If you’ve followed me for any amount of time then you know I love taking learning outside the box. There are countless ways to incorporate more than one subject to create a well-rounded learning experience, especially when it comes to art education. 

In this post, we will look at French-American Louise Bourgeois who just so happened to study math before enrolling in art school. Initially a painter, she explored sculpture later in life where she tried out a wide range of materials. Below are 4  ideas for integrating a Bourgeois “Spider” or “Maman” with other subjects.

Questioning the Artwork

Questioning the artwork is a great way to tap into the critical thinking skill that is needed all throughout a student’s educational journey - even into adulthood. This artwork provides a fascinating opportunity to foster this specific skill. Use the following example to set this up in your classroom:

• Differentiate this activity by having students work in pairs or small groups, and by giving a time limit.

• Have students view photos of a Spider or Maman from varying angles.

• Recommend students to generate questions that start with Who, What, Where, When and How. They can also generate questions with words like “Can” and “Should.”

• The goal is to get them to think openly about the artwork and generate as many questions as possible.

Arachnids

Bourgeois’ spider sculptures have eight legs, like a real spider. Use the previous activity to introduce a unit study on arachnids. This is where many different subjects can be crossed:

• History - study the history of spiders in art.

• Geography - look into the different types of spiders that can be found all over the world.

• Math - younger students can count the legs of a spider, learn the number 8, etc.

• Language Arts - compare and contrast a real spider to the sculpture.

• Art - create a spider sculpture using black tape; create a spider collage using torn paper; or, create symmetrical works (also math).

Vivid Language

Using vivid language offers another mix of subjects, language arts in particular. This activity can go as deep as you’d like to take it, from writing stories to allowing students to go through the entire writing process. Here’s an example of this would work:

• Have students recount a personal memory involving spiders verbally to a partner.

• Then, have them turn their partner’s memory into a tall tale.

• Have students carry the piece of writing through the writing process, providing feedback through student/teacher conferencing.

• Allow students to give each other feedback.

This activity can also become a class-wide project that is shared with others by publishing the pieces through a class-created YouTube channel. Students can even illustrate, photograph and insert text onto the photos to create a video. They can even add music or sound effects.

When students are creating these videos, teach them visual arts vocabulary such as balance, symmetry and proportion. Understanding these terms will help them create visually appealing videos.

*Remember to check your school district's media and photographing policies to ensure compliance when using online tools.

Inferencing

Inferencing provides students with the ability to piece together clues from looking at a work of art and filter them through their background knowledge. A unique way to help them do this is by having students fold a sheet of paper in half vertically. They should label one half “Observation” and the other half “Interpretation.” Have them record what they actually see in the photos of the sculpture on the “Observation” side, and have them record inferences based on observable evidence on the “Interpretation” side.

Students might focus solely on the sculpture for this. However, some students might see something in the photograph that causes them to infer something unrelated to the sculpture. Regardless, invite your students to share and discuss their observations and interpretations (inferences).

This is one integration suggestion that can give you a lot of opportunities to teach a variety of things. For more in-depth talk about this subject, consider grabbing a free copy of my article “Art is at the Core: Louis Bourgeois,” a publication of Arts and Activities Magazine (below).

How do you incorporate artwork and other subjects? Let me know in the comments below!