Marine Life Lobsters — Arts In Education

Marine Life Unit: Lobsters

The Farnsworth Art Museum is located in Rockland, Maine the home of the Maine Lobster Festival. Marine Life Unit: Lobsters explores the habitat, anatomy, and industry of lobsters. Students integrate scientific illustration and informative writing and create lobster sculptures and sensory poetry. As students learn more about the fishing industry, students will also consider issues of sustainability and learn about alternative industries that help support the environment and local economy.

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.

Lobster sculpture by 4th grade students in the Stories Program (2018)

Vocabulary:

Shape
Color
Composition
Texture
Scientific Illustration
Sculpture
Contrast

Curricular Connections:

Community
Anatomy
Marine Life / Crustaceans (Lobsters)
Lobster Industry / Economy
Environment / Conservation
Quantitative / Qualitative Research
Descriptive Writing / Informative Writing

Farnsworth Collection:

Notice these works of art in the Farnsworth collection to begin your exploration of marine life in New England.

Activity:

Notice: Notice works of art in the Farnsworth collection. What is the subject or main idea? What do you notice about color and composition?
Inquiry: What can we learn about marine life by looking at these works of art? What further questions do you have? Document your questions and ideas.
Create: Use paper color swatches to recreate a composition. How can you arrange the colors to help create dimension?

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?”

Activity:

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS FAM AE Student Mussel.jpg

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: Visit a local beach and document what you see, smell, hear, and feel. Select a specimen to study. Sketch the object and write down key information. Take a photograph of your specimen so that you may continue your work back in the classroom.
Create + Connect: Using your reference photo and information, add detail to your sketch. Include color, shading, and texture. Research the common and scientific name for your object. Document your findings.

Activity:

Notice: Study the anatomy or the parts of a lobster. Notice a specimen or a photograph of a specimen as source material for your scientific illustration. Label your drawings as you learn. Download the handout below to practice labeling the lobster anatomy, but be sure to base drawings on the specimen or photograph.

Lobster Handout

Create: Stories students made multiple drafts to practice learning lobster anatomy. After each draft, they set goals for themselves for what they wanted to accomplish in their next draft. They helped each other by viewing each other’s work and giving constructive critiques.
Create: After creating your final anatomical drawing of a lobster, you may choose to add color, practicing color mixing to get the desired colors. Stories students used watercolor pencils for their illustrations. Notice any textures and patterns on your specimen. Don’t forget to include the scientific name and common name of your specimen on your scientific illustration!

Activity:

Expedition: Connect with local scientists and fishing professionals to learn more about your local marine industries. Consider how alternative industries such as kelp farming may help support both the environment and the economy.

Students in the Stories program visit Herring Gut Learning Center to learn more about kelp farming.

Reflect + Connect: Following your expedition, review your research and ask further questions. What are you curious about?
Create: Practice your scientific illustration skills with illustrations of seaweed. Consider shape, color, and texture as you draw. If you are able to study specimens, document how it feels and smells.
Create: Create your own “kelp line” with tissue paper and diluted watercolor paint.

Explore the Sustainability Unit for more lessons and activities about marine life as it relates to the environment.

Activity:

Create: Build on your study of color theory and lobster anatomy to create a 3-D sculpture out of clay. Consider light and dark as you paint your sculpture. How can you create depth and reflection?
Reflect: Consider how your process changed as you shifted from a 2-dimensional drawing to a 3-dimensional sculpture. What did you learn?

Activity:

Create: Reflect on your scientific illustrations and develop a scaled model of a 3-dimensional lobster. Use recycled materials to create your sculpture.

Students use recycled newspaper and found objects in the classroom to create the base of their sculpture.

Exhibition:

Share student work! Highlight process work alongside final works of art. The Stories 2018 exhibition included individual and collaborative projects by 4th grade students.

Students share their process work in school during the Stories Program year.

Gallery of Student Work:

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.