Art Masterpiece: 5th Grade, Lesson 3 (January)

M.C. Escher (1898 – 1972)

Day and Night (1938) Woodcut in Black and Gray, 15 7/16” x 26 5/8”

Pronounced: Esh-er Art Style: Optical Art Art Terms: Graphic Art, Tessellation, Visual Metamorphosis Activity: Making a Tessellation Medium: Colored Pencils

Meet the Artist  He was born in 1898 in Holland. The MC stands for Maurits Cornelius.  He didn’t do very well in school, but he continued on through the University level, eventually studying graphic arts.  Escher was considered the foremost authority on graphic art. His work was a sort of bridge between the scientific world and artistic imagination.  Escher was Dutch but as a young man moved to Italy and traveled across Europe. While traveling, he met his wife, had three children and settled down outside of Rome. In 1935, he and his family moved to Switzerland. Unhappy in Switzerland, he returned to Belgium and finally to The Netherlands.  He was especially taken with the floor tile in Spain. He became very interested in Mosaic, pattern and repetition and began to include it in his own art. Eventually he came to use a mathematical art technique called tessellations. There is no background and foreground and the outline of one figure becomes the boundary of another. They are mostly seen in quilts, fabrics and wallpaper. Escher was one of the first to put a recognizable image into tessellations.  He also liked to use the theme of metamorphosis or the complete change of an object, in his work. Birds transform to fish, fish to frogs and night turns into day.  Escher was not a fan of modern art, and his art did not receive much attention until he was about 52 years old. Although the key to Escher’s art is geometry: spheres, cubes and spirals he did not claim any ability to understand mathematics. His original fans were physicists and mathematicians.  In 1970 he moved into a retirement home for artists where he had his own studio. He died at the home in 1972 at age 73.

Art Style Optical Art  Art which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create vibrating effects, moiré patterns, foreground-background confusion, an exaggerated sense of depth, and other visual effects.

Art Terms Graphic Art  Is the art or the science of drawing, especially according to mathematical rules. Tessellation  A pattern made of identical shapes: . the shapes must fit together without any gaps . the shapes should not overlap  Examples of tessellation in the real world include honeycombs and pavement tiling’s. (show support photos) Visual Metamorphosis  A term used to indicate shape-shifting in art. It allows an artist to transform a shape representing one item into a similar shape representing something else.

Questions about Day and Night  Have you seen tessellations before? Where? (floor tiles, rugs, mosaics, quilts, honeycomb – show support photos)  Are the tessellations in this room?  Why do you think Escher titled this artwork Day and Night?  What parts of this print shows Visual Metamorphosis (shape shifting)? (bottom middle squares morph into birds)  What parts show Tessellation? (the birds, ground)  What else is unique about this print? (the day and night landscapes are mirror images of each other)  What kind of lines do you see in Day and Night?  What kind of shapes do you see?  What would you title the artwork?  Do you like it? Why or Why not?

Activity Making a Tessellation – Colored Pencils Supplies White drawing paper – 9” x 12” Colored Cardstock – 2” squares Pencils Colored pencils Black fine tip markers Scissors *Additional support materials – photo printouts

**Note to Art Guide** A template and sample tessellation as well as larger photo examples of steps 3 – 8 will be in the supply bin.

Directions 1. Hand out 2” squares (one per student) of tag board for the students to create their template and a piece of drawing paper. 2. Have students write their name and room # on the back of the paper. 3. To create their template have the students cut out a simple pattern along the top edge of the square. Do not remove the corner. (see photo 1) 4. Then, have the students cut out a pattern along the right side edge of the square. Do not remove the corner. (see photo 2) 5. Place the template in the bottom left corner of the drawing paper. Line up the 2 straight sides of the template with the edges of the paper. (see photo 3) 6. Then trace the outline of the template. 7. Moving it across the page horizontally, line up the left edge of the template with the right edge of the pattern just traced. (see photo 4) Do not trace along the un-cut sides of the template. 8. Repeat the tracing of the template (see photo 5) until the page is full so the end result looks like a puzzle. DO NOT ROTATE OR FLIP THE TEMPLATE 9. Outline all the shapes with a black marker. 10. Color the shapes with colored pencils using alternating complementary colors (or light and dark colors). 11. When the students are done have them title their artwork. Write the title on a label sticker and place it on the back of their work.

Corner points have not been changed Photo 1 Photo 2

Alignment of template Photo 3 Photo 4

Photo 5

*Additional Support Material 8 ½” x 11” printouts of these images will be available in the supply bin.

You can project the images on the pull down screen one of two ways: use the overhead projector and printouts in the supply bin or the teacher can bring up the images located on the school computer.

*Sky and Water 1 (1938) *Symmetry Watercolor 106 Bird

*Examples of tessellation in the real world.