The Artist & the Artifact: The Things We Make Reflect Who We Are & Where We're From 3

Our current PYP unit, The Artist & the Artifact, follows three lines of inquiry, or three areas that we'll be exploring over the next five weeks. In the first week, the aim is to pique student interest, provide a context for deeper investigation, and provoke questions.

As a provocation for the first line of inquiry -- the things we make reflect who we are and where we're from -- students viewed five paintings by Marc Chagall, then, based upon their observations, drew inferences about the artist's personality, inspirations, and motivations. Here's a sampling of their ideas:

“He likes shapes, not blob shapes, but more like definite shapes, circles or squares, not really cubism, but something like that.” Mae

“He’s probably a man of kindness. It looks like everything’s kind in the pictures.”

“I think he’s an animal person, because you can see lots of animals.” Sebastian

I think he’s a person who would rather be outdoors with plants and animals, though he’s actually surrounded by buildings.” Abby

“I think he’s into drawing strange things. It looks like he’s either in a relationship, or he could be divorced, because there’s angels flying by.” Anna

“He could be in a relationship, or the sadness of a lost relationship. He’s into great detail and color.” Margo

“I think he’s divorced, or a single man, because I see lots of love drawings, of marriage and stuff like that. It’s very romantic, most of them. So I think he thinking of that kind of life, or memories of that kind of life.” Alyssa

So he may have been like a colorful dude, or something. Some of them might have been his dream, because there’s upside down people. He might think his two neighbors are crazy or something.” Da-Lan