. Confirm that students have followed the directions.
- On the next piece of grid paper, students will recreate the model L shape (activity page 7) in the center. Students will use the same dimensions as the example. Again, students will create translations of their L shape the way that Pete Smith did for his L shapes.
- Ask students to consider why Pete Smith made the artistic decisions he did for Color Boxes #8. Discuss as a class. On the last piece of grid paper, students will create their own designs with translations.