Activity Guide by Kate Kwasneski
Intern, Grinnell College Museum of Art
Look and Learn
Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is made up of water. That leaves plenty of habitat for fish to swim around in! Fish live in oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds. They spend their whole lives underwater and breathe through gills. Fish come in a variety of shapes, colors, and patterns, and are often very beautiful. This makes them a good subject for artists. GCMoA has many images of fish in its collection, and today we are going to look at some of them!
Here is a diagram of a fish’s anatomy from exploringnature.org. This one is a yellow perch, but the body parts shown here are present on most fish. Notice the placement of the gills. Count the number of different fins. Did you know there were so many kinds? You can use this diagram when creating your own fish, to help you figure out what details you want to add.
There are three fish and an octopus in this print. Most of the print is sepia toned, but the sea creatures are vibrant colors. The fish are relatively realistic, but the background is not. Pay attention to all of the details on the bodies of the fish. What do you think of this style? Do you like the vibrant colors? Are the fish in this image the same species, or different?
This fish is in a much more abstract style than some of the others in GCMoA’s collection, but it is still recognizably a fish. It is very dark against a grey background. What do you think of this art style? This fish is less detailed than some of the others. What details might you add if you were to draw a fish?
The large fish in this image is incredibly detailed. You can see each individual scale and the creases in each fin. If you look closer, there is a second fish in the bottom right corner of this image, trapped inside a net. What do you think of the detail used in this image? Does it help you learn about the fish to see it painted so carefully?
This piece is from an exhibition that GCMoA had a few years ago, titled Making Life Visible: Art, Biology and Visualization and curated by Lesley Wright and Jackie Brown. This fish looks very small compared to the hand in the image. Do you think the hand will catch the fish or protect the fish? The body of this fish has a very detailed scale pattern, but it is difficult to make out the fish’s face. What do you think about the dark shadows on this fish? What details could you add to this image?
The white creatures in this woodcut are meant to be fairies, but they look just like sea butterflies! Sea butterflies are an interesting sea creature that live in the icy waters of the Arctic. They are actually snails, not fish, but they are cool creatures that live in the sea! Do you think these fairies look like they are swimming in water? What do you think the yellow could represent?
Create
Create: Now you can create a fish of your own! We have seen fish represented in many different art styles today. Which one was your favorite? You can create a realistic fish or a very abstract one. You could create multiple fish, of the same species or different species. Think about what details you can add to your fish. What colors will you use? Will your fish have a pattern on its scales? Will you add gills and other things that make fish unique?
Do you have a pet fish? If so, you could choose to draw them. Here, I painted three koi fish, which are like giant goldfish. I gave them patterns in different colors, just like real koi. I paid attention to the detail of my patterns and made the surface of the water behind them in lots of varied shades of blue.
Write
Tell the story of your fish. Where are they? What are they doing? Fish are living creatures, so they lend themselves to telling a story. You could also make some observation notes about the fish in your image. Pretend you saw them in the wild. What location did you see them in? What time of year were they there? If you drew an imaginary fish, you can make imaginary observations.