Lesson Overview
This lesson brings Nebraska Language Arts, Social Studies, and National Visual Arts together. It focuses on the contributions made by John James Audubon. Students use information and techniques to create a print of their own.

Art Exemplar
Title:  Hooping Crane - Young (Sandhill Crane)
Artist: John James Audubon (1785-1851)
Medium: handcolored lithograph - double elephant folio size
Date: 1835

Objectives
• Students will compare and contrast Audubon's works by participating in a group discussion and describing how the images communicate ideas and stories, and elicit viewer response.
• Students will apply their knowledge of John James Audubon and printmaking by creating a print depicting Audubon's style.
Students will react to Audubon's exploration and techniques by writing a final draft of his contributions to Western expansion.
• Students will increase vocabulary by using new vocabulary in discussion and writing activities.
• Students will show their knowledge of drawing steps by sketching a model of a bird or animal in the style of Audubon.
Procedure

1. Read She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head. Discuss the controversy and students’ thoughts concerning this book.
2. Review vocabulary and do activities to build comprehension.
3. View items from a local museum or taxidermy center.
4. Discuss Audubon's technique of collecting specimens and then creating works of art.
5. Have students view postcards, book, and MONA website images of Audubon's wildlife.
6. Give the history about artist's life, purpose, and contributions. Background of Artist: Audubon was born in Haiti, the illegitimate son of a successful merchant and planter. He was taken to France at the age of 3 and educated among the well-to-do. He was said to have had artistic skills and to have enjoyed drawing from an early age. In 1803, Audubon was in Pennsylvania managing his father's estate where he began his ventures into ornithology in earnest. In 1820, he made his goal the publication of an anthology of bird drawings. He traveled the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the Great Lakes, exploring for birds. Unable to find a publisher in America, he traveled to London in 1826-1827 where William Lizars and Robert Howell, Jr. were his engravers. In 1831, Audubon returned to the United States. In 1843, Audubon took the steamer, Omega, from St. Louis up the Missouri River to Fort Union and then overland to the Yellowstone River, making stops in Nebraska in May of 1843 and again in October on his return downstream. Along the way, he saw birds and animals where Catlin had seen Indians. Audubon had already become well known for his The Birds of America when he came to Nebraska on this 1843 trip. His new dream, though, was to do a series on American mammals. The purpose of the trip was to gather specimens for painting. He returned to St. Louis in Indian hunting dress with live deer, badgers, and foxes. He completed the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America in 1848 with the help of his sons, John Woodhouse and Victor.
7. Discuss and demonstrate relief printmaking.
Activities
1. Students create wildlife sketches using gesture and contour drawing styles.
2. Using Styrofoam trays, students will recreate one of their drawn images onto the printing surface of the tray.
3. After practicing quality print methods, students should produce 5 prints using their wildlife sketches.
4. Students revise and edit narrative compositions to complete a final draft.
Conclusion
1. Display one of the images with the written composition.
2. Review how artists are commissioned to create art and document information.
3. Discuss the different techniques Audubon employed to produce art.
4. Review vocabulary and do activities to build comprehension.
5. Students may trade/barter with each other using their extra prints.
Related Activities
1. Social Studies
1. Learn about more Nebraska artist-explorers.
2. Language Arts
1. Students write their own fictional account of early exploration.
2. Students research and report on Nebraska artist-explorers.
3. Art
1. Learn more about John James Audubon and other works he created.
2. Explore other artists of wildlife art.
3. Explore other printing techniques.
4. Science
1. Learn about wildlife conservation/preservation issues.