The Teaching of Art Related to the Home Part 7

"If you wanted to help someone to divide a s.p.a.ce so the resulting parts would be pleasing, what directions would you now give them?" Each member of the cla.s.s may be asked to write out a statement of directions. Some of these may be put on the blackboard and the cla.s.s members given an opportunity to choose the one which they think would be most helpful in obtaining s.p.a.ce division. The final statement should bring out the following: _When a s.p.a.ce is to be divided the result is most pleasing if the dividing line falls at a point between one-half and two-thirds of the length divided._

To insure real ability to use the principle of s.p.a.ce division which has just been developed, it will be necessary to give the cla.s.s several problems which they may judge as a group. These in turn should be followed by other problems which will call for individual planning and the application of the principle in their solution. The number of such problems will vary with the cla.s.s, but there should be enough to insure the desired ability. Furthermore, those given should be from as varied fields as possible so that the pupils will be able to make their own applications as needed.

=Series of Suggested Problems to Test Pupils' Ability to Recognize and Use the Principle of Proportion Just Developed=

[Sidenote: Judgment problems given for cla.s.s solution]

1. "In which of these doors do you think the division into panels is most satisfactory? Why?"

In this problem, as in the succeeding ones, the solution is not considered adequate unless each pupil can justify the choice she makes or the answer she gives according to the principle which was established in the earlier part of this lesson.

2. "On which of these book covers do you think the s.p.a.ce is best divided? Why?"

3. "Small boxes have a variety of uses in our homes. These are all approximately the same in size. Which do you think has the most interesting relation between the depth of the lid and the depth of the box? Why?"

4. "Helen is planning to make a dress with a cape collar. Her mother thinks the collar is not deep enough and suggests that Helen change the pattern. How could she determine the most becoming depth for her cape collar?"

5. "Jane did not have enough cloth to make a dress without piecing it or buying more material. She decided to put a yoke in the waist.

How deep on the waist do you think a yoke should come to be most attractive?"

6. "Mary has some 6-inch gla.s.s candlesticks at home. How can she determine the length of candle that would be most suitable when they are used on the buffet?"

[Sidenote: Creative problem involving activity]

7. "Arrange the window shades so that the window s.p.a.ce and the depth of the shade are pleasing in their relation to each other. Justify the arrangement you have made."

[Sidenote: Judgment problem involving activity]

8. "Choose a girl with whom to work during the next few minutes.

Check to see if the dresses you are wearing to-day have the belts so placed that each dress is divided as well as possible. Suggest any desirable changes for each other and justify each change."

(At some time in the development and subsequent use of the principle established in this lesson it will be well to connect it with a previously established and closely related principle. Such a connection is made use of in the following problems.)

[Sidenote: Creative problem involving use of a principle previously developed]

9. "I have an odd picture frame that I wish to use for this landscape which came from a magazine ill.u.s.tration. The picture is the right width, but it is too long for the frame. How do you suggest cutting it so that it can be used in this frame and still retain its pleasing proportions?"

(Such a landscape will obviously have a division of s.p.a.ce in it by the line of the horizon. The problem will be one of retaining pleasing s.p.a.ce divisions in the picture, as well as retaining pleasing proportions of the whole, while fitting it to the frame.)

[Sidenote: Possible a.s.signment]

10. "Choose a plain card most pleasing in proportion, which may be used as a place card for the home economics luncheon that the cla.s.s is giving to the mothers. Plan the placing of the names on these cards. Justify your choice of card and the place you have chosen for the name."

Problem 10 may well be given as an a.s.signment. It may be given at any desired time in the problem series as a judgment problem following the establishment of the principle. A definite attempt has been made to arrange problems 1 to 8 in order of degree of difficulty. It is evident that those which necessitate creative planning and manipulation call for greater ability than the problems of selection.

Although problems 9 and 10 are given last they may be introduced at any point. They are given last here because they require the use of two principles of proportion, i. e., relation of length to width in objects and division of a s.p.a.ce into two parts. Problems 1 to 8 make use of only one, i. e., the principle concerned with the division of a s.p.a.ce into two parts.

=Further Suggestions for Problems, Ill.u.s.trative Materials, and a.s.signments=

There are various possibilities of introducing this lesson on proportion other than through the arranging of curtains. The curtain problem is used here because it involves a school situation. Such a problem sometimes has as great an appeal for girls as some of the most personal ones. However, any one of a number of problems, such as the placing of a belt on a dress, the depth of a flounce or yoke on a dress, the relative lengths of jacket and skirt in a suit, or the length of candles for candlesticks may be used for the introductory one.

Choice will be determined upon cla.s.s needs and school possibilities.

The important factor will be to see that the problem is so stated that it stimulates a desire on the part of the pupil for adequate solution.

