Happy Paintings - The Art of Maud Lewis

Happy Paintings - The Art of Maud Lewis PDF

Summary:
Art, Geography

Subject and topic: 

In this lesson, students will learn about the art of Maud Lewis, a prolific Canadian folk artist who lived in rural Nova Scotia (Eastern Canada, near the Atlantic Ocean), and worked in the mid-20th century. She is now believed to have been born with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but it was not diagnosed or treated in her lifetime. Students will learn about her artwork, rooted deeply in the place where she lived, and have the opportunity to keep a sketchbook for a week, and create a painting in Maud Lewis’ style that reflects their own local world. Students will also consider the complex intersections between disability, poverty and the arts that are embedded in Maud’s life story. 

Grade level: 

4th - 8th grade

Duration: 

1 hour (reading/writing response), 1 hour (sketchbook making). Then a week of homework for student sketches, and then 1 hour (final art creation). There is a feature-length movie that teachers could also acquire to show after students have finished their final art project.