Pre-Visit Activity: Art Talk

Please view the two reproductions with your class and lead a discussion using the following questions as guidelines.  There are no “right” answers.  The questions are meant to guide the group discussion.

Students will revisit and discuss the original works at BAM.  The vocabulary in this packet will aid discussion.

Research and experience have shown that students feel more comfortable when they can connect with something familiar once they arrive at the Museum.  The students are excited to find “their” works of art while they are at BAM.  They enjoy sharing their insights from the classroom discussion with the docent and making valuable comparisons between the textbook-like reproductions and the original works of art.

A World Apart: Symbols in Russian Culture

This tour investigates Russian gold and jewel encrusted paintings from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.  This exhibition tells a story that has rarely been explored -- that of the Russian icon (symbolic devotional image) during 300 years of Romanov rule from 1613-1918.  As Russia’s contact with Western culture increased throughout the Romanov era, the resulting cultural clashes changed icon painting.  The exhibition reveals the history of the Russian icon as it was swept up in a conflict of the ideas of East versus West, tradition versus innovation and church versus state.

In Russian political life, icons of the Mother of God were viewed as important symbols of the special place Russians believed their country held in the eyes of God.  Stories of the icons’ divine interventions in times of national crisis became part of folklore as well as the historical record.  Russians sometimes speak of an icon as having been written and iconography as the art of writing an icon.  Icons are to be read in order to understand their symbolism and meaning.

Vocabulary

Icon: A pictorial representation; a conventional religious image typically painted on a small wooden panel and used in religious practices of Eastern Christians; an object of uncritical devotion (idol – representation or symbol of object of worship; likeness); an emblem or a symbol.

Medium: A specific kind of artistic technique or means of expression as determined by the materials used or the creative methods involved: the medium of lithography.  The materials used in a specific artistic technique:  oils as a medium.

Media: The plural of medium.

Romanov: Ruling dynasty (succession of family rulers who maintain their position for a considerable length of time) of Russia from 1613-1918.

Symbol/Symbolism: Something that stands for or suggests something else because of relationship or association; a visible sign of something invisible (lion is a symbol of courage); use of conventional or traditional signs in the representation of divine beings and spirits.

Curricular Connections
Russian Culture/Symbolism Across the Curriculum

Geography, Humanities, Political Science, Economics

• Ask students to consider the phrase cultural icon.  What does it mean to be one?  Who decides who is considered a cultural icon?  Is a cultural icon always a good person?  Does a cultural icon even have to be a person?  Some people consider Barbie to be a cultural icon – do students agree or disagree?  Have students explore the definition of cultural icon and study at least one cultural leader and his or her part of the world in detail.  Read about cultural leaders around the world.  Discuss the concept of cultural icon.  Have students study in depth one cultural leader, locate the areas he or she influenced on the world map and discuss whether or not he or she should be considered an icon.
• Ask students to share with the class the information about the person they chose to study and describe the region(s) he/she came from and influenced, using a wall map of the world.  Was he or she a cultural icon?  Why or why not?  Why was he or she important?  What were the circumstances that led this person to do great (or terrible) things?  Does information about the area(s) the person influenced explain why the person was able to have such an impact?
• Over the course of a week or two, have students check the world section of the newspaper each day and bring it to class if possible.  Have them look for coverage of current world leaders.  Ask the students if they think these people are cultural icons.  Are they positive role models?  Do they stand for humanitarian and environmental rights?
• What would be one thing that your students might want to change about their country or world socially, scientifically or environmentally?  Have them write an essay about the topic, describing the kind of cultural icon they would like to be.
• Have students create three maps and compare them:  Russia before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after 1991.
• Have students learn about the canonization process in the Russian Orthodox Church.  For what reasons are people canonized?  How long does the process take?  Who makes the decisions?  What is the ceremony?  How many saints are there in the Russian Orthodox Church?
• Have students compare and contrast monarchies to democracies.  What differences are there?  What similarities do you find?
• Have students compare and contrast socialism, communism and democracy.

