National Museum of Wildlife Art

Mountains & More
Learning about Landforms Through Landscape Painting

Landforms such as towering mountains, gaping canyons, and plunging waterfalls are the physical features of the earth's surface that distinguish a sense of

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place for geography as well as invoke wonder and reverence for the landscape artist. This is to say, landforms are the central subject for both geography and landscape art, and investigation into either discipline reveals more about the nature of the other and of nature itself.

This Unit moves back and forth and through the two disciplines of geography and art to learn more about landforms and our reaction to them.

To The Educator: Includes classroom preparation for each unit as well as concepts, standards and other notes to the teacher.

Lesson 1 -Landform Hunt
Interactive Game challenges students to identify landforms within a specific area.

Lesson 2 - Encountering Landscapes
An interactive checklist asks students to take a good look at examples of landscape painting. This art critique will provide them with greater awareness of what constitutes a landscape. Part II asks students to write a letter a to a famous western landscape artist.

Lesson 3 - Purple Mountains
Explores the tradition and significance of landscape painting as an interpretation of the landscape. Students write a letter to a famous western landscape artist.

Lesson 4- Anatomy of a Landscape
Students approach the how's and why's of landscape painting with an introduction to the laws of perspective. Students have the opportunity to paint a landscape of their own.