Ripped Paper Landscape

Students will create a ripped paper collage demonstrating atmospheric perspective. Recommended for 4th Graders.

Artistic Support program

Elements of Art

Color: the visible range of reflected light.
Form: a 3-dimensional figure that exists in space instead of flat on paper.
Space: a two-dimensional (flat/height and width) area enclosed by a line. Real space contains three dimensions: height, width and depth. An illusion of depth can be created in two-dimensional art formats, using certain techniques.
Value(Hue/Shade/Tint): Color (Hue) and variations of the color. Shades are color+black, tints are color+white. Muted colors have gray added. the lightness and darkness of a line, shape, or form; a measure of relative lightness and darkness. One way to express this is the use of hues, shades and tints.

Principles of Design

Movement: How the artist makes the viewer’s eye move around the composition. In this lesson, the viewer’s eye is moved into the ‘distance.’

Additional Vocabulary

Atmospheric Perspective: the way things look differently if they are further away: in the foreground, colors are warmer and more intense and darker, crisper shades; in the distance, the details disappear, colors appear cooler and less intense, and values lighten and fade.
Background, Middle Ground & Foreground: Within the picture plane, objects that are closest are in the foreground, farthest from the horizon line. Objects that are farthest are in the background, closest to the horizon line. Middle ground is somewhere in between the 2.
Collage: a way of making a work of art by gluing different objects, materials, and textures to a surface. In this lesson it’s paper glued to paper.
Craftsmanship: A way of working that includes following directions, demonstrates neatness and the proper use of tools.
Gradation: a gradual changing from one color hue, or shade, or texture to another. Space, distance, atmosphere, and curved or rounded ‘forms’ are some of the visual effects created with gradation.
Horizon Line: A horizontal line where the land (or sea) ’meets’ the sky. It is the most distant spot we can see.
Overlapping: A technique to create depth in a 2-dimensional image. When shapes overlap, the partially obscured one appears to move back into the distance.

Materials & Supplies

Paper of the same color in various shades and tints (example: dark brown, beige, tan, cream)

Class set of glue sticks
Paint or Oil Pastels (optional)

Context

Harriet Cany Peale was born in 1799 at a time when women artists were not allowed into important art academies. Not much is known about her early art, but she was taught by Rembrandt Peale who she eventually married. The Peale family was renowned for its talented artists. Harriet continued to paint and exhibit after her marriage, which was unusual for the time. She often made copies of her husband’s paintings but also created impressive landscapes, portraits and still-life. She is part of what is known as the Hudson River School.

Hudson River School: not the name of a school but a group of landscape painters in the United States from 1825-1870 (including Harriet Cany Peale, T. Cole and J. Kensett, examples above, as well as Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt). Paintings from the early years of this time usually portray the Hudson River Valley and surrounding areas. Later paintings depicted scenes from the west and were often the public’s first glimpse of those wild areas. The Hudson River school was strongly nationalistic with the grand portrayals of America’s landscape and also the artists wanted their own style. The Hudson River School helped shape the perception and culture of America and is sometimes called America’s first art movement.

Advanced Preparation

Gather materials listed above. Prepare images to show students. Have an example of the lesson.

Tips & Tricks

Painted paper can be made previously during a lesson on value and then used in this lesson.
Limit the additional details added.
Remind students that glue sticks work best when applied to the edges, not just the middle.
There’s always that student who has sensory issues around tearing paper. Gently encourage them to try but allow the use of scissors if helpful.

Discussion Points

How do landscapes appear in nature? (very different kinds, but always with a horizon line in the distance, change in lighting as we look towards it).

Have you seen the phenomenon where mountains in the distance appear to be a lighter tone? The atmosphere(clouds, mist, sun) is affecting the way the light hits objects so we see color differently.

How are the trees different in the foreground, middle ground and background in Harriet Cany Peale’s Kaaterskill Clove? (As they recede into the distance, they lose their crisp colors, shadows, details, and edges. The ones furthest away are hard to see individually, but more as a group.)

