This is another lesson that I made 12 years ago and have kept practically unchanged. I love it. Yes I spend a full 40 minutes on the Niobides Krater; you’ll see throughout my pacing guide there are some pieces I do a deep dive on and other less so. Those choices are personally driven but I also use them to work on different skills (pssst I usually ask an FRQ question on their following test on the piece I do in detail . . . gotta prove the time was worth it!).
Images included in this lesson:
- 33. Niobides Krater. Anonymous vase painter of Classical Greece known as the Niobid Painter. c. 460–450 BCE. Clay, red-figure technique (white highlights).
With the Niobides Krater I focus heavily on form and content; I will tell them the function at the end (a “party pot” of watered down wine). The video below “Making Greek Vases” from the Getty Museum is dated but I think does an immensely clear job of showing the technique. While students watch I ask them to write down at least 5 distinct steps in ceramic vase creation and then as a whole class I ask students share what they got so they can fill in anything a classmate wrote down that they missed.
After we get form down, it is time to switch to content. Instead of just telling them, which would certainly take less time, I think it is useful to have them practice close looking. I have students in partners, each partner looking at one side of the krater (I print the color images). Whenever I have the students practice close art looking I like to give a post-it note to jot down ideas. This is the text I have on the board to guide them:
Greek vases are well-known for their ability to tell a complete story in a straightforward manner. I will give each of you an image depicting one side of a Greek krater. Take some time to study it and jot down ideas of the content on the post-it note provided.
Ideally, we should share fun ideas as a whole class but if you are tight on time just have the partners share with each other. To finish up, I play the Khan Academy video Attic Red-Figure: Niobid Painter, “Niobid Krater” for the students to complete their notecards focusing on content.
JMF