• Have students draw or paint their icons on the computer using graphic software such as KIDPIX STUDIO or Hyperstudio.  Combine the drawings with text into an electronic museum using slide show software.  Display the completed exhibition on the school web page.
• Have students conduct an online photograph scavenger hunt to find examples of Russian art, architecture and life.

• Learn about the Cathedral of St. Basil, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the Summer Palace at Tsarskoe Selo and other important icons of Russian architecture and have students design a structure based on the easily recognizable symbols in Russian architecture including onion domes, three-bar crosses, bell towers, three-part construction floor plans (narthex, nave and sanctuary).  Have students design and present their own buildings, explaining the significance (symbolism behind) the design elements they have selected.
• Have students learn some Russian architecture vocabulary terms.
• Lukovitsa (onion dome)
• Izba (peasant house)
• Narthex (entry hall)
• Nave (worship area)
• Sanctuary (alter/tabernacle)
• Iconostas (screen panel that separates the nave from the sanctuary)
• Have students research the practical reasons for and symbolism behind the architectural elements.  For instance, the Russians elongated their domes so that the snow could easily be shed off them.  The domes represent the flame of a candle leaping up toward heaven.

Social Studies, History

• Study about the communist regime and what it means to live within a communist society.  Look at the role of the former Soviet Union as a leader of world Communism.  Examine what life was like in pre-communist times in Russia and compare it to life in post-communist Russia.  Have students stick to objective facts.  Look for symbols representing the communist society.
• Have students experience the traditional foods of Russia.  Learn about the symbolism imbedded in the food traditions, including the shapes of the cakes as well as the symbolic letters inscribed in them.  The traditional Easter foods are a nut and fruit-filled yeast cake called kulich and an accompanying sweet cheese spread called paskha.  Often the kulich and paskha were carried to church and set out on long tables to be blessed by the priest.  A simplified version of the recipes is available at http://www.teachersfirst.com/russ-east.htm.
• Have students choose an event in modern Russian history and write a news story or report on that event’s role in Russian history, or write a biography of a Russian or Soviet leader of the 20th century.
• Have students research how American history was affected by events in Russia during the 20th century.  Pick three Russian events and study in detail their influence on American history.
• Historians often use photographs to infer information about a time period.  Ask students to suggest what Nicholas Romanov’s photographs tell us about the royal family’s personal and public lives and that period in Russian history.  Have students take photos or bring in photos (or clips from home movies or videos) that would help future historians draw conclusions about modern-day society.  As a class, discuss what one can tell about our times from pictures or videos.  How do the photographs function as symbols?

• Have students learn about the history of Russian symbols for numbers and how to say the numbers 1-10 in Russian.  Use the book Count Your Way Through Russia (listed in the bibliography) to learn more about Russian culture.
• The Romanov dynasty ruled for almost 300 years.  Look at their family tree.  Have students graph their own family trees back as many generations as possible.
• Russian numbers have changed throughout the years from a letter/number system to a numbering system.  Have students create their own number system and decode one another’s symbols.

• Have students prepare a written and oral presentation about a well-known person from Russian history or from present-day Russia.  Have students conduct research, prepare a written report and make an oral presentation.  Encourage students to use props or support materials (visuals, costumes, maps, timelines, dramatization) that make their select person’s character come to life.
• Have students read Russian fairy tales.  Compare/contrast them to fairy tales from other countries using Venn Diagrams. Learn about the elements of a Russian fairy tale and have students re-tell fairy tales in small groups.  Have them identify elements of a fairy tale that would tell the reader the story comes from Russia (names, the witch Baba Yaga, firebird, etc.).
• Have students learn about the Cyrillic Alphabet and their English transliterations.
• Have students read Russian literature.  Compare and contrast Russian literature to American literature:  Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy; War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy; Master and Man, Leo Tolstoy; poems by Aleksandr Pushkin; Crime and Punishment, Feodor Dostoevsky.

