**National Park Service**

***Teaching with Museum Collections* Lesson Plan**

**Bandelier National Monument**

Jan 2005 Draft

### 

### Title: A New Deal for Artists

### Developers: 

### Ranjit Khalsa, Teacher, Cesar Chavez Community School

### Karen Sixkiller, Teacher, Turquoise Trail Charter School; Santa Fe, New Mexico

### Grade Level: 4^th^ -- 6^th^ grade, can be adjusted for others

### Length of Lesson: 

### 

### Overview of this Collection-Based Lesson Plan

-   ***Park Name***: Bandelier National Monument

-   ***Theme***: Art impacts people and society, and creates lasting
    change.

-   ***Essential question*.**

    -   How did the artists who were commissioned to produce artwork for
        the Works Progress Administration \[WPA\] during the New Deal
        create a cultural legacy?

-   ***Relevance***

    -   Emphasis on connecting the idea of the school and school
        community to the artistic depictions of Native American culture,
        and on the idea that one person can make a difference through
        art.

-   ***Museum Collections Used in this Lesson Plan***

> Pablita Velarde paintings \[see below for detailed descriptions\]

### National Educational Standards

> Chapter 3, US and World History Standards for Grades 5 - 12
>
> Topic: 2: The History of Students\' Own State or Region
>
> Standard 2C: [The student understands opposition to the New Deal, the
> alternative programs of its detractors, and the legacy of the New
> Deal.]{.underline} Evaluate the significance and legacy of the New
> Deal.
>
> Standard 2A: [The student understands the New Deal and the presidency
> of Franklin D. Roosevelt.]{.underline} Analyze the involvement of
> minorities and women in the New Deal and its impact upon them (Assess
> the importance of the individual in history).

-   **New Mexico Educational Standards**

> Content Standard 4: [Demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics of
> the creative process.]{.underline} Grade 5-8 B. Understand how
> qualities and characteristics of various art media, techniques, and
> processes influence the creative process to communicate experiences
> and ideas. 1. Discuss specific instances in which culture influences
> art.
>
> [K-4 Benchmark I-A: Describe how contemporary and historical people
> and events have influenced New Mexico communities and
> regions]{.underline}. 1. Identify important issues, events, and
> individuals from New Mexico pre-history to the present.

### Student Learning Objectives 

-   Critically analyze objects from the Bandelier National Monument
    museum collection that were created as part of the Works Progress
    Administration \[WPA\]

-   Use the analysis to develop an understanding of the impact of art on
    American culture

-   Communicate their ideas and hypotheses through an artistic
    presentation of similar work and verbal discussion of their
    experience and its impact.

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-   **Background and Historical Context**

The WPA was part of the Federal Works Agency, a program begun to provide
useful work in the arts as well as other areas during the Great
Depression. Between 1936 and 1940 many artists were commissioned to
produce public works in New Mexico. Two notable artists, Pablita Velarde
and Helmuth Naumer, were commissioned to depict New Mexican Pueblo life
for Bandelier National Monument. As it turned out, not only did their
work fulfill its purpose in showing aspects of the Pueblo culture to
park visitors, but in Pablita's case it also created a legacy of its
own. Through her work at Bandelier and later, Pablita opened doors for
other artists, especially Pueblo women, and changed people\'s attitudes
about Native Americans and Native American art.

[Pablita Velarde]{.underline}, from the Pueblo of Santa Clara near
Espanola in northern New Mexico, was in her teens when she was
commissioned to make drawings for the museum at Bandelier. As a child
she attended St. Catherine\'s Boarding School in Santa Fe. There, and at
the Santa Fe Indian School where she was a student of Dorothy Dunn, she
was encouraged to develop her artistic ability, even though in her
culture at that time painting was not considered a suitable career for
girls. She dreamed of following in the footsteps of the only other
Pueblo woman painter at that time, Tonita Pena, from San Ildefonso
Pueblo. After the project at Bandelier, she went on to become one of the
best-known Pueblo easel artists.

[Helmuth Naumer Sr.]{.underline} was born in Germany and as a young man
moved to the United States, as he wanted to experience the West that he
had read about in novels of the cowboy life. After a time in the
Merchant Marines, he settled in Santa Fe and began learning the use of
pastels. In the 1930s, as part of the WPA, he created a series of pastel
paintings showing scenes in Bandelier National Monument and nearby
pueblos, including the one featured in this lesson. Although his
luminous scenes were highly admired by those who knew of them, he never
gained recognition in the art world since he preferred to give his works
away rather than selling them. He passed away in 1990.

