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Layered Landscapes

Ted Harrison created colorful landscape paintings of the Yukon. Students will learn about the region and create artwork in the style of Harrison.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

Steps

  • Step 1

    The Yukon is a sparsely populated territory of northwestern Canada abounding in snowmelt lakes, white-capped mountains, and plateaus. Have students learn about this region and some of the characteristics such as its climate, the plants and animals that inhabit it, and its natural resources.

  • Step 2

    Have students view images of artworks by British-Canadian artist Ted Harrison (1926-2015), who is noted for his colorful landscape paintings of the Yukon. Ask them to use the images to inspire an original landscape portrayal.

  • Step 3

    Have students sketch a landscape design on paper and then use white glue squeezed out of a bottle to outline sections of the landscape image. When the glue is dry then can fill in the spaces with oil pastels. They can use a tissue or their fingertip to blend the oil pastel within its designated section.

Standards

ARTS: Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art.

SS: People, Places, and Environments: Learn where people and places are located and why they are there. Examine the influence of physical systems such as climate, weather and seasons, and natural resources, such as land and water, on human populations, such as the causes, patterns, and effects of human settlement and migration.

Adaptations

The highest mountains in Canada are in the Yukon. Have students learn about some of these, such as Mount Logan, the world's largest non-volcanic mountain; and St. Elias Icefield, the largest non-polar icefield in the world.

Have students learn about and look at images by other noted landscape artists such as Guo Xi (c. 1020-c. 1090), John Constable (1776-1837), or Claude Monet (1840-1926).