Detailed Dioramas: Pictures of Hollis Woods - Hallmark

Detailed Dioramas: Pictures of Hollis Woods
Objectives
Students demonstrate their understanding of the relationships
between graphic art and written text by working cooperatively in
small groups to create detailed dioramas that show how Patricia
Reilly Giff integrated characters and setting to develop a theme in
Pictures of Hollis Woods.
Students demonstrate the ability to draw meaningful conclusions
about the connections between literature and life through discussions
with other readers.
Students (5-6) use elements of the writing process to describe and
interpret a meaningful event from their own lives.
Visual Arts Standard #6
Making connections between visual
arts and other disciplines
Background Information
Many folk artists draw inspiration from personal memories,
painting scenes from their own lives in great detail. Grandma
Moses (actually Anna Mary Robertson Moses 1860-1961) was
one such artist. Her detailed paintings, such as Sugaring Off
and Apple Pickers, recall bucolic New England activities. She
was “discovered” when well into her seventies by an art
collector who saw several of her paintings hanging in a
drugstore window in Hoosic Falls, New York, in 1939. The
Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, houses a large
collection of her work.
In contrast to the personal scenes painted by Grandma
Moses, Faith Ringgold painted from the collective memory
of her African American roots. "Tar Beach," a painted story
quilt, is on exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum in New York. It is
also the basis for a children’s picture book by the same name
which was published in 1991.
Another art form artists use to preserve memories is the
diorama. This is a life-like scene in which sculptures are set
against a decorated background inside a box or concave shell.
Some people liken them to set designs for the theater. While
most dioramas are miniature, some are life size such as the
well-known animal dioramas at the Museum of Natural History
in New York and the vibrant street scenes by American pop
artist, Red Grooms.
2
My Family
Alison L., age 11
Detailed Dioramas: Pictures of Hollis Woods
National Standards
Multiple Intelligences
Bodily-kinesthetic Linguistic
Interpersonal Spatial
Intrapersonal
Linguistic
Spatial
Grades 3-6
Language Arts Standard #2
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an
understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human
experience.
Language Arts Standard #11
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety
of literacy communities.
Grades 5-6
Language Arts Standard #5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process
elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
Resources
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson
Eleven-year-old, “tough as nails” foster child, Gilly Hopkins,
meets her match with foster mother Maime Trotter. In the
process she gains an understanding of herself as well as of the
very human characters who surround her.
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
The vibrant illustrations in this picture book are based on
images in a story quilt by the artist. They depict detailed scenes
from the life of a fictional Depression-era child enjoying family
times on the roof (tar beach) of her New York City apartment.
The Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
A warm-hearted story about 12-year-old Hollis, who is a talented
artist in search of a family. Themes include creativity,
diversity, acceptance of individual differences, aging, character
development, the foster care system, and emotional maturity.
The Year With Grandma Moses by W. Nikola-Lisa
Elementary school students are fascinated by the details of
everyday life in these full-color reproductions of paintings
by the artist known as Grandma Moses. Also included is a
photograph of the artist at work and excerpts from her
memoirs detailing the routines, pleasures, and disappointments
of her life.
Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of
the American Museum of Natural History by Stephen
Christopher Quinn
Written by a member of the American Museum of Natural
History’s curatorial staff, this book introduces readers to more
than 40 of the museum’s dioramas and offers a detailed look at
how they were created. Intriguing for all ages.
Building fun and creativity into standards-based learning