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1Who is Diego Rivera?
Diego Rivera was a painter from Mexico who lived from 1886 to 1947. He was a MURALIST. A muralist is someone who paints huge paintings on the sides of walls.
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2His Murals
Click on the next JOG to see the videos of the murals.
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3Mural in Mexico City
Check out the YOUTube video showing the mural.
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4Another view of the mural.
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5Check out the murals up close.
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6Who did he marry?
Diego married another very famous Mexican artist: Frida Kahlo. Here is a very old video clip of them together.
Check out this slide show of Frida and her art.
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7Diego and Frida
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8Where did he live?
Diego Rivera lived in Mexico City.
Check out this link to learn more about Mexico:
http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/mexico.html
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9Why are his murals special?
His murals were very important to the people of Mexico. They helped the people have pride in their history and country.
His murals were so good, he even made some in the United States. Besides-they are fun to look at! They are almost like a puzzle that you
have to figure out becuase he tells stories with his pictures. He writes with shapes instead of words! -
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10What does that have to do with A.S.K.?
Everything! If we look at his murals and "read" the story, it will help us to learn to think in pictures. When you think in pictures, it is easier to write your own story. Let's practice writing a mural story. We will create our own story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
http://www.screencast.com/users/terigragg/folders/Jing/media/0249278d-c8c5-42c7-aafd-e9af7d767adf
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11Diego and writing, huh?
So how does Diego relate to writing?
First let's look at one of my favorite Diego murals. This is called Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, 1948. Now check out this one,
The Great City of Tenochtitlan :
What are some things you see in COMMON in the murals? What are some things that are different? Here's some help...
character, setting, environment, emotion, feeling, story, jumbled, alot of stuff...
Now let's talk about writing. What is in a story? Let's use the Night Before Christmas as a story to talk about. Watch this next video. Then we will look at the book. Remember to try to read the story with the pictures.
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12Diego gets a commission: Twas the Night Before Christmas
So let's get a little crazy...image you are Diego Rivera and you just got commissioned to paint a mural of Twas the Night Before Christmas on the side of our school. You would first have to research the story. Diego would look at all types of media to help him create his visual images for his murals. If he were alive today, he might even visit YOUTUBE. So check out this version of the story and look at it through Diego's eyes. Think about what you would USE for your mural if you were Diego and had to make a Twas the Night Before Christmas mural.
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13Let's COMPARE
If you were Diego, what are some of the things you saw and heard about in the story?
characters, setting, house, Santa, people, a lot of stuff, words...
How would Diego use those images to make his picture story? Just like in writing, he would use steps. He would think about his characters, his theme (plot), and his setting. Then he would create his story. Let's try to make our OWN story using his tricks and technique.
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14Let's write our own story.
Let's write a story with a beginning (introduction) and middle (body) and an end (conclusion). Whenever you write a good story remember these few tips:
Use adjectives (describing words).
Have a great OPENING sentence to catch the readers attention.
Make your INTRODUCTION really good.
Use the BODY to tell the details.
Make a great CONCLUSION.
Have a consistent storyline or theme for all three parts of your story-that way it makes sense.
So let's create a story. I'll start the first sentence, then you have to add or build the next sentence.
Our storyline or THEME is...
ANTICIPATION
So let's write a story about anticipating something important, happy, scary, exciting happeneing.
Who are our actors and actresses? Our characters in our story?
Where is it located?
What time of day, year, season, time period is it?
OK-we have the basics, so let's start...
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15The story...
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16The ART
Lets make a Diego Rivera mural!
Here's how we will do it.
1. Think about the story we just made. Each person gets 1 sentence.
2. Using your sentences, take a piece of sloppy copy paper, hold it vertically and draw your sentence REALLY large. Remember to put your picture in a setting. Our setting will all be the same so it is consistent.
3. Make your character(s) and your setting large. Character and setting are A.S.K. VOCABULARY.
4. If you have time, color it in with markers.
5. When we are all done, we will fit the story together by putting each person's part of the story (or sentence) in the right order. If we did it right, it will make a class mural!
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17Learn more about Diego's life here.
Check out this site to learn abou Diego.
http://www.diego-rivera.org/biography.html