Big Things: Public Symbols in Canada

Overview

This unit can be used to reinforce ideas of art-making of all forms being a source of symbols and myths, providing themes and information about sense of identity and community.

Links to Curriculum Outcomes

Students will (be expected to)

  • explore factors that influence perceptions of identity at the level of community, region, and nation (social studies)
  • comprehend the concept of regional diversity (social studies)
  • contemplate issues representation with respect to challenging marginality and stereotypes (social studies)
  • analyse the distribution of power and authority in lives; explore art as action oriented to guaranteeing rights and freedom and challenging discrimination (social studies)
  • convey ideas about personal identity (visual arts)
  • engage in a persuasive writing exercise (language arts)

Themes / Key Words

  • icon
  • regional
  • landscape

Related Artwork

  • Rt. Hon. Sir John A Macdonald, Robert Harris CAG H-8314
  • Afterbirth/La Délivre, Yvon Gallant CAG 98.1.1
  • Song of the Nations, Armand Vaillancourt

Lesson #1: Roadside Attractions

ObjectiveStudents will consider the ideas of symbols and icons as bearers of identity, extending their knowledge to examine public sculptures built by communities to draw tourist dollars into their community – the world's largest oilcan, the world's largest Easter egg, the world's largest lobster, etc.

Materials

  • map of Canada
  • images of public monuments

Activities

In advance, the teacher should locate and print sample images of giant sculptures built by communities, readily available on the internet on sites such as or by searching for public sculpture, roadside attractions, or monuments in Canada

  1. With the class, review the role of symbols as manifest in the art works listed above (found in Telling Stories: Module 1). These symbols include the figure of Sir John A. Macdonald, the railway, lobsters, the fleur-de-lis, and trees in Canada.
  1. Introduce the class to several images of well-known or representative monuments, discussing the function of such sculptures in terms of both sense of community and economics (tourism). Discuss the sources of the icon, whether a reference to an individual, to nature, or to an artifact.
  1. Introduce the class to the idea of a game based on determining the sites of such monuments. Organize the class into groups of two or three, providing each group with an image of a community monument from a Canadian location. Have each group brainstorm the location of the monument, listing on paper their reasons for their conclusions, (i.e., what they know about the history of the region, landscape, wildlife, regional economic livelihood).
  1. In turn, have the groups present their image and their reasons for choosing the site where they believe it resides. Confirm, or have class contribute to discussion, marking sites on a map of Canada. Discuss why each icon is associated with the particular place and how it came to be symbolic.

Lesson #2: Expressing the Contemporary Francophone Experience

in Canada

ObjectiveStudents will be introduced to the idea of the use of symbols and icons in art as a way to address power inequities. Students will discuss art in terms of issues of marginality, stereotypes, and social justice.

Related Art Works

  • Afterbirth/La Délivre, Yvon Gallant
  • Song of the Nations, Armand Vaillancourt

Materials

  • recent Canadian national newspapers and magazines that can be cut up

Activities

  1. Introduce Yvon Gallant’s mural and Armand Vaillancourt’s sculpture as two ways artists have expressed the uniqueness and distinctive identities of their Francophone communities. If possible, gather several images of further examples of their work to present a greater sense of their practice.
  1. Raise questions as to the meaning of symbols such as the fleur-de-lis, the lobster, the railway and the symbolic use of colour in the context of their works. Ask students to explain what these symbols and the way they are used indicate about the interests and intentions of the artists and the unique histories of their two communities.
  1. Through discussion, ensure students have an overview of the histories of both communities, addressing the Acadian Expulsion and the subsequent history of the Acadians in the Maritimes, and the shifting relationship of Quebec within the broader Canadian context.
  1. Distribute the press materials among the students. Have students search the publications for recent articles on the Quebec or Acadian experiences. In discussion, have students present their articles, summarizing the basic themes they encountered, and comparing and contrasting the issues raised in the articles to the themes and tensions expressed in the art works.
  1. This lesson should reinforce a sense of art as a parallel medium of communication to mass media forms.

Lesson #3: You are Commissioned. . .

ObjectiveHaving considered the ideas of identity communicated in public commissions such as sculptures built by communities, students will write individual proposals for their own sculptures as an exercise in persuasive writing.

Materials

  • paper
  • writing instruments

Activities

  1. Based on their sense of their own community, have students discuss potential symbols existing already around them. Are there any public sculptures, monuments, or roadside attractions? What do they symbolize?
  1. Have students talk about stereotypes, and how these sculptures potentially reinforce or challenge stereotypes.
  1. Ask each student to develop an idea of a sculpture they feel they would like to contribute to the landscape, keeping in mind the politics of such representations.
  1. Pose to students that they have been commissioned to create such a public sculpture for their community. Ask students to draft a letter to their city council outlining the public sculpture they would propose to add to the landscape.
  1. The letter should include such elements as the reasons for their proposal (addressing the significance of the symbol and its contribution to the public landscape), the site where it would be placed and relationships it would create in that location, and an argument as to why the proposal should be selected.

Lesson #4: Making Maquettes

ObjectiveExtending the discussion of public monuments as symbols of communities, students will be introduced to the art-making activity of building a maquette, a small sculpture made as a preparatory study or model for a full scale work.

Related Art Works

  • Song of the Nations, Armand Vaillancourt

Materials

  • clay
  • bristol board for each student
  • coloured pencils

Activities

  1. As a group, look at images of Vaillancourt’s installation. Review with students the ideas of scale, site specific, installation, and commission.
  1. Raise questions about why Vaillancourt chose the materials, form, colour for his installation. Discuss the large size of the installation.
  1. Ask students to imagine how an artist would create such a work, often starting with a maquette, a small model of a large work created in advance to get a sense of how the work might be best installed, and how each piece will fit within the whole.
  1. Based on the commission proposals they developed in Lesson #3, ask students to create their own maquettes. Using Bristol board as the base, they should use pencil crayons to create a mapping of the landscape of their selected site, marking existing elements in the location (e.g., buildings, roads, trees).
  1. Using clay they can construct a model of their proposed sculpture and place it within the landscape, paying attention to scale and distance.

Suggested Resources

  • Local tourism offices for information regarding roadside attractions
  • Yvon Gallant: Based on a True Story (Graff, Terry, Moncton: Les Éditions d’Acadie, in conjunction with Charlottetown: Confederation Centre Art Gallery & Museum, 1995)