The Old Ark’s A’Moverin’, ca. 1938, color lithograph, 10” x 14”
1.Project this picture for your students and give them an appropriate amount of time to consider it silently. Have them either write down or comment on what they have noticed. Ask students to tell you what they know about the story of “Noah’s Ark.” Are their stories of a Great Flood from other cultures? Perhaps from Africa?
2. If no one knows, state that the basic story is that God got angry with people and decided to cleanse the Earth. He chose Noah and his family as the only humans to survive and asked Noah to build an Ark. An Ark in this case, is a large wooden ship. When the Ark was built, God told Noah to take 2 of each animal onto the Ark and then sent a flood onto the Earth to destroy everything but what was on the Ark. After the flood, a dove brought a tree branch to Noah to show him that the flood waters were subsiding and it was time to leave the Ark and go back to land. Tell them that it’s basically a story of good vs. evil and rejuvenation. But talk about the idea that the Ark of the time period when the Bible was written it would not have been a paddlewheeler. However, an Ark during the 1930s, when the artist was painting, would definitely have been such a craft. Introduce the term anachronism and speak to how an artist uses “out of place” images to make a point or reference. Talk about why the artist would have done this. What would it have accomplished? Would it have made people feel more connected to the story? Why would she have made the angels Black?
3. Present the students with an image that they are all familiar with such as the Eiffel Tower or the Disney Castle or the White House. Then present them with an image of that thing that is totally anachronistic - so that thing in the water or on the moon or in the 1600s. Have a discussion about why seeing something so out of place makes us react and wonder.
4. Have students create a collage where they go through magazines to find a picture of something from a specific time period but then they create a backdrop (either through collage, diorama or drawing/painting) from a different time period or place. Have them also write a short explanation of why it is out of place.
MD State Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1/CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1/CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1/CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1/CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1/CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1
Art: Cr2:E:3:3-5:2/Cr2:E:6-8:2