If the school windows and real curtains are not available for this problem, some window and curtain models may be borrowed from drapery departments of local stores for cla.s.s use. If it is not practicable to use curtains or to borrow store models, the teacher might prepare in advance of the cla.s.s meeting miniature windows for this problem. These may be made of heavy construction paper, cardboard, or beaver board, and should be of a size and scale that will permit accuracy in the conclusions drawn from their use. _The use of miniatures should be confined to emergency situations, when the real things are not obtainable._

With some cla.s.ses it may be necessary to use additional ill.u.s.trative materials in which there are no other factors than those of s.p.a.ce division. The teacher may prepare rectangles of neutral paper, representing any given s.p.a.ce to be divided, in which the division is made by a contrasting line in each of the following ways:

One divided exactly in half.

One with the dividing line between one-half and two-thirds of the length from one end.

One with the dividing line at a point three-quarters of the length.

One with the dividing line between three-quarters of the entire length and the end.

Conclusions drawn from a comparison of the above ill.u.s.trative materials may in turn be applied to other problems in which color, texture, or design may have made it difficult in the beginning for the pupils to focus their attention upon s.p.a.ce division.

It is obvious that if choosing candles for certain definite candlesticks is the introductory problem, candles of varying heights, but of the same color, will need to be provided if the cla.s.s is to come to some definite conclusions. If this problem is used in the judgment series, as in the lesson above, it will serve as another application of the principles of s.p.a.ce division.

One possible a.s.signment has been given in the lesson. Other possibilities present themselves as follows:

1. "Where could you find an ill.u.s.tration in which you think there is particularly pleasing s.p.a.ce division? Will you bring such an ill.u.s.tration to cla.s.s?" Such an a.s.signment affords additional training in selection and directs the observation of the pupils to their environment outside the school.

2. "When you are at home to-night, will you notice the arrangement of articles on your dresser? If these articles are not as well arranged as you think they can be, make an arrangement which is balanced and which divides the s.p.a.ce as well as possible. Be ready to tell the cla.s.s why you think you have a well-balanced and nicely s.p.a.ced arrangement." In this particular a.s.signment it is a.s.sumed that pupils have previously developed the ability to make balanced arrangements. This is a further application of that ability but in an advanced form. In developing an ability to make balanced arrangements, attention was centered on the placing of articles on either side of a center. Now that the ability to divide a s.p.a.ce has been developed, it is time to take up the balancing of articles within a given s.p.a.ce so that the proportions of that s.p.a.ce are pleasing.

It is highly desirable in the teaching of art that the relationships of principles in the attainment of beauty be established as soon as each is clearly understood. It is not enough that a principle be clearly established and several applications of it made. As soon as this much has been accomplished it is time that problems be used which involve this new principle and at least one of the preceding ones. Such a c.u.mulative teaching plan is essential to make art training function most successfully in the lives of the pupils.

CLa.s.s PROJECTS

Many judgment and creative problems arise in certain group and cla.s.s projects, providing opportunity for utilizing and showing the relationships of the essential principles of art in their application.

They are more often undertaken in connection with home furnishing than with other phases of homemaking. Provision for such projects involving the selection of articles and materials and the arrangement of them to bring about an attractive and harmonious effect can usually be found right in the school. For example, as a cla.s.s project, the wall finishes, the furnishings, and the accessories may be chosen and arranged for a specific room such as the dining room, bedroom, or living room of the home-economics department if such rooms are available or the rest room for teachers or girls.

In some schools, the separate cottage is used to house the home-economics department. This offers an opportunity for pupils to show what they would do under practical conditions. It is important that the furnishings for such cottages be in keeping with what is possible in the majority of homes in the community. If when the cottage is new the teacher plans with the pupils for only the essential furnishings at first, further problems of selection and arrangement will be reserved for several cla.s.ses.

In a few schools the home-economics department has cooperated with the trade and industrial department in planning small houses, which were then built by the boys in their carpentry cla.s.ses. The girls have then selected and arranged the furnishings for such houses as a cla.s.s project.

When there is no opportunity within the school for such cla.s.s or group projects, there are other available possibilities to which a teacher of related art should be alert. Better Homes Week is observed in many towns and cities and those in charge are usually glad to turn over the furnishing of one or more rooms for the occasion to the local home-economics department. A center to which so many visitors come affords an excellent opportunity for exemplifying to the community good taste in furnishings at a cost consistent with the income of the average family.

In one school the related art cla.s.s took over the project of refinishing one of the rooms in the girls' dormitory. It was necessary to use the furniture already provided, which meant the expenditure of a minimum amount of money. There was, therefore, the problem of refinishing some of the furniture to bring it into harmony with the newly planned room.

The old dresser was one of the pieces to be remodeled and painted.

Figures 9 and 10 show the dresser before and after the cla.s.s had worked on it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 9.--The dresser as found in the dormitory room]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 10.--The same dresser after the cla.s.s in related art had remodeled and painted it]