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Home , Petroglyph

Masterpiece: Black Bull at the

Pronunciation: (Lass-Kough) Keywords: Art, , art: The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or : An image that is carved or chipped into the using another stone or other , or may be painted on a rock using hand-made paints and brush . Grade: 1st Grade Activity: Prehistoric Drawing

Background of the Lascaux Caves in France: (5 min) In 1940, a cave was accidentally found by children and their dog. The children were playing fetch with the dog. The ball they were throwing was accidentally thrown into a complex under- ground cave. Looking for the ball in this cave, they found wonderful cave paintings on the walls. These walls had drawings of animals, people, and handprints on them. People believe this is the beginning of art since some of these caves that have been found are almost 20,000 years old. Scientists believe that the handprints were their signatures.

Who were these first artists? Cavemen lived some 20,000 years ago. By the light of oil lamps, prehistoric artists drew wild animals that they hoped to capture. Using charcoal, they traced the outlines of bison and mammoths on the cave walls. For paint the cavemen ground lumps of earth into colored powder. They would then spread this powder with leaves or they would use wads of fur for a paintbrush. They would sometimes “sign” their art by including their hand- prints.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 6/26/13 Discussion: (10 min) · What do you see in this painting? · What is art? Briefly introduce the basics: · Color – three colors: red, yellow and blue are mixed to make all the other colors of the rainbow. · Composition – this is how an artist arranges the people or objects in their picture. · Shape - An artist uses all types of lines to make shapes such as circles and squares. · Line – an artist uses different shapes and lines to make us want to look at their picture. · Texture – an artist can make us see how something feels to touch by using differ- ent lines and patterns in their picture. · Why would people draw thousands of years ago? (story telling, hunting, war) · What did the cavemen draw on? · How would you describe the surface of the cave wall? How would it feel? Texture. · What did they draw with? (fur, leaves, sticks) · What colors do you think the cave artists used? (black, brown, gray, yellow, red, or- ange-earth colors) · How do you think they made paint? (ground earth, rocks, minerals into powder and mixed with water to form a paint.

Activity: Prehistoric Cave Drawing

Supplies needed: Brown paper grocery bags 12 x 17 black construction paper for mounting oil pastels colored chalk unscented aerosol hairspray (as a fixative for the chalk) glue (6-8 bottles) White tempera paint 4 paint brushes (foam) Parent letter Petroglyph Symbol page.

Advance Prep: Cut brown paper grocery bags into 8 sections (use all but the bottom). To cut —Use the paper cutter to cut the sack in half down the center vertically. Cut out the bottom panel on each half and open the remaining sack. You should now have two pieces roughly 14” x 18”. Cut this into quarters to make 4 pieces roughly 7 x 9” from each half sack (for a total of 8 per bag). You will need one 7 x 9” (give or take an inch ) piece of grocery sack for each student. Copy and cut parent letter. Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 6/26/13 Mini Lesson: (5 min) Distribute the copies of the petroglyph images and discuss how you can create a story out of these symbols. Have the kids practice sketching some of the petroglyphs they are interested in incorporating into their cave drawing on a scratch piece of paper. They should also practice drawing a bull. Demonstrate how it can be constructed from an oval for a body with a round head, then add the remaining pieces of the bull (horns, legs, tail, etc.)

Process: (30-40 min)  Cover desks with newspaper and give each child a piece of the brown paper bag. • Have the kids rumple it up and smooth it out again. This is their “cave wall” !! • Students can lightly rub a black or brown chalk over the paper to make more “rock-like”. Edges can also be distressed. • Starting with dark oil pastels (black or brown), have students draw the body of an animal. An oval is perfect (jelly bean shape). Have them add a neck, head, legs, horns, tail, etc. Remind them to be gentle with oil pastels, since they are expensive and materials that real artists use. • Then they can color in the animal with chalk. These colors should be less intense than the black and brown oil pastels. • Students can think of a story for their animal and add other petroglyph symbols to por- tray their story. • Have the kids bring their finished chalk drawings to a “finishing station.” Here you will mount their work and help them with their handprint. Mount parent letter to the back of the black mounting paper. Mount finished chalk drawings onto the far left hand side of the black construction paper leaving just a 1” border on the left side. • On the right side of the black paper, have the kids paint their palms (with assistance) with the white paint. They want just a thin layer as they will be putting their hand print on their paper to “sign” their cave drawing like the artists in prehistoric times. Help them gently press their hand down on the blank black paper to the right of their cave drawing. • Sign their masterpiece then spray outside with fixative (hairspray) to set the chalk.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 6/26/13