Artful Assessment

Mixed Grades 3/4 Social Studies and Visual Arts Lessons

Dark Harbor Fishermen is a richly symbolic painting based on real people whom Wyeth saw regularly in the harbor near Port Clyde. The painting celebrates a certain way of life; Wyeth gives us a bird’s-eye view of men laboring on the sea, carving their livelihood out of the murky depths of a mysterious ocean. Wyeth transforms an everyday day scene of ordinary people into an emblem of Maine character and hard work through composition, color, and style. In the art class, students explore the composition of Dark Harbor Fishermen, looking for shapes, patterns, and repetition, and understand the way the repeated elements create visual unity and interesting relationships between the objects. Students experiment with these art elements in their own ocean-themed collagraph prints. In the social studies class, students use Dark Harbor Fishermen as an example of one Maine’s most important industries. Students work in groups to select a Maine industry to research and will be inspired by Wyeth’s work when creating their own paintings that illustrate their Maine industries.