Lighthouse Unit

Stories of the Land and Its People student exhibition, 2019 — *Stories of the Land and Its People* student exhibition, 2019

Students explore Maine lighthouses, local history, and maritime stories in this arts-integrated unit. Journey to local lighthouses or research online to learn more about the important roles of these structures, past and present.

This unit is inspired by the work of students, educators, museum educators, and teaching artists in the Stories of the Land and Its People program.

Curricular Connections:

History / Marine History + Industry
Creative Writing + Sensory Writing
Historical Fiction
Story Elements: Beginning, Middle + End
Story Elements: Plot, Setting + Characters
Measurement + Scale
Movement

Vocabulary:

Composition
Subject
Vantage Point
Foreground / Middle-ground / Background
Line + Form
Contrast
Paper-cutting
Texture
Ink

Activity:

Stories students recreate the story of “Spot the Lighthouse Dog,” a local sea tale in which a heroic dog named Spot saves the mailboat in a winter storm. Students created a lighthouse “cranky,” performed the story in a film, wrote a children’s book, and composed their own sea shanty. — *Stories* students recreate the story of “Spot the Lighthouse Dog,” a local sea tale in which a heroic dog named Spot saves the mailboat in a winter storm. Students created a lighthouse “cranky,” performed the story in a film, wrote a children’s book, and composed their own sea shanty.

Expedition + Create: Visit or research different important lighthouses in your region. Sketch or take photographs to document your work.
Curricular Connections: Connect with local historians and and fishing professionals to learn local maritime stories.
Create + Curricular Connections: Illustrate a storyboard and write a script to accompany a local maritime story. How can you tell a story with just pictures? How does it change the story to create a book with text? How could you include sound?
Create: Inspired by your storyboard, illustrate a maritime story on canvas with ink. Practice using different movements, objects, and applications of the ink prior to applying to your final canvas. How can you illustrate water? Try different methods such a putting diluted ink in a spray bottle to create ocean spray. Or use a dry sponge to apply concentrated ink to create a rocky coastline. What textures can you create? Examine how dark detail may be used in the foreground, while diluted ink may be softly used in the background to create depth. Once you have practiced on sample material, collaborate with others to curate your final composition.
Exhibition: Hang your canvas on a wall or create a “crankie” that can repeat the story over and over again. Share your stories on an exhibition label, create your own book, or record a dramatic reading of your work.

Gallery of Student Work:

Artist Highlight:

This Stories project was inspired by Annie Bailey’s moving panorama (or “crankie”) project that was featured in the Main Street windows of the Farnsworth. Entitled “Abbie Burgess, Lighthouse Heroine,” this artwork tells the story of famed lighthouse keeper Abbie Burgess. The artist worked directly with Stories students to help them create their own ink panorama illustrating the story, “Spot the Lighthouse Dog”.

Activity:

Expedition + Create: Visit or research different important lighthouses in your region. Sketch or take photographs to document your work.
Curricular Connections: Connect with local historians and research the time period in which the lighthouses were built. Consider how they are being used today and how things have changed over time.
Create + Curricular Connections: Use your own photos or reference photos to create scaled drawings of your lighthouse.
Create: Consider positive + negative space. When creating a silhouette, it is important to identify what will be cut away. Using paper-cutting techniques, cut out a silhouette of your structure. It may be helpful to trace your drawing first so that you may practice several times.
Exhibition: Layer your cut-outs into a box to create a tunnel or 3-dimensional effect. It is helpful to paint your background a contrasting color. Share your research on exhibition labels or create your own book.

Gallery of Student Work:

Farnsworth Collection:

Notice these works of art in the Farnsworth collection for inspiration!

Activity:

Film: Create a tunnel book with teaching artist Tara Morin!

Activity:

Elements from the lighthouse landscape drawings by Stories students were scaled to be much larger so that the shapes could be cut out of wood to make this room-scale display for the Stories student exhibition in 2019. — Elements from the lighthouse landscape drawings by *Stories* students were scaled to be much larger so that the shapes could be cut out of wood to make this room-scale display for the *Stories* student exhibition in 2019.

Create + Curricular Connections: Explore scaling shapes in your drawing to make them smaller or larger. How much smaller is your lighthouse drawing compared to the real lighthouse?
Create: Consider using the silhouette shapes of your drawing to make a sculpture of a different size. Experiment with layering the objects to give them depth.

Stories of the Land and Its People

The Stories of the Land and Its People program encourages student participants to learn about people and places in their community. For more student project examples, visit our Student Exhibitions page.