Music, Dance/Movement

• Have the class listen to a sampling of music by Modest Musorgsky and other Russian composers such as Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Igor Stravinsky or Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov.  Have students compare the musical compositions to works of art and architecture and discuss their relationship to Russian society.  Find out about contemporary modern music in Russia.  Listen to some examples and compare them to the historical musical compositions.  How does the music compare to music from other cultures?
• Even though they are often performed for an audience, folk dances were originally intended for community participation.  The steps in folk dances often represent (symbolize) aspects of life in the country from which the dance originates.  For example, in the Russian “Troika,” three dancers represent horses pulling a type of sleigh called a troika.  Have students research one aspect of Russia or Russian life and share it with the class.  Next, in groups of three (traditional to the Troika), have them create movements that communicate those ideas about Russia.  Have them share their symbolic movement sequences with the entire class.

Culture, Folk Art and Craft

• Have students research the cultural history of Russia.  What fundamental differences exist between your culture and the culture of Russia?  What similarities do you see?
• Assign groups of students to specific Russian historical events since 1917, including the Bolshevik Revolution, Chernobyl disaster, fall of the Soviet Union, etc.  Have students create a symbol or design to commemorate the event.  Have students use this design to create a Fabergé-type egg.
• Have students create a Fabergé-type egg commemorating an event in their lives.  Have them incorporate personal images where appropriate.
• Have students research the life of Peter Carl Fabergé.  Have them write a short biography explaining how he became an artist, how the commission for the first Fabergé egg came about and what impact the fame of these unique works of art had on his career.
• Have students learn about traditional Russian folk arts and crafts including Matrioshka dolls and lacquer boxes.  Refer to Culture Smart (listed in the bibliography) for suggested crafts related to Russian folk arts.

Related Web Sites

For Teachers

Comprehensive resource on Russia with lesson plans:  http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/text-only.html

Lessons focusing on Russian fairy tales:  http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=590

Lesson on Russian folk dance:  http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2152/

Lesson on Fabergé eggs:  http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20040206friday.html

Lesson on Cultural Icons and heroes:  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/03/g912/tgcultural.html; http://www.myhero.com/myhero/go/theteachersroom/lessons_view.asp?id=60

Lesson on writing diary entry after researching Romanovs:  http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/dynasty

Lesson plan for online contest to identify and analyze priceless treasures of the Romanov dynasty:  http://www.ettc.net/contest98/campanella.html

Links to Russian Cultural Resources:  http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/ballet/stan/russculture.html

List of Internet Resources for Teaching about Russia:  http://www.reec.uiuc.edu/outreach/resources/wwwresources_russia.htm

Recipes for Russian Easter Bread and Russian Tea Cakes:  http://www.teachersfirst.com/russ-east.htm; http://www.sesameworkshop.org/parents/advice/print.php?contentID=63001&categoryId=

Student web activity to read personal accounts of five people who experienced life in Russia before, during and after the revolution:  http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/worldhistory/gwhmt2003/content.php4/907/5

Visual geography of Russia:  http://www.vgsbooks.com/countries/vgs_russia.htm

Webliography on Russia and Eastern Europe:  http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/Library/SummerInstitute.shtml

Post-Visit Activity: MAKE IT!

To extend the museum experience and connect the tour to your curriculum,
consider using or adapting this lesson plan suggestion.

