Ted Harrison Art Lesson, Project, and Art Activity Ideas for Kids

I’m going talk about who artist Ted Harrison is and I’ll give you some ideas for Ted Harrison Art Lessons that you can do with your students. Let’s learn about amazing Artist, Ted Harrison, and ideas for art lessons that you can teach that are inspired by his style of making art. Let’s get into it!

“One curator said he didn’t want my work in his gallery because it was so simple even children understood it. I thought, what a wonderful tribute.”
-Ted Harrison

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I’m going talk about who artist Ted Harrison is and I’ll give you some ideas for Ted Harrison Art Lessons that you can do with your students. Let’s learn about amazing Artist, Ted Harrison, and ideas for art lessons that you can teach that are inspired by his style of making art. Let’s get into it!

TED HARRISON’s EARLY LIFE:

Edward Hardy Harrison is one of Canada’s most well-known artists. Born on 28^th August, 1926 in a village of England, he is widely praised among the Canadians for his love for the land and people of Yukon, a beautiful Territory in Canada.

Ted’s early interest in art is credited to the support and encouragement of his parents especially his mother who had interests in Fashion designing and photography. They supported him throughout the school and his grammar teachers also recognized his talent and urged him to go to seek art education. So, he went to Hartlepool College of Arts in 1943. He studied there for some time when the second world war interrupted, and he had to stop but later on he continued his education in Arts and got a degree in design in 1950.

TED HARRISON’s CAREER:

Soon after his degree in Arts, he was awarded a certificate in teaching and he pursued this career for 28 years going to different parts of the world, including Malaysia and New Zealand, till he got settled in a small town in Yukon with his wife and a son.

Norman Cornish has been Ted’s biggest influence in painting as he regards it as “his life-long quest to paint people and places” but other than Cornish, his greatest influence has been his hometown Yukon.

He showed his first painting in 1969 at the Public Library in Whitehorse and thus started his career as a painter. His paintings can be found in private and public collections in Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and United States.

Achievements:

In 1987 he received the Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian Culture.

In 1991 he was awarded a honorary doctorate from University of Athabasca.

In 1998 he received a honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from University of Victoria.

In 2002 he received a distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Alberta.

IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING ART AND ARTISTS:

Art is the name of varied visual, auditory and performing human activities that can be simply regarded as the form of communication. As important as it is for us to learn arts, it is also very important for us to teach arts to our kids as it is proven from research that early learning of the child through arts helps in better brain development. Art classes will not prepare kids for the test and practical stuff but they can bring opportunities for them to enhance their creative and rational skills. Other than that, art influences children’s psychology and makes them able to understand and express their individuality. Just like the uniqueness and individuality of the work of Ted Harrison. How he stood for his talent and interest and was taught and supported by everyone around him.

TED HARRISON ART LESSON IDEAS FOR KIDS:

LANDSCAPE ART:

Of course, with exploring Ted Harrison, you can definitely explore creating lovely landscapes in the style of Ted Harrison. You can explore a range of Ted Harrison Artworks with your students and students can design a Ted Harrison Landscape based on the style of the artist. Explore the fluid and organic way that he uses line and color to create his artworks! All you have to do is get on the internet or look through books with your students to get inspired! I love using acrylic paint with older students, or use oil pastels and watercolor paints with younger students! This is also a wonderful way to explore the Element of Art: Value with kids as many of his works explore a limited selection of color and instead rely on the use of VALUE to define the different areas of the artwork.

FREE Art Lessons for Kids!

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TED HARRISON WHALE ARTWORK:

With your primary students you can create a Ted Harrison Whale art project inspired by his artworks. In this lesson, students will use Acrylic or Tempera paint and oil pastels to create a landscape artwork featuring a whale inspired by Canadian Artist, Ted Harrison. This project is a wonderful way to explore the Element of Art: Value. This art lesson is RECOMMENDED FOR Kindergarten to Grade 3. You can find a ready-to-use Ted Harrison Whale Art Lesson for your primary art students complete with a video art tutorial, a rubric for marking, a lesson plan, a finished example, and a step-by-step drawing handout to allow your students to create this piece successfully in my TeachersPayTeachers store, Ms Artastic or with your Artastic Collective Membership. Look in the “Artists and Art History” categories for both or find the direct link to this resource in the show notes of this podcast on my blog.

TED HARRISON ORCA ARTWORK:

Okay, I LOVE Ted Harrison’s Orca. I live in British Columbia so a lot of his artwork and the artwork of Emily Carr is a direct reflection of where I live. I connect to the subject matters they depicted because I see it around me. As well, I love how they’re art was both influenced by other important artists and also influences the art of others. And they’re both oh so cool! Ted Harrison’s Orca is just a symbol of B.C. We have orca murals EVERYWHERE. If you go to Victoria on the Island, you’ll see these orcas painted on sides of buildings all over. Orcas populate our oceans and they are called killer whales for a reason; not because they often hurt humans, but they do hunt in packs and they’re extremely intelligent… and no one messes with an orca. There is a reason why our waters are not inhabited by Great White Sharks. Yes, Orcas. And it’s pretty cold. But climate is changing and that could bring them up the coast to our waters… but with Orcas in the waters, they wouldn’t be the top predator. Alright, I am not going to continue to rant about nature… I love talking about animals, honestly I can rant forever. Gardening and animals. I have lots of random facts on those.

Check out Ted Harrison’s Orca Painting for inspiration for an art lesson with your students! For a complete, ready-to-use Orca Artwork, check out my Ted Harrison Orca Art Lesson in my TpT store or with your AC Membership. Find the direct link to the resource in the show notes for this podcast in my blog, msartastic.com.

TED HARRISON RAVEN ARTWORK:

For older students, you can explore more complex Ted Harrison artworks with them and you can mix acrylic paint to create a range of tints, hues, and shades to also explore the Element of Art: Value while understanding and learning his style of creating. Have students find a complex Ted Harrison they want to paint and let them create an artwork using acrylic paint and let them explore mixing paint while being inspired by the artwork! Let them create their own version instead of asking to replicate! They should be allowed creative freedom and the opportunity to explore their own artist flavor (as I like to call it).

For a complete, ready-to-use art lesson for your older students, check out my Ted Harrison Raven Art Lesson that features a raven flying in a landscape in the Yukon territory of Canada that allow students to explore creating value with paint. Find this resource in my TpT Store or with your AC Membership. Find the direct link in the show notes on my blog.

Well, that’s all for this episode! Explore artist Ted Harrison with your students!

This is Kathleen McGiveron, Ms Artastic, Signing out.

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Yours Truly,
Kathleen McGiveron (Ms Artastic)