CTL

7071 Structured Organizer

Building a Big Ideas School Visit for a Museum.

Big Idea for your School Visit: Canadian Identity

Students will be asked to look at works in the AGO and the architecture of AGO itself and consider what these
visual works might say about Canadian Identity. Students will also identity and describe what they consider to
be fundamental elements of Canadian Identity. Students will be asked to consider how the various features
that characterize a community might contribute to the identity and image of a country and will also think
about some of the ways in which immigrants and FNMI peoples have also shaped Canadian identity. This
exercise will ask students to explain how the visual elements of a piece can communicate meaning about
Identity and nationality.

Inquiry Questions around the big idea:
The main inquiry questions for this gallery walk are: What does it mean to be Canadian? What do artists have
to say about Canadian identity? How do these artists use visual elements to communicate ideas about
Canadian identity (in both similar and different ways). Following each piece of art, Ive included further inquiry
questions to incite discussions about identity.

Grade level: 6

Curriculum Expectations Achieved:
Grade 6 Visual Arts Expectations: D2.1, D2.2, D2.3, D3.1, D3.2
Grade 6 Social Studies Expectations: Strand A: A1.1, A1.2, A 3.8

Artwork #1:

Name of Artist: Kent Monkman

Title/Date: The Academy (2008)
How it connects to the big idea:

This work is a facetious and playful piece commissioned for the AGO. This piece references other famous
works of art many of which are in the AGO. Artist Kent Monkman, a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry, often
draws attention to popular misguided notions of Canadian identity, land ownership, and Western conceptions
of wilderness in Canada by boldly representing serotypes (often about FNMI peoples) in his works.

Inquiry questions related to this piece include:
This is a crowded piece of work- who or what do you see in it? What do you notice about how people are
dressed? How are colours used in this piece which colours draw your attention? Where does the most light
fall in this piece and who does it highlight? Do you see anything in this piece that youve seen before
somewhere else? Why might the artist want make a painting that represents other famous pieces of art?

Artwork #2:

Name of Artist: F. H. Varley

Title/Date: Immigrants (1922)
How it connects to the big idea:

This piece is by Group of Seven artist Frederick Horsman Varley who was born in England and immigrated to
Canada in 1912. Immigrants from around the world undoubtedly shape our conceptions about national
identity and what it means to be a multicultural country.

Inquiry questions related to this piece include:
What place is depicted in this painting and who do you think is represented in this paiting? (ask these
questions before revealing the title of this piece). This painting, like Academy, is also very busy there are a
lot of figures represented with very little space between them. Why do you think that artist decided to
represent these people in this way?

Immigrant experiences vary widely what might this particular depiction have to say about immigrant
experiences? How is colour used in this painting? Do you think its used in a similar way to Monkmans
Academy or are there differences? Where is your eye drawn in this piece and why? Does the meaning of this
painting change when you realize that it is painted by an immigrant?

Artwork #3:

Name of Artist: William Kurelek

Title/Date: The Moose Story (1976)
How it connects to the big idea:

Inquiry questions related to this piece include:

What do you think is happening in this painting? What might the subjects in this painting feel? How does this
picture make you feel? What location is depicted here and how do you know? Why might an artist want to
capture this moment? Like the last paintings weve seen, this painting also uses bright colours how are they
used? Does this painting contain any figures or elements that connect to your own personal definition of
Canadian identity (these definitions will be brainstormed in a class before the AGO gallery trip).

Artwork #4:

Name of Artist: Frank Gehry (2008)

Title/Date: Galleria Italia (Sculpture Promenade Added to the AGO in
How it connects to the big idea:
Students will examine the architectural elements of Gehrys Galleria Italia and will be asked a series of
questions: What do you see? What is it made of? What does it resemble? How are lines used in the form of
this sculptural component of the AGO? What does it look like from the street versus the view from inside the
gallery? What purpose does the space serve? What other things do you notice about this space? What do you
see out of the window?.

Inquiry questions related to this piece include:
What does this new building faade say about Canadian identity. What does it mean to have this sort of
architecture as the face of Ontarios most prominent art gallery?

Consolidation Questions and Further Thinking:

Which piece did you like most and why? Was there anything specific about this piece that resonated
with you?
Do any of these works closely align with your conception of Canadian Identity and why? If not, what
would you like to see represented on the walls of the AGO?
You brainstormed elements of Canadian identity prior to our trip has has your definition expanded or
changed after seeing these pieces?