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Self-guiding in the Galleries
Pre-During-Post Visit Resources
Power of Place

Grade Level: Grades 6-12

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During your visit
click here for printable version

Things You Don't Want to Miss
Discussion Questions
Activities
Go to Power of Place Gallery Page

Before and After Your Visit
click here for printable version

Important Terms and Concepts
Activities
Print and Web Resources

Things You Don't Want to Miss

	View of Lower Falls, Bash Bish, Stereoview photograph, 19th century. This stereoview photograph were done in the mid-1800's, when this was popular form of entertainment. This kind of "arm chair" travel offered people the ability to see places they might not otherwise get to experience. Remember, these were done long before we had the Travel Channel! The photographs were viewed through stereopticons, which were akin to contemporary Viewmasters.
	West View of E. William' Esq., Richmond Depot, by Jerusha Porter Williams. This painting/drawing was done by an eighteen year old girl in 1857. What does it tell you about life in Richmond, MA at that time? What would you be doing if you were a boy or girl living there at that time-or if you were a farmer, a railroad engineer, or a lawyer? How do you image the scene to look now?
	Fall in New England, by Jeremy Hobbs, 2005. Inspired by 19th century American landscape painters of the Hudson River School, Jeremy Hobbs reinterprets the art of making landscapes by using contemporary technology to create images that emphasize the grandeur of the New England landscape. Look closely at this photograph. What is unusual about it? Do you think you can actually find this view somewhere in Berkshire County? What do you think the artist has done to get this affect? Are all photographs true to life, documenting a real moment in time?

Discussion Questions

Here are some questions for teachers, chaperones and students to think about while visiting the exhibit.

• Which paintings in the exhibition seem more "real" and why? How would you distinguish between what is "realistic" and what is the artist's interpretation?
  
  
• Which photographs in the exhibition seem more real? Why? What techniques might contemporary artists use to make photographs today? How might they be working differently than photographers 100 years ago? Do all photographs tell true stories?
  
  
• How do formal elements, such as color, shape, composition (the placement of all of the parts of the image, or the overall arrangement of the design), and scale (the relative size of things within an image), inform us of the artist's point of view?
  
  
• How would you imagine the Berkshire Landscape to look in 100 years, 1000 years, or in the year 5000? How will changes in the environment affect the people who live there?
  
  
• Can you connect any of these images to your own lives? Have you visited any of these places? How does the artwork compare to the actual landscape?

Activities to Do in Power of Place

Note: In addition to the following activities, the Berkshire Museum has created a Family Guide for the Exhibition Power of Place. Supplies are limited. To insure your group has enough copies of the guide, print out the guide and make copies to bring with you. Click here to view and print the guide.

Some of these activities will require time for up-close, direct observation of artwork, which may difficult for a large group of students to complete at once. You may want to have more than one activity available for your students to complete in smaller groups.

Memorable Landscapes

All of the paintings and photographs in Power of Place depict Berkshire County. Find views you recognize and names of places you have been or have heard of. Make a list of the artworks that are of these familiar places. (Teachers might provide students with an index card to make their lists and later compare them back in class.)

The Poetic Berkshires

Many people living or visiting Berkshire County were inspired by the natural beauty of the Berkshires. Pick one of the paintings and pretend your were writing a poem that was inspired by the picture. What would your poem be about? What would you title your poem? Click here for worksheet.

19th Century Life

In the third gallery find the Richmond Depot drawing by Jerusha Porter Williams. Jerusha was eighteen years old when she made this artwork in 1857. Imagine what it would have been like to be a young boy or girl in the nineteenth century living in this town. Using the 19th Century Life Worksheet answer some questions about what you think life would have been like in the 1800's.

21st Century Photography

Find the two photographs by Gregory Crewdson in the third gallery. What is your reaction when you first look at these photographs? What do you think the artist is trying to say? Do you think these photos document real events? Pretend one of these photographs is a scene from a movie. Imagine what this movie would be about. What is the title? Who is the main character? What is the setting? Click here for worksheet.

