Botany Unit
In the Botany Unit students explore elements of their natural environment with a focus on plant life. Students will examine local ecosystems during nature walks and practice their observation skills in the galleries. During our research, we examine specimens such as leaves, tree bark, seaweed, and other natural objects. Students integrate scientific illustration and informative writing as they create works of art and informative text.
Participants may also connect their study to local industries such as farming and learn how plants connect to our economy. How are plants used? Students can connect with local farmers to learn how to grow and harvest plants. They also may research sustainable farming practices and learn more about the history of agriculture.
Finally, students may wish to examine sustainability and the environment with a lens on botany. They may connect their plants to learning about pollination and the symbiotic relationships within their ecosystems.
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.
Vocabulary:
Shape
Color
Size + Scale
Composition
Texture
Scientific Illustration
Sculpture
Contrast
Curricular Connections:
Scientific Illustration / Anatomy
Insects + Arachnids
Environment / Conservation
Quantitative / Qualitative Research
Descriptive Writing / Informative Writing
Sensory Writing / Poetry
Measurements + Scale
Eliot Porter, Hawkweed in Meadow, Great Spruce Head Island, Maine 1968 from “In Wildness” Portfolio, 2017.18.3
Activity:
Notice: Notice works of art in the Farnsworth collection. What do you notice about color and composition? How does the artist achieve texture and detail?
Create: Focus on a particular area within the composition of a painting or photograph to sketch. Try to illustrate every detail. For example, illustrate every blade of grass and flower you see in a section of this photograph by Eliot Porter.
Reflect + Share: Share your sketch with a classmate. Can other students identify the precise section of the artwork you focused your attention on? Give and receive feedback on your drawings. How can you improve? What was successful?
Farnsworth Collection:
Notice works of art in the Farnsworth collection for inspiration!
Activity:
Create: Create a color wheel! Review primary and secondary colors and keep your wheel as an important reference throughout the project.
Reflect + Create: Consider how color can help create dimension. Draw a circle and practice creating dimension with highlighting and shading techniques. How can you make a “flat” object appear “round?”
Create: Continue to explore with color as you begin to illustrate more advanced objects!
Activity:
Create: Create your own scientific illustration journal. Use watercolor paper so that you may paint directly onto your journal as you learn. Card stock or a thicker weight paper for the cover will help provide a hard surface for documenting your work in the field.
Expedition: Go for a nature walk and document what plants you find. You may wish to bring a magnifying glass with you!
Students in the Stories Program visit a local nature preserve during an expeditionary field trip.
Interactive Film:
Create a sketch book with teaching artist Tara Morin!
Activity:
Stories students used their scientific illustrations of leaves to create leaf prints. Together they collaborated to create a large-scale tree collage.
Notice + Connect: Study the parts of a plant such as a tree leaf or the bark of a tree. Notice the specimen or a photograph of a specimen as source material for your scientific illustration and research.
Connect: After studying a similar specimen together, encourage your students to “adopt a plant” of their choice to learn about. What are common features? What differs? For example, consider size and scale. What is your plant’s natural habitat?
Create: Scientifically illustrate and identify your plant. Add details and research the scientific name and habitat. Create detailed or magnified drawings of specific areas of the plant or draw the whole object.
Create: Using recycled materials, create a 3-dimensional sculpture of your plant or use your drawings to create prints.
Studies of bark were matted in narrow rectangles to highlight student process work in the 2019 Stories exhibition.
Reflect on your expedition into the field as you illustrate. What details and sensory language can you include in your scientific illustrations?
Consider marine plants as you study a variety of eco-systems.
Gallery of Student Work:
Interactive Film:
Learn to paint trees with teaching artist Helene Farrar.
Activity:
Notice: Notice works of art that depict farmlands. How has the land changed over time? For example, what do you notice about the landscape of this work of art by Jonathan Fisher painted in 1824? Consider what impacts farming may have on a local ecosystem. How does farming support a local economy and settlement? How do these settlements impact the original stewards of the land, both historically and today?
Jonathan Fisher, A Morning View of Blue Hill Village, 1824, 1965.1465.134
Activity:
Expedition + Curricular Connections: Visit a local farm to learn more about farming. Interview a farmer and document your experience with sketches and photographs. Research more information back in the classroom.
Create: Create works of art that highlight the connection of plants and people. Stories students were inspired by a local apple orchard and created an apple tree display using a technique called “pointillism.”
Consider how small marks like “points” in pointillism can build to create depth and dimension in a composition. Notice this work of art by Childe Hassam for inspiration!
Childe Hassam, Union Square in Spring, 1900, 98.16.4
Stories students examine pumpkins to practice pointillism.
Gallery of Student Work:
Activity:
Reflect: Consider the symbiotic relationships of plants in their natural habitat. How do insects and arachnids impact your plant? What role does your plant play in pollination?
Bug sculptures by 7th grade students in the Stories Program
Symbiotic sculptures by 7th grade students in the Stories Program
Pollinators and Harvest sculptures by 4th grade students in the Stories Program
Scientific Illustrations sculptures by 4th and 7th grade students in the Stories and Units Programs
Pollinators are essential to our environment. Consider the symbiotic relationships of your insects to local habitats.
Explore the Symbiosis Unit and the Harvest Unit to make more connections to plants and pollinators.
Activity:
Create a coloring book with your scientific illustrations! Trace your lines and transfer them to a fresh sheet of paper to scan and make copies for others.
Stories students create an insect and arachnids coloring book! Click on the button to download.
Artist Highlight:
Explore the Woods + Water Unit to consider the connection of trees and water.
Share a photo of your art projects by emailing edassistant@farnsworthmuseum.org.
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.
Developed by:
Andrea Curtis, Museum Educator
Farnsworth Art Museum
Buffy Ludwick, Classroom Educator
Farnsworth Stories Program
Kelly Briggs, Teaching Artist
Farnsworth Art Museum
Coral Coombs, Classroom Educator
Farnsworth Stories Program
Tara Morin, Art Educator
Farnsworth Stories Program
Anna Muether, Classroom Educator
Farnsworth Stories Program
Karen Talbot, Teaching Artist
Farnsworth Art Museum
Contributor(s):
Jackie Cooper, Art Educator
Farnsworth Stories Program
Claire Horne, Education Project Assistant
Farnsworth Art Museum
Developed by Andrea L. Curtis, Farnsworth Art Museum, Arts in Education Program, 2021