TELLING STORIES WITH SYMBOLS

Introduction

• Students will take the narrative elements of a character in a story or from history and create symbolic imagery to communicate the larger narrative of the person’s life.
• Students will take information from a story read in class or as a class assignment and write a summary of a selected character from the story or from history.
• Students will develop visual symbols that represent moments in the narrative and use these symbols to create an image based on the story/history

• Paper and pencil (or computer) to write
• Supplies appropriate for making two-dimensional artwork on paper, such as pencils, crayons, markers, paint or collage materials as determined by the teacher

• Have students choose a character from the story or a figure from history.  If selecting a person from history, it might be an athlete, entertainer, politician, humanitarian, artist or another figure the student admires.
• Have students research their historic figures and write a narrative biography of grade-appropriate length that recounts important details of the person’s life.
• This can include myth building, so you could encourage students to embellish the accomplishments of their figure in any way that strengthens the narrative aspect of this assignment. 
• For younger students, have them summarize the main characteristics of the character from a story they have read in class.
• Have students identify at least three aspects of their character’s story or mythology from their biographies/summaries and decide how they would represent those three characteristics in visual symbols. 
• Have students develop these symbols into a key that shows the visual symbol alongside the written meaning of the symbol.
• Explain to the students that the goal of their work is to teach others now and in the future about the accomplishments/characteristics of their chosen subject.  The finished iconic work will be read by classmates.  These visual symbols can be as simple as geometric shapes or as complex as images from popular culture.
• Have students use rulers to measure out two inches from each edge of the paper and then draw a line to create a 2” frame.  Have students draw, paint or collage the central character/subject into the center of the paper.  Have students repeat their symbols within the outside boundaries (by drawing, painting or collaging) to frame the image.

This image could be used as the cover of a book about the story/character or classroom subject.

Bibliography

Pre-K to K

• Colors of Russia by Shannon Zemlicka; Carolrhoda Books, 2001.  ISBN 1575055643
• I Read Symbols by Tana Hoban; Harper Trophy, 1999.  ISBN 06881466962
• Oom Razoom, or, Go I Know Not Where, Bring Back I Know Not What: A Russian Tale retold by Diane Wolkstein; Morrow Junior Books, 1991.  ISBN 0688094163
• Pertouchka: Adapted from Igor Stravinsky and Alesandre Benois by Elizabeth Cleaver; Antheueum, 1980.  ISBN 0689307047
• Russian ABC’s: A Book About the People and Places of Russia by Ann Berge; Picture Window Books, 2004.  ISBN 1404802843
• Valery Carrick’s Picture Folk-tales by Valery Carrick; Dover Publications, 1967. 
• Vasilissa the Beautiful: a Russian Folktale adapted by Elizabeth Winthrop; HarperCollins, 1991.  ISBN 006021662X

1st to 3rd

• Bearhead: a Russian Folktale adapted by Eric A. Kimmel; Holiday House, 1991.  ISBN 0823409023
• Count Your Way Through Russia by James Haskins; Carolrhoda Books, 1987.  ISBN 0876143036
• Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Russia Retold from Russian Storytellers by Virginia Haviland; Little, Brown, 1961. 
• Look What Came From Russia by Miles Harvey; Franklin Watts, 1999.  ISBN 0531159671
• O, Say Can You See?: America’s Symbols, Landmarks, and Inspiring Words by Sheila Keenan; Scholastic Nonfiction, 2004.  ISBN 043942450X
• Peter the Great by Diane Stanley; HarperCollins, 1999.  ISBN 068816708X
• Pictures at an Exhibition by Anna Harwell Celenza; Charlesbridge Publishing, 2003.  ISBN 1570914923
• Russia (A to Z) by Justine Fontes, Ron Fontes; Children’s Press, 2004.  ISBN 0516268163
• Russia (True Books) by Martin Hintz, Children’s Press, 2005.  ISBN 0516279297
• The Story in a Picture: Animals in Art by Robin Richmond; Ideals Children’s Books, 1993.  ISBN 0824986261

