Visual Arts Amanda Hawkins Avon Elementary School ECSD

Visual Arts Lesson: Exploring Art and Culture Through the Work of El Anatsui
Grade Level: 4-8 Infused Disciplines: Social Studies, History
CO 21
st
Century Skills
Critical Thinking and Reasoning, Information Literacy, Collaboration, Self-
Direction, Invention
CO Visual Arts
Standards
Standard 1: Observe and Learn to Comprehend
Standard 2: Envision and Critique to Reflect
Standard 4: Relate and Connect to Transfer
Evidence
Outcomes
Express an idea in multiple ways
Identify societal ideas found in art
Articulate the connection between personal responses and ideas that are
communicated in works of art
Skillfully use a variety of techniques and media to create works of art
Inquiry
Questions
Why does intended meaning matter?
Why is it important to express an idea without words?
What clues does an artist give in a work of art to communicate intent?
How does knowing about art inform an understanding of the world?
Enduring
Understandings
Students will be able to:
Discuss El Anatsuis artistic process
Explain how artworks can reflect a society or culture
Communicate what they think of American society
Create an artwork that reflects their ideas
Examples

Target Learnings and Assessment Criteria
Learning Target: I will recognize the work of El Anatsui understand his artistic process
Criteria for Success:
Observe, identify, and describe the elements of El Anatsuis artwork
Write a paragraph using the elements of art handout to write a detailed description of El Anatsuis
artistic process
Learning Target: I will collaborate with my classmates to create a detailed wall hanging to represent my
understanding of American culture and history
Criteria for Success: Plan, design, and assemble a presentation ready wall hanging
Notes: Presentation ready remind students that this means that your finished product demonstrates
excellent craftsmanship (free of wrinkles, tears, smudges, glue spots, sloppiness, etc.)

Visual Arts Amanda Hawkins Avon Elementary School ECSD
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Overview
The class will examine how the artist, El Anatsui, uses found items from his community to create artwork
both rooted in and representative of his community. Students will then work in small groups to create and
present pieces of artwork that represent their understanding of "American" culture and history, using
found items from the school and/or surrounding community.
Lesson:

1. Before the lesson, have students either bring in or gather from the cafeteria different recyclable
materials (e.g. metal and/or plastic pop bottle lids, small cardboard boxes, juice boxes/bags,
plastic ties from bread, twist ties, lunch bags, grocery bags, soda cans, large and small plastic
bottles, etc). Have one cardboard box per type of item to sort the objects. (Containers that held
liquids will be rinsed first in a bleach water solution and set to dry.)

2. Share the picture of El Anatsuis metal cloth, Rain Has No Father. Before beginning lesson, ask
students to write a brief paragraph describing their opinion about the artwork. Students will be
asked to write an opinion statement followed by at least three supporting reasons (reminding
students to refer to the elements of art posters on the wall). When students are done writing, invite
them to share their observations and opinions about the piece. Pass out the About the Art handout
on Rain Has No Father. Briefly talk about Anatsuis process and methods, and show the class a
metal bottle cap that has not been flattened. Explain that he uses found items like these and
transforms them into works of art.

3. Visit the webpage for El Anatsui at the National Museum of African Art
(http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/index.html) and read the descriptions of his artworks. Invite the
students to share what they notice about the materials El Anatsui uses in his work. Have a
discussion about how his artworks are rooted in and representative of not only his community, but
also the mixing of African and European histories. Share with them a quote from El Anatsuis artist
statement: "To me, the bottle tops encapsulate the essence of the alcoholic drinks which were
brought to Africa by Europeans as trade items at the time of the earliest contact between the two
peoples."

4. Watch at least one of the videos from art21.org beginning with El Anatsui: Studio Process. Find
these videos here: http://www.art21.org/artists/el-anatsui/videos

5. Invite the class to reflect upon their understanding and perceptions of American culture and
history, keeping in mind the materials they have been collecting for todays lesson. What comes to
mind? What themes, events, cultural traditions, or issues exist in American history? How might
you use the materials we collected to represent that?

6. Tell the class they are going to work in groups of 3-4 to create an artwork that represents their
understanding of American culture and history using the objects they have found and collected
from their homes and community. Let them know they will be expected to prepare a statement on
their section of the wall hanging to present to the school alongside their finished installation.

7. Groups will be given time to brainstorm, complete their planning sheet, and design their pieces.
Teacher will circulate and help students through the thinking and collaboration process.

