The Ford by Henry Francois Farny (1847-1916)

Have the students sit on the floor "Indian-style" in a semicircle.  If classroom does not allow the room, ask teacher if you could move the kids to the church hall for lesson in advance.  Reserve church hall a couple weeks ahead of time.  Artificial fire, basket of leaves, Navajo artifacts optional.  Play bird song tape in art awareness closet while instructing.

1. We communicate in many ways.  One way to communicate is by sight.  Allow the students to look carefully at the print for a few moments.  

2. We can use our sense of vision to understand the story Farny is telling through this painting.  

• What subject did the artist paint?  How many Indians are in the foreground of the painting?  What are they doing?

• Who is sitting around the campfire in the middle ground?  What do you think they are doing?

• How many horses are in this painting?  What are the horses doing?

• Which figure is closest to you?  Why does he seem so close? (larger, placement near the bottom of the canvas)

• Which Indian in the foreground appears to be more important?

• The title of this painting is "The Ford".  What is a ford?  (a shallow crossing in a river)

• What do you like best about the way Farny painted this scene?  How can you tell that Farny was sensitive to the Indians and their way of life?

• This is another example of a genre picture.  Can anyone explain what a genre picture is?  (picture depicting a scene of everyday life)

• What other genre painting have we viewed this year? (Fur Traders Descending the Missouri)

3. Sense of smell.  We also receive information from our environment through our other senses.  The Native Americans in the painting may have experienced many different smells during their trip (pass around "scent bottles".  See activities.  While scents are being passed around, read about the artist.  

4. Sense of taste.  If teacher permits, pass out popcorn or candy corn and talk a bit about the sense of taste.  

5. Sense of touch.  (Pass around Indian artifacts, corn, etc., and ask the students to feel differences in texture.  Ask how the items look if they are rough versus those that are smooth.  Look for examples of texture in painting.)

• How does he show shadows and reflections in the water?  Why does the water seem to be moving?  (broken brushstrokes, ripple effect from parallel brushstrokes, use of light and shadow highlights)

• Why does the campfire seem warm? (warm colors, smoke)

• Why does the forest seem so thick? (the layering of wide and narrow brushstrokes)

• What landscape elements in the painting form strong vertical lines? (trees) 

• How can you tell this artist actually observed the Indians and studied their clothing and possessions?  Describe some of the details which the artist was careful to include.  

6. Sense of hearing also provides information about the environment.  Listen to the story that is told by the sounds on the tape. 

• What elements of nature did the artists include?

• What time of the day do you think it is?  What clues make you think this?

• What time of year do you think it is?  Again, what clues make you think this?  Judging from the Indian's clothing, do you thing the weather is warm or cool?

• What noises would you hear if you were in this painting? (fire crackling, water splashing, animal sounds from the forest, horses grazing, people talking)

About the Artist

Henry Farny devoted most of his mature artistic years to documenting the American West and its Indian peoples.  Born in France, he immigrated with his family, eventually settling in Cincinnati in 1989.  Farny began his art training and his career as an illustrator in Cincinnati, and later worked for Harper Brothers in New York.  Farny took his first trip to the American West in 1881.  Upon his return, he began to paint the Indian subjects for which he is best known.  Farny based his studio painting on drawings, watercolors and photographs made in the West.  He also brought back authentic Indian clothing, weapons and other artifacts which helped to supply accurate detail.  Farny traveled west several times, but remained primarily in Cincinnati for the rest of his life.  Farny's realistic depictions often tell a story while revealing a sympathetic understanding of the Indian people.  He portrayed the Indians in harmony with their environment.  Farny emphasized the mood and light of the western landscape, showing the majesty of the mountains, deserts and plains.  

Activity

Scent Bottles: Tell children we receive information from our environment through our other senses.  The Native American in the painting may have experienced many different smells during their trip.  Pass out the "smell bottles"  (These bottles or film cases are in the art awareness closet.  Clean out and fill with scents such as coffee, potpourri, etc.)  Divide the class into four groups.  Let each group sample the different smells and ask them to identify them.  Tell them they may want to close their eyes to help them focus on the smell.  If they can not identify them exactly, ask them questions such as whether the smell is sweet, sour, or bitter; whether it seems to be a food item, something from nature, etc.

Four tubes of gouache in Art Awareness closet for 7 color palette: Permanent White, Cadmium Yellow Lt., Cadmium Red Lt., Ultramarine Blue.  Use your yellow and red to make orange, your red and blue to make violet and your yellow and blue to make your green.

Gouache  [pronounced "gwash"]  is a painting medium similar to watercolor, but heavier and more opaque because a gum substance is added to the mixture of ground pigment and water. Gouaches, like watercolors, are usually on paper.
Detail

(Distribute paper, gouache, water, brushes, paper towels.  Discuss gouache technique used by Farny)  

Craft: You can use the information you have received from your senses and communicate it to the others through your own artwork.  The students can use the information received from their senses (seen, smelled, felt, and heard) to communicate it through art by drawing a picture with a pencil.  Use water colors to paint over and try to archive the gouache effect.

or

Craft:  The students can use pencil to draw a picture similar to "The Ford".  Use water colors to paint over and try to archive the gouache effect.

Children who finish early can write an original short story about this Indian scene.  Ask them to be descriptive in their writing as Farny was in his painting.  Remind them that being descriptive for a writer means using lots of adjectives and adverbs.