Industry, Work, and Water in the West- A lesson plan

SACRAMENTO, EARLY IN 1849—FRONT, BETWEEN I AND J STREETS AND VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO, N.D.
Unknown printer
Chromolithograph, 8 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of the Peter T. Pope Early California Collection, 2019.74.86.

OBJECTIVES:

Students will examine works of art from the past to investigate and understand how industry has affected rivers and coastlines. They will understand how an artist’s composition represents an idea from the past that we can now gather information from. Which we can interpret and draw conclusions from.

PROCESS:

Discussion:

Instruct students that industrialism impacted the geography of the west and California’s waterways. As many natural resources were being sent back east & around the world. As a result the landscape and natural waterways were changed with the increasing amount of commercial shipping in the west.

Procedure:

Building on the overarching standard and prior knowledge of HSS 3.1 an understanding of the basic geography of the state,
Introduce the following three images to guide the discussion:
1. Sacramento, Early in 1849- Front, Between I and J Streets & View of San Francisco
2. Port of Stockton, 1936-37 Paul Sample
3. SACRAMENTO RIVER, 1981. Gregory Kondos (American, 1923–2021)

4. VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO, 1850. Charles C. Kuchel

5. THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, BIRD’S EYE VIEW FROM THE BAY LOOKING SOUTH-WEST, 1878.

Utilizes Artful Thinking strategies to encourage students to see, think and wonder about artworks, recording their responses on an anchor chart. You may also want to extend this lesson into a writing activity.

Encourage students to analyze the pieces of art, and consider the following questions:

●What do we see in this piece of artwork?
(Scaffold inquiry)
○ What is in the foreground? Background? Middle ground?
○ What era does the image represent? How do you know?

● What do you think about what you see?
(Scaffold inquiry)
○ What is happening in the image?
○ What do you think are on those ships?
○ What do you think the water way looked like prior to this?

● What do you wonder?
○ What do you still wonder about the piece?

Noteworthy differences: change in ship types / size observed in each time period, ports and buildings modifying waterways. Lack of representation of individuals, but evidence of living, working and developing the regions.

Have students read through the anchor charts, as teacher circles comparing aspects of the two works of art. Arriving at the understanding that through examining artworks that represent the past we can view how industry has modified our waterways and landscape.

Conclusion:

Class and/or table group discussion. What did we learn? What was challenging? What felt familiar? Shout-outs to helpful neighbors?

Would you like to have students present their work?

Sacramento, Early in 1849- Front, Between I and J Streets & View of San Francisco

Port of Stockton, 1936-37 Paul Sample

SACRAMENTO RIVER, 1981.
Gregory Kondos (American, 1923–2021)
Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of First Interstate Bank of California, 1991.30.1.

VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO, 1850. Charles C. Kuchel (American, born Switzerland, 1820–1864) and Peter Stephen Duval (American, 1804–1886) and published by Henry Bill (American, 1824–1891) Lithograph, 9 x 12 1/2 in. Crocker Art Museum, Peter T. Pope Early California Collection, 2019.74.72.

THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, BIRD’S EYE VIEW FROM THE BAY LOOKING SOUTH-WEST, 1878.
Charles R. Parsons (American, born England, 1844–1920), Nathaniel Currier (American, 1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (American, 1824–1895)
Lithograph, 21 x 32 3/4 in. Crocker Art Museum, Peter T. Pope Early California Collection, 2019.74.38.

CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS

History and Social Science Content Standards:

HSS-3.1.2Grade: 3, Course: Continuity and Change, Grade 3

HSS-3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.

Standard: Trace the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (e.g., a dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline).

Standard Identifier: HSS-4.1.4, Grade:4, Course: California: A Changing State, Grade 4

HSS-4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California. Identify the locations of the Pacific Ocean, rivers, valleys, and mountain passes and explain their effects on the growth of towns.

Connecting- Anchor Standard 11: Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding
K.VA:Cn11 Identify a purpose of an artwork
1.VA:Cn11 Understand that people from different places and times have made art for a variety of reasons
2.VA:Cn11 Compare and contrast cultural uses of artwork from different times and places
3.VA:Cn11 Recognize that responses to art change depending on knowledge of the time and place in which it was made
4.VA:Cn11 Through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created
6.VA:Cn11 Analyze how art reflects changing times, traditions, resources, and cultural uses

Artful Thinking Palette

Materials

• Device for accessing reproductions
• Writing tools