Word Match

Before visiting the Museum, have students look up and define the words on the Word Match List. When your class visits the Power of Place exhibition, have your students walk through the gallery and check words that the paintings and photographs evoke for them. Ask them to write the name of the painting and give a one or two sentence explanation of how the word fits the painting.

Important Terms and Concepts

You may want to familiarize your students with the following terms before your visit to the museum.

Activities: Before and After Your Visit

Berkshire Picture Gallery

Make a drawing or collage of one of your favorite places in the Berkshires. On a separate sheet, write an essay about your favorite place. Include in your information who you go there with, what is special about the place, and explain what you do when you are there. Use descriptive words about what you see, hear and feel. Attach your story to your painting/drawing. Make an exhibition in the classroom of everyone's artwork. During your visit to the Museum, see if your favorite place can be found in the Power of Place exhibit.

Collaged Self-Portrait

Create a self-portrait that captures important elements of your life, such as what you wear, your hobbies and interests, where you live. Use images cut form magazines and/or draw your own picture.

What do you think life was like for a girl or boy in the past? Make a second portrait of yourself, but imagine you are alive 200 years ago. What would your self-portrait look like if it were the 1800's? Once you have both self-portraits, write a one-page essay explaining whether or not you would have liked to live in the 1800's. For information on the lifestyles of 19th Century Americans visit the following website.

Rise of Industrial America, 1876 - 1900 Rural Life in the Late 19th Century
This library of Congress website is an excellent resource that allows to students to discover the lifestyles of 19th century American from first hand accounts.

Travel Diary

Some artists made visual documents of places they had traveled so that others could see what faraway places looked like. Imagine that you are traveling to Berkshires for the first time. Write your own travel diary for your trip to the Berkshire Hills. Your travel diary should include written descriptions as well as drawings and sketches of the places and sights that you enjoyed the most.

Art Riddles

In this activity, students choose an artwork and write a series of clues describing this artwork to your classmates. These clues should only be things that they would see, hear, or feel if they were in the painting! Exchange your clues with a partner and find each other's artwork! To prepare for this activity, search for artwork online at Artcyclopedia, and print out several images for students to use, or have students find images themselves and print them out.

The Berkshires

Research a place in the Berkshires that attracts visitors from other places but that you have never been to yourself. What about this place makes it unique to the Berkshires. Why do you think people travel to visit this place, what does it offer? Why isn't this a place you have ever visited?

 

Suggested Web and Print Resources

All print resources listed are available though the Central/Western Massachusetts's Library System.

Use the Berkshire Athenaeum's on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Western Massachusetts.

Print Materials For Students

Blizzard, Gladys. Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children. New York: Lickle Publishing Inc, 1992.
Lessons in color, composition, and technique and great springboard questions for children to explore subjects and styles.

Schaeffer, Allyn S. The Big Book of Painting Nature in Pastel. New York: Watson-Guptil Publications,1993.
With description and full color pictures this book guides readers through the process of using pastels to create landscape paintings. The Big Book of Painting Nature in Watercolor is also available.

Wolfe, Gillian. Look! Zoom in on Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
This book presents a variety of painting styles and aims at showing younger students how to look for various artistic styles within a painting.

Print Materials For Educators

Carlson, John F. Carlson's Guide to landscape Painting. New York: Dover Publications, 1973.
This book covers all aspects of landscape painting, angles, perspective, light, etc. This is a good book for anyone who wishes to understand the intricate way landscape artists paint their work.

 

Web Materials For Students

Artcyclopedia
A fine art search engine in which students and teachers can browse by artists, movements, mediums, and subjects.

See the Berkshires
Learn about different parts of the Berkshires and the places and events that bring people to this unique landscape.

Web Materials For Educators

Artcyclopedia
A fine art search engine in which students and teachers can browse by artists, movements, mediums, and subjects.

Smithsonian Education
This Smithsonian website provides teachers with information on landscape paintings and provides lesson plans and additional resources.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.

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