8. At the end of the session, give the students a few minutes to write up a description/explanation of
how their piece represents their understanding of American history and culture, keeping in mind
the descriptions they read at the beginning of the lesson about El Anatsuis pieces.

9. At the beginning of the third class period, each group will bring their completed section to the
Visual Arts Amanda Hawkins Avon Elementary School ECSD
center of the classroom and as a class determine how to assemble the final piece. Students will
help teacher hang the final artwork in the main hallway.

Vocabulary

Resources:
Historical Art or Artist
Visual Art: Elements of Art
(see handout), kente cloth,

Other: Culture,

Art21.org El Anatsui Videos:
http://www.art21.org/artists/el-anatsui/videos

National Museum of African Art
http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/artworks.html

About the Art sheet on Rain Has No Father?
http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org/wp-
content/uploads/2009/12/ElAnatsui_ECE.pdf

Elements of Art Handout Getty Museum
https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/elements_art.pdf
Materials
Twist-off metal bottle cap like those used by Anatsui for illustration
Found/recycled objects that students gather
Cardboard boxes for sorting found/recycled objects
Cardboard trays as a base for artwork
Scissors, twist ties, string, hole punch, hammer, metal cutter, etc.
About the Art sheet on Rain Has No Father?
Color copies of the image for students to share
Communication:
Write brief note or means of
communication about student arts
learning.






