Lesson 1 - LearningThroughMuseums

● Advance Preparation
• Prepare to display the reproduction of the painting The Last of New England—The Beginning
of New Mexico as well as reproductions of The Herring Net and Distant View of Niagara Falls
in the classroom for student viewing.
• Review the Background Information section of this lesson about The Last of New England—
The Beginning of New Mexico.
● Vocabulary
adjective
compare
contrast
environment
express
interpret
mood
Southwest
● Procedure
Part 1: Interpret
1. Ask students what they know about the western United States.
2. Then ask what they would put into a painting to show it.
3. Display The Last of New England—The Beginning of New Mexico. Ask students what they
notice first.
4. Ask students to identify what they think are important parts of the painting, such as the clouds
or hills, and discuss why the artist might have painted them the way he did.
5. Explain that the artist exaggerated lines and colors in order to express his feelings about the
landscape with the painting.
6. Ask how the painting makes them feel. Explain that a painting has a mood just as a story or
poem does and that the artist paints it in ways to emphasize that mood.
7. Have students make a “word picture” of the painting. Students should write adjectives and
nouns on small pieces of paper and then place them on a sheet of paper on which they construct
the painting with words such as “white,” “billowing,” and other adjectives that describe the
clouds, or “curved,” “brown,” “striped” and other words that describe the landform.
Part 2: Compare and Contrast
1. Explain that the artist painted this after he moved from the East of the United States to the
Southwest.
2. Next, ask what the environment in the Northeast is like. Display the two paintings from
Lesson 3 about the Northeast and have students identify specific characteristics of
the environment. Ask what the mood is of each of the paintings—and what the artists included
in order to express that mood. They can refer to specific details in the paintings or to the way
the artists used color, line, or any other artistic element.
52 • Lesson 3: People and Environments of the American West