JANUARY/ FEBRUARY TEACHING 2021 VOL. 51 NO. 4 Guide ISSN 1060-832X Dear Teacher, Have you flipped through this issue of Scholastic Art yet? If you have, you might have noticed that my colleague Amanda DeNatale and I make a cameo on page 9. I was hesitant to include this photo, but the rest of my team convinced me. They argued that Yayoi Kusama’s work is about the emotional experience—joy, wonder, and beauty. The photo we’ve included perfectly represents the excitement Amanda and I experienced when we visited an exhibition of Kusama’s work in 2017. It’s hard to explain what it feels like when the door closes behind you as you enter an Infinity Room, but the word that comes to my mind first is magic. Kusama explores serious and thought-provoking ideas in her work. But she manages to do so in a way that appeals to the sense of childlike wonder in all of us. And unlike many artists, Kusama gives viewers permission to just have fun. I hope you and your students enjoy this issue. It certainly was fun to work on it! I can’t wait to hear what you think. Please feel free to reach out with your feedback. Best wishes, Katie Brickner, Editor Poster: Poster: All the Eternal “ the lake, ‘can Love I Have for you see me?’” the Pumpkins, 2016, Crystal Liu 2016, Yayoi Kusama ABOUT THIS WORK: This work is one of Yayoi Kusama’s ABOUT THIS WORK: Crystal Liu takes inspiration from Infinity Rooms. The room features several of Kusama’s nature, exploring mountains, trees, and the moon for her notable themes, including polka-dot patterns, pumpkins, artworks. She then creates an emotional narrative, telling and mirrors infinitely reflecting. Viewers enter the room a story using patterns made up of dots, lines, or marbling. individually and remain for a limited time period. During In this work, Liu presents repeated dots in varying sizes their allotted times, viewers experience a fully immersive that form shapes resembling clouds or the surface of interaction with the artwork. water. Floral patterns also stand out against a brilliant blue background. DISCUSSION: How does Kusama work with pattern in this Infinity Room? (Answers will vary but should refer to DISCUSSION: How does Liu work with pattern in her use of polka dots, pumpkins, and mirrors.) this composition? (Answers will vary but should refer to the way she uses pattern to create the various shapes Compare this work to the Infinity Rooms featured on in the scene.) pages 5 and 9. What do you notice? (Answers will vary but should refer to the images and text from the magazine. Compare this work with “the moon and the tides, ‘a Students might discuss the way Kusama creates variation rocky start,’” page 11. What do you notice? (Answers in her work through lighting and the sculptures she will vary but should refer to the images and text from the ©2021 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. All rights Scholastic Inc. ©2021 by includes in her Infinity Rooms.) article on pages 10-11.) 1 TEACHER’S GUIDE (SECONDARY) • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2021 VOL. 51 NO. 4 ISSN 1060-832X Lesson Plan 1: Princess of Polka Dots Use with pages 4-5 Lexile: 920L PREPARATION: Print copies of the “Graphic Organizer: Working With Pattern” skills sheet. Core Art Standards: • VA1: Generate and PROCEDURE: conceptualize artistic 1. As a class, read “Princess of Polka Dots.” ideas and work. 2. Invite students to look at each featured artwork closely. Ask: How and why does VA3: Refine and complete Yayoi Kusama work with pattern in these artworks? (Kusama paints repeating net artistic work. patterns and dots to help take control of her hallucinations. She creates Infinity VA11: Relate artistic ideas Rooms—inspired by earlier Happenings—that feature repeating patterns and and works with societal, shapes along with mirrors that reflect viewers endlessly.) cultural, and historical 3. Read aloud the quote on page 5: “Our Earth is only one polka dot among a context to deepen million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” Ask: How does this understanding. quotation relate to Kusama’s art? (Answers will vary but should touch on how the CCSS Anchor Standards: artist uses polka dots frequently in her explorations of infinity.) R2: Determine central themes 4. As you discuss Kusama’s work in relation to her mental health, be sensitive to and summarize. students and their own situations. Make sure to show the resources related to R3: Analyze ideas and mental health provided on page 5 to any student who might benefit from them. sequence events. Remind students that if they are struggling, they should always reach out to a R7: Integrate and evaluate trusted adult. content in diverse media. 