Big Idea: Life

Grade Level: 3rd grade

Life Beyond
Inspiration Artist: Chesley Bonestell

Life
Throughout history and across cultures, people have been concerned with . . .
Life
Key Concepts:

Artists utilize basic formal structure (Elements and Principles) within an

artwork to communicate meaning, ideas, and narratives.
Art is connected to other content areas.
Art is connected to life.

Essential Questions:

What classifies as life?

What isnt classified as life?
How is art related to other content areas?
How is art connected to life?

Vocabulary
1. Surrealism: a 20th-century avant-garde movement in
art and literature that sought to release the creative
potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the
irrational juxtaposition of images.
2. Life:the condition that distinguishes animals and plants
from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth,
reproduction, functional activity, and continual change
preceding death.
3. Solar system: the collection of eight planets and their
moons in orbit around the sun, together with smaller
bodies in the form of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets.
4. Planet: a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit
around a star.

Chesley Bonestell

Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) was an American pioneer of space art who helped
popularize manned space travel. He is well known for his cover art for science fiction
magazines, including Astounding Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction as well as many books such as The Conquest of Space, The Exploration
of Mars, and Beyond the Solar System in collaboration with several authors well known in
the field of space exploration.
Bonestell's work also includes architectural paintings, scientific illustrations, and special
effects matte paintings for films such as Destination Moon (1950), When Worlds Collide
(1951), and War of the Worlds (1953). On June 11, 1986, while working on a painting, he
passed away at his home in Carmel, California.
Bonestell received a bronze medal from the British Interplanetary Society, a Special
Achievement Hugo Award, and was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame
and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy
Artists' Chesley Award for achievement in science fiction and fantasy art is named for him,
and a crater on Mars and asteroid 3129 Bonestell are also named in his honor.
from www.bonestell.org

Lesson Objective
The students will (TSW) be able to
Explore different materials and techniques to make their planets.
Explores structures of life.
Create a small-scale drawing and painting that explores their imagination of
other planets.

Pop Quiz!
3.
Name the following planets.

1.

2.

4.

Continue

6.
7.

5.

9.
8.

Answers!
1. Mercury

2. Venus

3. Earth

4. Mars

Continue

6. Saturn

7. Uranus

5. Jupiter

8. Neptune
9. Pluto

Video

Imagine yourself
taking off in a
rocket ship...

Lesson Procedures
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Demonstration of studio with Megan

Return to table. Have one person at each table grab desired
materials.
Pick either a white or black piece of paper.
Begin by drawing your ideal planet
Now add life to your planet (What does your planet need to
survive?)
Add any additional materials to complete your planet.
Lastly, name your planet and the main life form on your planet.
Leave artwork on the table.
Once everyone is finished, take the 5 tokens from the front and
start to look at other artist's work.
Hand out the tokens.

Our examples...