### 

### Museum Collections Used in this Lesson Plan

[1. Mens Dance By Pablita Velarde BAND
674](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/band/exb_art/BAND674_painting_exb.html)

[2. Buffalo Dance By Pablita Velarde, BAND
706](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/band/exb_art/BAND706_painting_exb.html)

[3. Taos Pueblo By Helmut Naumer, Sr. BAND
1408](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/band/exb_art/BAND1408_painting_exb.html)

### Materials Used in this Lesson Plan

### 

-   *Similar items*. Copies of the three artworks, printed in color and
    possibly laminated

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-   *Art-making materials*: Pencils and sketch pads, watercolor paints,
    paint brushes, student-quality water color paper, water cups,
    non-toxic pastel sticks (or crayons or colored pencils if
    necessary), pastel paper with \"tooth\"

-   *Technology*: Computers with Internet connection and printers to
    access the Web.

### Vocabulary

### On a large chart in the classroom, create a word and concept list with students as the lesson unfolds. Write definitions with student input as words come into use. For reference:

[Bandelier]{.underline} - Bandelier National Monument, near Los Alamos,
New Mexico. It was established in 1916 to preserve thousands of
archeological sites related to the Ancestral Pueblo people, and was
named for early anthropologist Adolph F.A. Bandelier

[Casein]{.underline} -- a type of paint based on lactose \[a protein
precipitated from milk\]

[Commissioned]{.underline} - to arrange with an artist to create a
particular painting or object

Culture - a group of people who share traditions, beliefs, and customs.
Sometimes the word is used to mean the traditions, beliefs, and customs
themselves, and things or activities related to them.

[Legacy]{.underline} - something of lasting value left behind by
someone. Sometimes it is an object, but often it is more related to
greater understanding or greater appreciation of something.

[Masonite]{.underline} -- a type of wood-based board that is rigid but
brittle

[Native Americans]{.underline} (also often known as Indians) - The
people who were living on the North and South American continents before
explorers from Europe and other places arrived, and their descendents.

[Pastels]{.underline} -- an art medium somewhat like a waxy stick of
chalk, which come in a huge array of color tones and are difficult to
master.

[Pueblo]{.underline} - Spanish word for village, used to mean a
community of people with particular customs, including farming, weaving,
and making pottery, and their settlement. There are presently 19 pueblos
in New Mexico, plus the Hopis in Arizona and Isleta del Sur outside of
El Paso, Texas.

[Santa Clara]{.underline} - a present-day pueblo located near Espanola,
New Mexico

[Tooth]{.underline} - a texture on paper used for art which "bites" the
pastel crayon so the color will readily stick to the paper

[Works Progress Administration \[WPA\]]{.underline} - an agency
established as a part of the New Deal during the Great Depression which
hired artists of many kinds to do works benefiting the public.

**Teacher Tips**:

-   Visit the Bandelier National Monument Museum Collections web exhibit
    at the NPS Museum Management Program website at
    [www.cr.nps.gov/museum](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum) to download
    collection images used in this lesson plan, as well as additional
    images and lesson plans related to Bandelier National Monument, and
    materials from other parks.

-   Visit the Bandelier National Monument website at
    [www.nps.gov/band](http://www.nps.gov/band) for more information
    about the park.

-   See general scenery photos of Bandelier National Monument online at
    photo.itc.nps.gov/storage/images/index.html

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-   Ahead of time, download and print the necessary number of pictures
    of each art object; consider laminating them.

-   Read and review all background information and any available
    resources.

-   Gather all art materials ahead of time.

-   Allow 2-3 weeks to receive any books or videos on loan from
    Bandelier.

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-   **Lesson Implementation Procedures**

**[Activity 1: Introduction and Warm Up]{.underline}**

-   With an overhead projector and several color prints of the two
    Pablita Velarde paintings to pass around, begin a guided discussion,
    \"What do you see in these pictures?\" List students\' answers on
    chalkboard or chart paper.

**[Activity 2: Compare and Contrast]{.underline}**

-   Looking at the Naumer *Taos* painting, discuss what you see in it.
    What can you understand about the people who live here from looking
    at this picture of their town? These people live and work close
    together. Create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the
    elements of the two artists\' work. Include differences in
    technique, subject matter, and style, as well as similarities in
    what they show of Pueblo culture, community etc. (A Venn Diagram
    consists of two large circles that overlap, with a subject assigned
    to each circle. Things that are the same about the 2 subjects go in
    the overlap area, while, things that differ between them go in the
    opposing sides.)

