Himalayan Art Encounters: From Minerals to Paint to Landscape at Hannah Senesh Community Day School

This spring, I continued to work with the 5th grade students at Hannah Senesh Community Day School as a part of their unit studying China as part of a 3-part Himalayan Art Encounter. In the fall, I worked with these students when they were studying India (http://education.rma2.org/himalayan-art-encounter-with-hannah-senesh-community-day-school) and was excited to work with them again.

During the pre-visit, students warmed up their observational skills by looking at 12 works of art from China and Tibet.  They looked for common threads and curated mini exhibits highlighting different themes.

During the gallery visit, students considered the connections between Chinese and Tibetan cultures and looked at how these can be seen in the art at the Rubin Museum.  The discussion focused primarily on landscape elements such as mountains, rocks, clouds, and flowers.  Students also learned about the traditional process of making Tibetan thangkas, or scroll paintings.

The Arhat Rahula as one of the Sixteen Arhats China; 18th century Rubin Museum of Art (C2004.9.1) (HAR 65363)

The Arhat Rahula as one of the Sixteen Arhats China; 18th century Rubin Museum of Art (C2004.9.1) (HAR 65363)

We continued this conversation about thangkas in the post-visit in the classroom.  Students made distemper paint using mineral pigments with bovine hide glue as the binder. They carefully mixed the hide glue with water and warmed it to dissolve the glue.  The students transferred their designs to canvas – each student could choose one landscape element: a mountain, a lotus, or a cloud.

 

 

The final paintings were all beautiful and different!  The students enjoyed the process and will have completed works of art to display in their school!

 

Thank you, Hannah Senesh Community Day School!  I am looking forward to next year!

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