Art Standard 1: Media

Students will understand, select, and apply media, techniques and processes.

K-12 Performance Standards
Educational experiences in Grades K-4 will ensure that students:
  • differentiate between a variety of media, techniques and processes;
  • describe how different media, techniques and processes cause different effects and personal responses;
  • use different media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, feelings, experiences and stories; and
  • use art media and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

 

Educational experiences in Grades 5-8 will ensure that students:
  • select media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, reflect on their choices and analyze what makes them effective;
  • improve the communication of their own ideas by effectively using the characteristics of a variety of traditional and contemporary art media, techniques and processes (two-dimensional and three-dimensional, including media/technology); and
  • use different media, techniques and processes (two-dimensional and three-dimensional, including media/technology) to communicate ideas, feelings, experiences and stories.

 

Educational experiences in Grades 9-12 will ensure that students:
  • select media, techniques and processes with sufficient skill, confidence and sensitivitiy that their intentions are understood;
  • conceive and create original works of art that demonstrate a connection between personal expression and the intentional use of art materials, techniques and processes; and
  • communicate ideas consistently at a high level of effectiveness in a least one visual arts medium.

 

Using the On-Line Learning Sites to Teach About Media, Techniques, and Processes

The Museum’s on-line learning sites can be used to expose your students to the types of choices about media, techniques, and processes that faced the artists who came to Old Lyme, Connecticut, during the summers to paint.

As your students will discover, the Lyme Art Colony was primarily comprised of painters who worked en plein air, or in the outdoors, to be close to their chosen subject matter of landscape. Their decision to abandon to comfort and convenience of their New York studios and to work under a variety of environmental circumstances outdoors required them to adopt the use of new materials (media) and working methods (techniques and processes). To paint outdoors these artists acquired collapsible easels, portable paint boxes outfitted with palettes, sealable containers for oil medium and solvents, and squeezable tubes of paint, sun umbrellas, and folding stools. The techniques and process the artists used also changed as they moved outdoors. Some of the Lyme Art Colony artists painted in the style known as Tonalism, using the range of tones (tints or shades) of a particular color such as brown, green, or gold to create evocative landscape scenes. Others Old Lyme artists painted in the style of American Impressionism and used bold strokes of bright colors often applied quickly to capture the fleeting light of a particular place and time of day. 

 

Using the On-Line Learning Sites to Learn About Media, Techniques, and Processes

There are several sections of The Fox Chase site where students can specifically investigate Media, Techniques, and Processes:

  • Go to School for Lyme for information regarding the working methods of the artists in both their studio and when working “en plein air”.

  • Go to Painting Tools for information regarding the tools and techniques of the artists who came to Old Lyme.

  • Go to Chadwick Studio for information about the artist studio located on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum.

  • Go to Tonalism for information regarding the style of painting most popular during the early years of the Lyme Art Colony.

  • Go to American Impressionism for information regarding the style of painting most popular during the later years (after 1903) of the Lyme Art Colony.

  • Go to Characteristics of American Impressionism for more specific information regarding this popular style of painting. 

 

There are several selections from the menu of Scholar Essays that specifically address Media, Techniques, and Processes:

  • Go to Lyme Art Colony for information regarding the development of the Lyme Art Colony and the artists’ interest in painting en plein air.

  • Go to CT Impressionism for information regarding the development of this style of painting in America and specifically in Connecticut.

 

Suggested Activities Relating to Media, Techniques, and Processes:

  • Go to Planning a Visit for information regarding a field trip to the Florence Griswold Museum.  Field trips include a hands-on component where students make their own painting using authentic art-making materials. 

  • Go to Art Goes to School for information regarding the Museum’s outreach program “En Plein Air:” Painting in the Tradition of the Connecticut Impressionists.