About the Art
Rain Has No Father? by El Anatsui, Ghana, 2008
Who Made It?
El Anatsui [ah-nat-SOO-ee] was born 1944 in Anyako, Ghanathe youngest, he says, of his fathers 32 children. His
mother died when he was quite young, and he was raised by an uncle in a Presbyterian mission. As was common in
pre-Independent Ghana, school curriculum, and art school curriculum in particular, were almost entirely Western.
Anatsui says this left him feeling restless and rootless and he began looking for something that had more relationship
to me, as someone growing up in an African country.
Anatsui is known for creating art out of found materials such as driftwood, clay, paper, and liquor-bottle tops. He draws
on a combination of African aesthetic traditions as well as Western Art history. Plans for this specific work began
sometime in 2006, when Curator of Native Arts Nancy Blomberg, along with then Curator of African Art Moyo Okediji,
commissioned El Anatsui to create something specifically for the Denver Art Museum. To create his metal cloths,
Anatsui enlists the help of skilled assistants who work with him in his studio cutting, flattening, and shaping metal liquor
bottle tops into design blocks conceived by the artist. Anatsui carefully arranges the different elements on the floor of
his studio and, once he is satisfied with the design, his assistants use copper wire to stitch the individual pieces
together. Anatsui acknowledges the input of his assistants, noting that the variety which is needed at this scale comes
from the style and the feel of each individual hand.
Anatsui is currently a Professor of Sculpture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he has lectured since 1975.
His work appears in numerous international and American art museums, including The British Museum in London, Le
Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
What Inspired It?
Art grows out of each particular situation and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their
environment throws up.
While out one day, Anatsui came across a bag of liquor bottle tops that were sitting in a bush. He took them back to his
studio thinking that he might be able to use them at some point. I kept the bottle caps in the studio for several months
until the idea eventually came to me that by stitching them together I could get them to articulate some statement,
says Anatsui. As the metal pieces were stitched together, he noticed that his artworks began to resemble fabric cloths.
Incidentally too, the colours of the caps seemed to replicate those of traditional kente cloths (a West African weaving
tradition).
While it would be easy to suggest that Anatsui is recycling materials in his artworks, he doesnt see it that way. Rather,
he describes his use of found materials as a transformation of those materials. For Anatsui, the inclusion of bottle
caps suggests a link between European and African histories: To me, the bottle tops encapsulate the essence of the
alcoholic drinks which were brought to Africa by Europeans as trade items at the time of the earliest contact between
the two peoples.
When creating Rain Has No Father?, El Anatsui was inspired by the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. The silver cloth
is perforated with slashing vertical elements symbolizing the rain which gives way to life forms. The three multicolored
blocks spread across the top are formed from hundreds of pieces of metal carefully made into tiny open squares
perhaps suggesting clouds holding masses of rain droplets about to be released.
For more resources related to this artwork, check out the "Find Out More" section for this object on Creativity
Resource online.
Presented by creativity.denverartmuseum.org
Things to Look For
Rain Has No Father? by El Anatsui, Ghana, 2008
Bottle Caps
Each bottle top, once flattened, is about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. Gina Laurin, DAM
conservator, who worked on repairing the artwork before it was hung, estimates that 9,000 bottle
tops were used to make this particular piece. Given the number of artworks Anatsui has created in
the last several years, it is currently hard to find used tops. He now goes straight to the distillery to
acquire the bottle caps, making newer shinier works.
Copper Wire
Anatsui uses copper wire to hold each piece of aluminum in place. The process of stitching,
especially the repetitive aspect, slows down action and I believe makes thinking deeper, says
Anatsui. Its like the effect of a good mantra on the mind.
Folds
The folds are created in the act of hanging the piece. Anatsui prefers museums to install the metal
cloths and create folds. Rain Has no Father? arrived at the museum folded up inside a box.
Curator Nancy Blomberg began experimenting with small prototypesdigital images on canvas, 8
! x 11 inchesto figure out how the piece would be hung in the gallery. While this was helpful, it
was during installation that final decisions on how to best display the work of art were made. The
curatorial, installation, and conservation staffs helped to devise a system of pulleys that allowed
the DAM to hang the piece safely, as well as manipulate it to create the necessary folds.
Installation crews spent a day hanging the work.
Shadow
The surface of this piece is not solid. Light passes through, creating a shadow on the back wall.
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169
Performing Arts in ART
2011 J. Paul Getty Trust
Elements of Art
The elements of art are the building blocks used by artists to create a work of art.
Line is a mark with greater length than width. Lines can be horizontal, vertical,
or diagonal; straight or curved; thick or thin.
Shape is a closed line. Shapes can be geometric, like squares and circles; or
organic, like free-form or natural shapes. Shapes are at and can express length
and width.
Forms are three-dimensional shapes expressing length, width, and depth. Balls,
cylinders, boxes, and pyramids are forms.
Space is the area between and around objects. The space around objects is of-
ten called negative space; negative space has shape. Space can also refer to the
feeling of depth. Real space is three-dimensional; in visual art, when we create
the feeling or illusion of depth, we call it space.
Color is light reected off of objects. Color has three main characteristics: hue
(the name of the color, such as red, green, blue, etc.), value (how light or dark it
is), and intensity (how bright or dull it is).
White is pure light; black is the absence of light.
Primary colors are the only true colors (red, blue, and yellow). All other
colors are mixes of primary colors.
Secondary colors are two primary colors mixed together (green, orange,
violet).
Intermediate colors, sometimes called tertiary colors, are made by mixing
a primary and secondary color together. Some examples of intermediate
colors are yellow green, blue green, and blue violet.
Complementary colors are located directly across from each other on the
color wheel (an arrangement of colors along a circular diagram to show
how they are related to one another). Complementary pairs contrast
because they share no common colors. For example, red and green are
complements, because green is made of blue and yellow. When comple-
mentary colors are mixed together, they neutralize each other to make
brown.
Texture is the surface quality that can be seen and felt. Textures can be rough or
smooth, soft or hard. Textures do not always feel the way they look; for exam-
ple, a drawing of a porcupine may look prickly, but if you touch the drawing, the
paper is still smooth.
What is your opinion about El Anatsuis wall hanging, Rain Has No Father? Write a paragraph beginning with
an opinion statement followed by at least three reasons to support your opinion. Refer to the Elements of Art
posters on the wall to help develop your vocabulary.
Did learning more about El Anatsui and his artwork change your opinion about this work of art?
Why or why not?
What is your opinion about El Anatsuis wall hanging, Rain Has No Father? Write a paragraph beginning with
an opinion statement followed by at least three reasons to support your opinion. Refer to the Elements of Art
posters on the wall to help develop your vocabulary.
Did learning more about El Anatsui and his artwork change your opinion about this work of art?
Why or why not?
4th Grade El Anatsui Planning Sheet (one sheet per group)
Names of group members:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Material we are using (i.e. shiny cardboard, plastic, metal, etc):
Colors/theme (i.e. warm colors, cool colors, blue and white, milk cartons, cereal boxes, etc):
Tools that we will need:
Draw a picture of the shape(s)/design that you plan to use in creating your section:
4th Grade El Anatsui Planning Sheet (one sheet per group)
Names of group members:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Material we are using (i.e. shiny cardboard, plastic, metal, etc):
Colors/theme (i.e. warm colors, cool colors, blue and white, milk cartons, cereal boxes, etc):
Tools that we will need:
Draw a picture of the shape(s)/design that you plan to use in creating your section: