Art and Weather (Guenter)

Growing up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania teaches you to appreciate and enjoy each of the seasons—winter blasts blowing in from Canada and Buffalo, brisk spring days with slush and mud, balmy summers, and some of the most colorful fall colors anywhere in the world. So it is with strong memories and a certain amount of curiosity that I watch this winter unfold across our country and in my community. Right now from Chicago through New England there is frigid cold. The Pacific Northwest has been hammered with snow and rain. And here I am in Chico, CA with sunny and record-breaking warm temperatures in the 70s. Typically we have eleven inches of rain this month. So far in 2009 it has been a quarter of an inch. It is time to worry about the weather in Northern California.

Weather affects each of us every day. Artists have used weather as a tool, as inspiration, as stage, and as a symbol in their art since the earliest times. As an art educator, you might consider the power of integrating weather into your art lessons. Techniques, history, time periods, specific artists, and media all offer interesting starting points for lessons and units. Furthermore, you might consider the direct connections between art and science. The meteorologist looks at weather one way and an artist may have the same information and look at it completely differently. What a great way to address different perspectives and points of view. And when these perspectives are combined the learning become richer and more meaningful.

Certainly, many landscape paintings provide clues to the types of weather that are occurring in them. I enjoy being an art weather detective whether I am looking at paintings or actually outside walking, hiking, or riding my bike. What are the clues? Look at the light. Look at the change in color. Look at the direction of the shadows. What does the "temperature" of the colors used tell you? How do you think you would feel in this environment? Why?

Wherever you live and whatever the weather is, consider these possibilities and how they might influence the making of art for you and your students. I offer you my humble introductory selection of paintings that could get you started with your own art and weather curriculum integration.

In alphabetical order by artist:
Sierra Nevada in California, Albert Bierstadt
Paris, A Rainy Day, Gustave Caillebotte
The Biglen Brothers Racing, Thomas Eakins
View of Toledo, El Greco
Cape Cod Afternoon, Edward Hopper
A View Down Akersgate, Oslo, William H. Johnson
Regatta, St. Adesse, Monet
Part of the Cliff [.SWF file], Georgia O'Keeffe
Luminous Dawn, Jules Olitski
Howl of the Weather, Frederic Remington
Venice in Gray Weather, John Singer Sargent
The Green Vineyard, Vincent Van Gogh
Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh
Hurricane, Bahamas, Winslow Homer
Winter, Taos Pueblo, Nat Youngblood