5. Have students record their findings in their “Graphic Organizer: Working With Pattern” skills sheets. Objective: Students will learn about Yayoi Kusama’s life and DISCUSSION: work. • What is a hallucination? How does Kusama cope with her hallucinations? Essential Question: What (A hallucination occurs when a person sees or hears something that isn’t really conditions, attitudes, and there. When Kusama hallucinates, she sees “flashes of light, auras, or dense behaviors support creativity fields of dots.” She manages these experiences by representing them in her art.) and innovative thinking? • How do the artworks on pages 4-5 relate to events in Kusama’s life? (Answers will vary but should mention that Kusama’s net and polka-dot patterns Enduring Understanding: originate from the “self-obliteration” process related to her hallucinations.) Creativity and innovative Compare Kusama’s 1965 installation with her later Infinity Room, both thinking are essential life • shown on page 5. What do you notice? (Answers will vary but should mention skills that can be developed. the use of mirrors, pattern, repetition, and the representation of infinity.) Vocabulary: artistic process, Happenings, interior, patterns, REMOTE LEARNING: Performance Art, reflecting, • Write a few sentences or a short paragraph describing how Kusama uses art to repetition, space, suspends overcome her personal challenges. How does she turn obstacles into inspiration? How do patterns relate to this inspiration? Materials: computer or Create a sketch of an Infinity Room, or, if possible, build a model using found interactive whiteboard, • materials. How will you represent infinity? What patterns will you use? How will “Graphic Organizer: Working viewers experience your work? With Pattern” skills sheet, available at ASSESSMENT: scholastic.com/art. • Write the Essential Question on the board. What conditions, attitudes, and ©2021 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. All rights Scholastic Inc. ©2021 by behaviors support Kusama’s creativity and innovative thinking? 2 TEACHER’S GUIDE (SECONDARY) • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2021 VOL. 51 NO. 4 ISSN 1060-832X Lesson Plan 2: Playing With Pattern Use with pages 6-7 Lexile: 960L PREPARATION: Review students’ notes from their “Graphic Organizer: Working With Pattern” Core Art Standards: • skills sheets. VA2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. PROCEDURE: VA5: Develop and refine 1. Invite students to take turns reading each section aloud. artistic techniques and 2. Encourage students to describe what they see as they observe each artwork. work for presentation. Ask: How does Yayoi Kusama work with pattern? (Kusama uses analogous colors, VA8: Interpret intent and bright and muted hues, and a series of semicircles in her painting Nets; she uses meaning in artistic work. both nets and dots to add dimension and shape to her painting of a pumpkin; she CCSS Anchor Standards: uses the scale of the dots strategically in her monumental sculpture.) R1: Make inferences and cite 3. Have students record their findings in their “Graphic Organizer: Working With textual evidence. Pattern” skills sheets. R4: Interpret words and phrases. DISCUSSION: W2: Write informative/ • What similar techniques does Kusama use in her two paintings? (Both explanatory texts. paintings feature a net pattern and highlights and shadows that add dimension.) How does Kusama create a sense of form in both the two-dimensional and Objective: Students will • three-dimensional representations of pumpkins? (Kusama plays with the analyze Kusama’s use of scale of the polka-dot patterns, emphasizing the pumpkins’ shapes.) pattern in three artworks. • Compare these works with those on pages 4-5. What do you notice? Essential Question: How (Answers will vary but should refer to the images and text.) does knowing and using visual art vocabularies help REMOTE LEARNING: us understand and interpret • Create an artwork featuring a vegetable. How will you portray the subject? How works of art? can you incorporate pattern into the composition? Create a painting or drawing that contains a net pattern. What colors will you Enduring Understanding: • use? How will you use the net pattern within your artwork? People gain insights into Write a few sentences or a short paragraph about Kusama’s portrayal of meanings of artworks by • pumpkins. Why does the pumpkin appeal to her as a subject? How does she engaging in the process of art portray them? criticism. Vocabulary: abstract, ASSESSMENT: analogous colors, contours, • Have students complete the “Write About Art” box on page 7. emphasizes, flat, highlights, hues, illusion, monumental, WRITE ABOUT ART motif, scale, shadows, three- dimensional, vertical Student writes a well-constructed, detailed paragraph describing how Kusama uses 4 pattern in one of the works shown on pages 6-7. Materials: computer or Student writes a paragraph describing how Kusama uses pattern in one of the interactive whiteboard, 3 works shown on pages 6-7. “Graphic Organizer: Working Student struggles to write a paragraph describing how Kusama uses pattern in one With Pattern” skills sheets 2 of the works shown on pages 6-7.