Description

Integrated art and social studies activities use the brush in the creation of painting, poetry, and calligraphy, known in the East Asian countries of China, Korea, and Japan as the "three perfections."

Grade level:
grades 5 or 6

Activity

There are six lessons and a museum visit in this unit. Each social studies lesson is approximately forty-five to sixty minutes, and each art lesson is approximately sixty minutes. These art and social studies lessons can be taught either separately, or as team-teaching assignments, with integrated content and tasks that complement each other.

Introduction
Students will learn how to create works of art that include the three perfections in traditional East Asian formats. They will learn the importance of the three perfections in traditional East Asian countries, and the virtues, values, and personal qualities that are prized in these societies. Excelling in the three perfections was the measure of an accomplished scholar in traditional East Asia. By mastering painting, poetry, and calligraphy, a scholar attains knowledge and thereby develops his character.

The lessons take as their starting point three paintings from The Detroit Institute of Arts Asian collection: Ode to the Pomegranate and Melon Vine by Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Wang Ao (1450-1524), Plum Blossom Fan by Chong Tae-gyu (active 19th century), and Flowers and Insects by Tsubaki Chinzan (1801-54). Each work of art contains the three perfections of painting, poetry, and calligraphy.

Plum Blossom Fan - more info 

Lesson One: Preparation-Learning to Look Discussion
Lesson Two: Seals-Art and Personal Symbol
Lesson Three: Calligraphy
Museum Visit
Lesson Four: Discovering and Painting the Plants of East Asia
Lesson Five: Garden and Poetry
Lesson Six: Summary