4th to 6th

• 15 Fables of Krylov by Ivan Andreevich Krylov, translated by Guy Daniels; Macmillan, 1965.
• Anastasia’s Album by Hugh Brewster; Hyperion Books for Children, 1996.
• Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914 by Carolyn Meyer; Scholastic Inc., 2000.  ISBN 0439129087
• Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan; HarperTrophy, 2003.  ISBN 0064408795
• Brother Joseph: The Painter of Icons by Augustine Denoble; Bethlehem Books, 2000.  ISBN 188393740X
• Favorite Folktales from Around the World by Jane Yolen; Pantheon, 1988.  ISBN 0394751884
• Money, Money, Money: The Meaning of the Art and Symbols on United States Paper Currency by Nancy Winslow Parker; HarperCollins, 1995.  ISBN 0060234121
• Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanasev; Pantheon, 1976.  ISBN 0394730909
• Saints: Live and Illuminations by Ruth Sanderson; Eerdmans Books for Yound Readers, 2003.  ISBN 0802852203
• The Story of Icons by Mary P. Hallick; Holy Cross Printers, 2001. ISBN 1885652429
• Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of The Thanksgiving Symbols by Edna Barth; Clarion Books, 2000.  ISBN 0618067833  (NOTE:  This book is part of an entire series of books explaining the symbolism of major holidays.)

Junior High/High School

• Carl Faberge by Geza von Habsburg; H.N. Abrams, 1994.  ISBN 0810933241
• Christmas in Russia by World Book Encyclopedia; World Book, Inc., 2001.  ISBN 0716608626
• Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Moscow by Patricia Toht; Runestone Press, 2001.  ISBN 0822532204
• The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig; HarperTrophy, 1995.  ISBN 006440577X
• Icons by Mary Jo Martin, Ann Brook, Tony Castle, Paul Gray; Collins Educational, 2001.  ISBN 0003221318
• The Romanovs and Mr. Gibbes: The Story of the Englishman Who Taught the Children of the Last Tsar by Frances Welch; Short Books, Limited, 2006.  ISBN 1904095488
• Russia and the Former Soviet Republics by Thomas R. McCray; Chelsea House Publications, 2006.  ISBN 0791081443

Teachers/Adults

• An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols by J.C. Cooper; Thames and Hudson, 1987.  ISBN 0500271259
• The Art and Architecture of Medieval Russia by Arthur Voyce; University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
• The Art and Architecture of Russia by George Heard Hamilton; Penguin Books, 1954.
• The Art and Artists of Russia by Richard Hare; New York Graphic Society, 1965.
• Art Treasures in Russia by Bernard Myers and Trewin Copplestone, ed.; McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970.
• Culture Smart: Ready-to-Use Slides and Activities for Teaching Multicultural Appreciation Through Art by Susan Rodriguez; Prentice Hall, 1999.  ISBN 0131458639
• A Dictionary of Symbols by J.E. Cirlot; Dover Publications, 2002.  ISBN 0486425231
• Folk Dancing for Students and Teachers by C. Mynatt and B. Kaiman;  Wm. C. Brown Co., Publishers, 1975.
• A History of Icon Painting by Archimandrite Zacchaeus; Grand Holdings Publishers, 2005.  ISBN 0955008905
• The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture by James Billington; Vintage, 1970.  ISBN 0394708466
• The Icon:  The Byzantine Tradition in Europe, Russia, and the Near East through Seven Major Epochs by Kurt Weitzmann, et al.; Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.
• Romanovs by Robert K. Massie; Ballantine Books, 1996.  ISBN 0345406400
• The Russian Icon: From Its Origin to the Sixteenth Century by Viktor Nikitich Lazarev; Liturgical Press, 1997.  ISBN 0814624529
• The Secret Language of Symbols: A Visual Key to Symbols and Their Meanings by David Fontana; Chronicle Books, 1994.  ISBN 0811804623
• Tradition in Transition:  Russian Icons in the Age of the Romanovs by Wendy R. Salmond; Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 2004. ISBN I-931485-05-4
• World Cultures Through Art Activities by Dindy Robinson; Teacher Ideas Press, 1996.  ISBN 1563082713