**[Activity 3: Online Exploration of Artworks and
Background]{.underline}** (if Internet access is available)

-   Have students go online to the Bandelier web exhibit and collection
    photos at www.cr.nps.gov/museum. Ask them to view the paintings by
    Pablita and Naumer that they have not seen yet, with the idea that
    they will be creating something similar.

-   Partway into the time allowed to work with the computers, stop the
    activity for a few minutes. As a class, discuss what students are
    seeing and noticing in the paintings, and how they can use these
    observations in their own upcoming drawings. Then return to the web
    work, urging the students to look for particular aspects of the
    paintings that will help them make their own.

**[Activity 4a: Creating Pastel Scenes of the School
Community]{.underline}**

-   Discuss your school as your community. Compare/contrast your school
    community to the communities shown in the paintings.

-   Inform students the class will be creating art using their school
    and/or teachers and students as subjects.

-   Choose a place outside where students have the choice of viewing and
    sketching either the playground or the school building. As a class
    or as individual students, sketch preliminary \"landscapes\" leaving
    room for details and people to be done later.

-   Return to the classroom and fill in the details of the buildings and
    the related people with pastels, crayons, colored pencils, or
    watercolors; this probably should be completed on another day.

-   Discuss what someone who had never been to your school could learn
    about your community from the class' drawings. Perhaps consider what
    they would tell someone looking at them sixty years later, as
    happens with us when we look at Pablita Velarde's drawings.

**[Activity 4b: Art and/or Mapping]{.underline}**

-   For younger students, divide the class into separate groups, each
    with crayons, a piece of paper, and an adult leader. Assign each
    group a different room/area of the school to draw, including both
    the structure and the people who use it. Assemble the drawings,
    mural-style, into a large portrait of the school. This can be used
    to build mapping and math skills.

**[Activity 5: Effects of Art]{.underline}**

**[Wrap Up Discussion and Writing Activity]{.underline}**

-   Discuss the effects of this artistic process.

-   Did creating these pieces of art have an effect on you? The way you
    view each other? The way you view our school as a community?

-   How were others affected by the work?

-   What kind of changes came from this work? Changes in student
    artists\' and others\' perceptions, ideas, feelings, etc.

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-   **Evaluation/Assessment for Measurable Results**

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-   Assess participation during initial discussions while analyzing the
    art pieces.

-   Display all the works of art in a public space like the hallway or
    cafeteria. Have students view and invite others (classrooms,
    parents, and staff) to view the artwork. As a part of the exhibit,
    have the students write labels, captions, or an introduction to
    explain what they did, how, and why.

-   Encourage students to observe how others react to their work. Look
    for specific comments, reactions, feelings, and effects.

-   Instruct students to write a reflection about their art show
    focusing on 3 key questions:

    -   What were the effects of this art project on you?

    -   What were the effects of this art project on others?

    -   What kinds of changes do you think this art project and/or other
        art

> can create?

### 

### Extension and Enrichment Activities

As you discuss the Pablita Velarde paintings, have students split into
small groups to research the activities shown in the images, and report
their findings back to the whole class. Emphasis could be on the
artistic aspects of the costumes, or the dances themselves and their
meanings, or individual items used or worn by the dancers and their
importance to the pueblo culture.

Among the Pablita Velarde paintings in the web collection are ones
showing activities other than dances. Look at some of these images with
the idea of learning about other aspects of the pueblo culture. Another
Bandelier NM Teaching with Museum Collections lesson plan at
www.cr.nps.gov/museum, *Community Roles of Pueblo People Past and
Present*, deals with this topic.

### Resources

**[Charts]{.underline}** such as '*How to Read an Object*" \[to be
launched at [www.cr.nps.gov/museum](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum)\]

**[National Park Service websites:]{.underline}**

Bandelier National Monument Museum Collections web exhibit:
[www.cr.nps.gov/museum](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum) and
www.nps.gov/band

Bandelier National Park website: <http://www.nps.gov/band>

Bandelier scenery at photo.itc.nps.gov/storage/images/index.html.

National Park Service Museum Collections website:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum

Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem

**[Books and videos on/by Pablita Velarde]{.underline}**

Nelson, Mary Carroll, *Pablita Velarde, The Story of an American
Indian*, Dillon Press, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1971.

