1. The artistic style of Van Gogh and a study
Wind and Wings
A STEAM unit combining
The artistic style of Van Gogh and a study
of Barn Owls
Cheryl Maxwell
Art Teacher
Grandview Elementary
Bloomington, Indiana
U.S.A.
47403

2. Motion and Motivation
in the beginning we just looked at images of barn owls. The Still images surprised my students. The heart shaped face and small beak, The beautiful feathers, held them silent.
we watched a you-tube video of a barn owl flying over a field in England. In the video the narrator’s voice carried my students along as they watched the owl as if they were side by side.

3. Wind and Wings

4. Feather lamination
Students learned that bird feathers do not always have quills in the middle. Quills are offset sometimes to allow for overlapping or lamination.
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Bird feathers laminate on the down stroke to form a solid wall to work against the force of gravity. Feathers de-laminate on the back stroke to allow for least resistance
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5. Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

6. The artistic style of van gogh
After viewing several examples of Vincent van gogh’s painting style, students painted their barn owls in the same style, students added thick layers of tempera paint and textured their drawings with short brushstrokes to mimic van gogh’s style. The painting Starry Night encouraged students to add colorful wind lines to trace the flight of their bird.

7. Students combined all that they learned about barn owls, aerodynamics, and the painting style of Vincent van gogh
The final result of our unit was interesting. Many children showed emotions like joy and peacefulness through their paintings. Students enjoyed quizzing each other on facts that they learned about barn owls, feathers and Vincent van Gogh’
We decided to continue our study to design flying machines based on early Da Vinci drawings and what we learned about bat wings and flight.