Reflection Point (Assessment of Learning Objectives)

Students will:

observe atmospheric perspective in art
create a ripped paper landscape
use art vocabulary
use good craftsmanship

Instructions for Lesson

Post the vocabulary words and briefly go through them. Use them during the lesson.
Show the photo below of atmospheric perspective. Point out the horizon line, the foreground, middle ground and background. Sometimes the horizon line is blocked, but still there.
Ask the students to notice how the value changes (how dark or light the color) in the foreground, middle ground and background. Which is lighter, background or foreground? Explain they are the same color and it’s just the way the atmosphere distorts the appearance of a distant object. This is atmospheric perspective. It occurs because there are more dust particles and water droplets in the air between our eyes and an object in the distance. This causes the light to bend, making objects in the distance appear hazy. Artists often depict this in art using shades and tints.
Show “Kaaterskill Clove” by Harriet Cany Peale. How does Peale create the illusion of depth? (He uses 1) linear perspective, in which objects that appear to recede get smaller, nearer the horizon, and are overlapped, and 2) atmospheric perspective). The foreground (nearest) is detailed and the colors clear. Notice details on the rocks and the riverbed. In the middle ground the trees are smaller and less detailed. Finally, show that the background is lighter just like the photo of the mountains you already showed. This is atmospheric perspective!
Distribute materials and tell students that they will make their own landscape today out of paper. Demonstrate then have them arrange paper light to dark, with lightest in the back.
Demonstrate ripping along the lightest piece of paper horizontally from one edge to the other. Start high on the paper. Do this slowly, explaining as you go how you’re pulling and pinching it as you go to control the edge to form mountain tops.
Students may do this now.
Have students put three fingers on the top of the background paper and glue the lightest colored paper so that the top touches their fingers. The bottom does not need to reach the bottom of the background paper. The sides need to line up with the sides of the background paper. It’s the bottom layer of a series to be glued over each other with just the mountain tops showing.
Tear the next lightest paper. Place it so some of the first ripped paper still shows. Glue down.
Repeat step 7 for the remaining papers. The last paper placed (the foreground) needs to extend to the bottom of the page. Corner to corner placement is best. It’s okay if it’s longer.
Turn the piece over and trim any overhanging pieces.
Optional: Add details with paint or oil pastel in the foreground, if desired. Details should be darker and larger in the foreground than the rest of the landscape.

References and Attributions

Lesson written by Rachelle Roberts. Harriet Cany Peale. 31 Mar. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Cany_Peale. Galleries, Roughton. Harriet Cany Peale. www.roughtongalleries.com/Harriet-Peale.htm. Hudson River School. 20 Apr. 2019, www.hisour.com/hudson-river-school-35812/. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Hudson River School.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 May 2018, www.britannica.com/art/Hudson-River-school. The Grand Women Artists of the Hudson River School. 20 July 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-grand-women-artists-of-the-hudson-river-school-1911058/. Kiely, Alexandra. Female Painters of the Hudson River School, Part Two. 7 Feb. 2018, http://www.dailyartmagazine.com/female-painters-hudson-river-school-part-two/. “Kaaterskill Clove.” Wikimedia Commons, 01 Jan. 1858, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaaterskill_Clove_by_Harriet_Cany_Peale_1858.jpg.

Notes for Educators

21st Century Thinking Skills
Thinking flexibly, persisting, questioning, creating, innovating, listening with empathy, taking responsible risks, observing, making connections, visualizing, sequencing, predicting, comparing/contrasting, determining main idea, finding evidence, problem solving, cause and effect, determining point of view, decision making.

Washington State Learning Standards
(VA:Cr2.1.4) a. Explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches.
(VA:Cr2.2.4) a. When making works of art, utilize and care for materials, tools, and equipment in a manner that prevents danger to oneself and others.
(VA:Cr2.3.4) a. Document, describe, and represent regional constructed environments.
(VA:Cr3.1.4) a. Revise artwork in progress on the basis of insights gained through peer discussion. This happens if you share out about students’ choices of craftsmanship during the lesson.
(VA:Re7.2.4) a. Analyze components in visual imagery that convey messages. This happens when you explain how to create the illusion of depth in a 2-dimensional picture plane.
(VA:Re8.1.4) a. Interpret art by referring to contextual information and analyzing relevant subject matter, characteristics of form, and use of media.
(VA:Re9.1.4) a. Apply one set of criteria to evaluate more than one work of art.
(VA:Cn11.1.4) a. Through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created.

Arts Integration Opportunities
Physical/occupational therapy.

Please note: These lesson plans are intended for non-profit use only. Use of these plans for commercial purposes should give attribution to the Issaquah Schools Foundation and be accompanied by a nominal donation at www.isfdn.org/donate. Thank you.

Donate Now

Artistic Support Reference Materials