Ruch, Marcella J., *Pablita Velarde Painting Her People*, New Mexico
Magazine, New Mexico, 2001. \*\*\*

Velarde, Pablita, *Old Father Story Teller*, Clear Light Publisher,
Santa Fe New Mexico, 1989. \*\*\*

Videos*: Pablita Velarde, Golden Dawn*, 24 min, KNME (De Colores series)
\*\*\* (content general biographical, including information on her
family)

*Pablita Velarde*, 27 min, available in VHS or DVD (more emphasis on her
art, her time at Bandelier, and her ideas about art)

**[Books and video on Works Progress Administration]{.underline}**

Flynn, Kathryn A., *Treasures on New Mexico Trails*, Sunstone Press,
Santa Fe New Mexico, 1995.\*\*\*

McKinzie, Richard D., *The New Deal for Artists*, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, NJ, 1973

[Video**: **]{.underline}*Promises Kept...The New Deal Art of New
Mexico*, 24 min, KNME\*\*\*

**[Book on Helmuth Naumer Sr.]{.underline}**

Gerald Peters Gallery, *Helmuth Naumer, Old New Mexico,* The Peters
Corporation, 1996 (this will probably be hard to find)

**[Books on Bandelier]{.underline}**

*Bandelier National Monument*, Western National Parks Association,
Tucson, 1990. \*\*\*

\*\*\* Materials marked with \*\*\* are usually available for free loan
from Bandelier National Monument. Contact 505-672-3861 x 513

### Site Visit

*[Virtual NPS Pre-Visit]{.underline}*

-   Visit the Bandelier National Monument Museum Collections web exhibit
    at [www.cr.nps.gov/museum](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum)

-   Visit the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Museum Collections
    web exhibit at [www.cr.nps.gov/museum](http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum)

*[Pre-visit]{.underline}*:

-   If planning to visit Bandelier National Monument, contact the
    Visitor Center (505-672-3861 x 517) to find out if any of the items
    you are interested in showing to the students are currently on
    display.

-   Other locations for learning about Pueblo culture include:

*Museum of Indian Arts and Culture*, Santa Fe, New Mexico
http://www.miaclab.org/indexfl.html

*Maxwell Museum of Anthropology*, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
http://www.unm.edu/\~maxwell/

710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-827-6463
[www.miaclab.org](http://www.miaclab.org/)

*Millicent Rogers Museum*, Taos, New Mexico

1504 Millicent Rogers Rd, Taos, NM 87571, 505-758-2462
[www.millicentrogers.com](http://www.millicentrogers.com/)

*San Ildefonso Pueblo Museum*, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico

Rt 5 Box 315A, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-455-2273

*Indian Pueblo Cultural Center*, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2401 12^th^ St, Albuquerque, NM 87104 1-800-766-4405
www.indianpueblo.org

*Southwest Museum,* Los Angeles, California

234 Museum Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90065 323-221-2164
[www.southwestmuseum.org](http://www.southwestmuseum.org/)

*Museum of Northern Arizona*, Flagstaff, Arizona

3101 N Ft. Valley Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 928-774-5213
[www.musnaz.org](http://www.musnaz.org/)

*Florence Hawley Ellis Anthropology Museum*, Ghost Ranch Conference
Center,

HC 77 Box 11, Abiquiu, NM 87510 505-685-4333
[www.ghostranch.org](http://www.ghostranch.org/)

-   To learn more about current Native American art students and their
    work,

Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA), 108 Cathedral Pl, Santa Fe, NM
87501, (505) 983-8900 or 983-1777

-   To get acquainted with artwork in the New Mexico state collection,

Museum of Fine Arts, 107 West Palace Ave (on the Santa Fe plaza), Santa
Fe, NM, 87501 (505) 476-5072. FAX (505) 476-5071,
[www.mfasantafe.org](http://www.mfasantafe.org/)

-   Contact the proper office at the institution to make reservations,
    and find out practical matters you will need to handle ahead.
    Arrange for plenty of active, assertive, interested chaperones.

-   Before the visit, have students visit the institution's website for
    an overview, or obtain brochures and other written/visual materials
    about the site. Have the class come up with a list of questions to
    guide the visit. Work with site staff to arrange the visit with
    challenging activities.

-   

[*Site visit*:]{.underline}

-   At the site, have students select at least two objects to analyze.
    Provide "How to Read an Object" sheets, which include an object
    sketch sheet (white space to make a detailed sketch of the objects).
    For younger students, develop a "scavenger hunt" object list to
    encourage close observation skills.

*[Post-visit]{.underline}*: See extension activity list for ideas for
post-visit student presentation ideas.