ASU art professor Mary Erickson has been authoring lesson plans to accompany Tempe Center for the Arts exhibits since its first art show in 2007.
TCA released Erickson’s 17th lesson plan on its website Tuesday to match up with “Arizona Landscapes,” a centennial exhibit focusing on artists’ perceptions of Arizona’s environmental past and present.
Erickson is a nationally recognized art education professor researching how people understand art, TCA gallery coordinator Michelle Dock said.
Although the lesson plans are used mostly by elementary and middle school educators, they also help community groups, Dock said.
Erickson’s lessons focus on making and understanding art, Dock said.
“Arts education is a necessity because whether you’re thinking of becoming an artist or not, art teaches skills like empathy that traditional curricula doesn’t cover,” Dock said. “Art sometimes says what words can’t.”
Lesson plans are intended to provide access to art exhibits for people who can’t get to the center to see them in person, Erickson said.
The lessons include PowerPoint presentations of the exhibits, which remain on the website even after the exhibit is no longer on display.
TCA, funded by Tempe taxpayers, strives to serve the community, Erickson said.
Art is a required subject in Arizona schools, but not all schools can afford to employ art educators, Erickson said.
School curricula have narrowed since the “No Child Left Behind” program was implemented, limiting education to subjects that can be tested, Erickson said.
“That’s been detrimental to the wide learning of children and the higher level of thinking that’s important in our society,” Erickson said.
Each lesson plan includes two themes: a theme in life and a theme in art, she said.
The former deals with a large concept that encompasses time and culture. The latter focuses on how art contributes to or enlightens that idea.
“The theme in ‘Arizona Landscapes’ is that we are all dependent on and enriched by our environment,” Erickson said. “Art can better help us understand and see our environment.”
“Arizona Landscapes” includes the work of ASU photography professor Mark Klett and California State University at Chico professor Byron Wolfe. Their photos combine old images of the Grand Canyon with new ones.
The professors will also be participating in a community outreach lecture at the Tempe Center for the Arts on March 15.
“(Klett) makes you think about how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same,” Erickson said.
Klett has been creating artwork combining historic images with new ones since the late 1970s, originally working with the first photographs ever taken of the American West, he said.
“I’ve been interested in the idea of historic images for quite a long time,” Klett said.
Looking for an accessible location that has been widely photographed, Klett and Wolfe chose the Grand Canyon as their project’s subject.
The pieces at the Tempe Center for the Arts were first displayed at the Phoenix Art Museum in 2007 and inspired Klett and Wolfe to publish a book, “Reconstructing the View,” which will be released this fall.
“When we make the pictures, we would like it if we could make them appeal to a large audience,” Klett said. “If they can tell school children about it, at least we are succeeding on one end.”
Although Erickson’s lesson plans are usually art specific, she and TCA collaborated with the Tempe History Museum and Salt River Project to incorporate history and science.
The Tempe History Museum contributed information on the Victorian-style Petersen house in Tempe, encouraging students to investigate other historic buildings in the area and start conversations with family and community members.
The Salt River Project added information demonstrating how bugs can show the health of Arizona’s water sources.
Alison Smith, senior community outreach representative for SRP, said the exhibit is meant to encourage Arizonans to take a closer look at their environment.
“It’s about using powers of observation to make better decisions about utilizing our natural resources,” she said.
Reach the reporter at Michelle.Peirano@asu.edu
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