CyberMuse Teachers - Lesson Plans
Aboriginal Voices in Canadian Contemporary Art

Lesson Plan Activity:
Make a Parfleche: Grade 9-12

Summary

Description:

After exploring various artworks, the students will experiment with the characteristics and creative potential of the work of contemporary Aboriginal artists. By making a parfleche, they will come to understand the importance that Aboriginal peoples attach to the aesthetic value of objects.

Theory:

The students will produce a parfleche that expresses their intention, using a variety of materials and tools. They will confidently use their personal, social and cultural experiences and/or their physical environment as the basis of their visual expression.

Creation:

The students will use a variety of materials and tools to produce a parfleche that expresses their intention. They will confidently use their personal, social and cultural experiences and/or their physical environment as the basis of their visual expression.

Analysis:

The students will show their understanding of the relation between art and identity and/or cultural context and of the use of materials and processes.

Cross Curriculum Links:

This lesson plan also explores the following subject areas: Canadian studies, history and geography, English.

Duration:

6 40-minute sessions

  • Session 1: discussion of the suggested work and of parfleches
  • Session 2: research, analysis of the components collected, sketches
  • Sessions 3 and 4: making a parfleche
  • Session 5: writing a description of their parfleche
  • Session 6: presentation of the artwork, discussion

Look & Discuss

Present and discuss with your class a selection of the 7 featured artworks in the Artwork & Artists slideshow

(Tabs will provide you with information on the theme, composition, interpretation and the artist.)

A downloadable Presentation that you can add to or manipulate will also help you share these images in your classroom.

Use the suggested artworks as the basis for a discussion. What design elements and design principles can we find in these works? Discuss the different techniques and effects used to create shapes, forms, texture and colours, balance, rhythm, proportion and harmony. Why do Aboriginal artists represent their personal or cultural history? What is cultural identity? What is a parfleche? What was it used for? What was inside it? Why do Amerindians illustrate their lives on functional objects? In what ways is a parfleche similar to their own backpacks or handbags? Open the door to a more profound discussion and suggest avenues of research to the students.

Ask your students to make a list of small objects or photos they could use for their parfleche. These can be found objects or objects that belong to their family. They will use them to create a personal artwork that reflects their own personal, social and/or cultural experiences. Discuss with them the importance of traditions and customs (family and/or cultural). Ask them to question parents and friends about their cultural and family traditions and customs. When they have brought in their materials, ask them to analyze them before using them. Ask them to question themselves. Why have they chosen to bring in one element rather than another? How will the elements relate to one another? Will they need to include all of them, or are they going to choose the most significant or most striking ones? Ask them to analyze the importance of the parfleche for the First Nations and to draw inspiration from their own experiences to make one of their own. Ask the students to decorate the inside as well as the outside. They can also make and include special personal objects in their parfleche.

Materials

    • Pieces of leather (old leather or suede jackets, old schoolbags or handbags?) to make a parfleche the size of an envelope
    • Cloth (may be may be connected to the family heritage, from a child?s soft toy, a tablecloth, an old blanket or quilt, lace?)
    • Small objects (crafts, pieces of wood, feathers, thumbtacks, nails, flower petals, leaves, buttons, utensils?)
    • White glue or glue stick
    • Glue gun
    • Scissors
    • Needles
    • Sewing thread
    • Tempera paint
    • Fine paintbrushes
    • Punches
    • Crayons, coloured pencils or felt pens
    • Laces, string or leather cord
    • 8 cm x 12 cm paper (for labels)

Preparation Tasks

  • Prepare the masonite boards by covering them with gesso and allowing them to dry.

Create

Create Activity Image 1

After the suggested discussion, encourage your students to research parfleches, their use, their origin, their shape, and the different motifs used by Aboriginal artists.

Create Activity Image 2

Encourage your students to analyze the objects and motifs they have brought in and discovered in their research. They can then cut out and assemble pieces of leather and/or suede to be used in making the parfleche.

Create Activity Image 3

Ask your students to think carefully about the size, dimensions and choice of material for their parfleche.

Create Activity Image 4

Urge your students to modify their components, use cut-outs and/or include painting, drawing and writing, cut shapes in cloth, attach components together with string, glue components together to form a new one?.

Create Activity Image 5

The students should next arrange the components on the outside and inside of their parfleche (ask them to analyze different options before gluing them permanently).

Create Activity Image 6

Signing and titling the work: give a label to each student and ask them to write on it the title of the work, the name of the artist, and the materials used to create the artwork.

Take it Further

Ask your students to write a text on the parfleche as though they were writing an article for the local newspaper (maximum of 300 words). In the article, they should explain why the parfleche they made constitutes a personal representation of their cultural identity. The students may also compare the historical use of parfleches by Aboriginal peoples and our contemporary use of handbags, backpacks? Are they symbols of prestige or bags that are essential to survival in the present-day world? Is there a connection between the decorative motifs of Aboriginal peoples and the graffiti and decorations we add to our handbags and backpacks?

Set out the parfleches on a table and have the students walk around and look at their classmates? artworks.

Ask your students to present their parfleches (orally or in writing), referring to the criteria in the attached evaluation guide.

Finish the session by reviewing the experience acquired and the subject matter learned during the activity.

You can take advantage of this activity to designate an ?Identity Month? at your school and ask other teachers to organize a project on the topic. End the month with something special: mount an exhibition in the school. Involve the students at every stage of the exhibition (making invitations, posters, and labels for the artworks, hanging the exhibition, etc.). Invite parents and friends.

Assessment Guide

1 2 3

Theory Criterion
To what extent does the student show that he understands certain concepts of the history of Canadian Aboriginal art?

The student shows a basic under-standing of the history of Canadian Aboriginal art.

The student shows a fairly sophisticated under-standing of the history of Canadian Aboriginal art.

The student shows a very sophisticated under-standing of the history of Canadian Aboriginal art.

Theory Criterion
To what extent does the student demonstrate his understanding (by identification and analysis) of the various design principles (contrast, balance, rhythm, proportion, harmony, movement, unity, variety) and design elements (line, shape, form, texture, colour, space) in planning his artwork?

The student shows that he had a minimal under-standing of the various design principles and elements as he planned his artwork.

The student is effective in showing that he understood the various design principles and elements as he planned his artwork.

The student demonstrates very eloquently that he understood various design principles and elements as he planned his artwork.

Creation Criterion
To what extent has the student used his personal, social and cultural experiences and/or his physical environment as the basis of his visual expression?

The student has made very little use of his personal, social and cultural experiences and/or his physical environment as the basis of his visual expression.

The student has made effective use of his personal, social and cultural experiences and/or his physical environment as the basis of his visual expression.

The student has made exceptionally good use of his personal, social and cultural experiences and/or his physical environment as the basis of his visual expression.

Analysis Criterion
Is the student able to show that he understands the relation between art and identity and/or cultural context?

The student has difficulty expressing his under-standing of the relation between art and identity and/or cultural context.

The student is effective in expressing his under-standing of the relation between art and identity and/or cultural context.

The student expresses in exemplary fashion his under-standing of the relation between art and identity and/or cultural context.

Analysis Criterion
Is the student able to describe his understanding of the use of materials and processes?

The student has difficulty expressing his under-standing of the use of materials and processes.

The student is effective in expressing his under-standing of the use of materials and processes.

The student expresses in exemplary fashion his understanding of the use of materials and processes.