This playful mural in Toronto, Canada by Bruno Smoky hits on the idea of elective migration in pursuit of better habitat.
The saturated colors and surreal style make this mural easily approachable for younger students.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Students bring their own ideas and interpretations to the artwork that develop critical thinking.
The mural's style and playful colors inspire imagining the world from the fish's point of view.
Additional Prerequisites
Some background on the Great Lakes' history of use and abuse by people and the impact on that environment is necessary for understanding the artist's intention.
Differentiation
This piece opens the opportunity to discuss how murals are related to street art.
Younger students can explore how a fun piece of art can still have deep meanings and what surreal means.
Older students can use the subject matter as a launch into changing migratory patterns based on environmental impacts by humans.
Other resources related to these topics include thismural about marine animals' anger towards human's impact on the environment and thisvideo about human impact on aquatic environments.
Scientist Notes
The resource presents the need to uphold appropriate environmental standards to protect wildlifes, biodiversity, wetland resources in the Great Lake Basin, Ontario. This is an art piece and it is recommended for teaching.
Standards
National Core Arts Standards
Visual Arts: Standard 7 - Perceive and analyze artistic work.
VA:Re7.2.8a Compare and contrast contexts and media in which viewers encounter images that influence ideas, emotions, and actions.
VA:Re7.1.IIa Recognize and describe personal aesthetic and empathetic responses to the natural world and constructed environments.
Visual Arts: Standard 8 - Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
VA:Re8.1.8a Interpret art by analyzing how the interaction of subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, use of media, art-making approaches, and relevant contextual information contributes to understanding messages or ideas and mood conveyed.
VA:Re8.1.6a Interpret art by distinguishing between relevant and non-relevant contextual information and analyzing subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, and use of media to identify ideas and mood conveyed.
