Art Class, Level 5: Ancient Greek Trireme

Product Description

Learn to Use Color, Line and the Art Deco Style To Suggest Speed and Power

Could an ancient ship’s design have helped create Western democratic governments?

Chances are, the answer is YES! A small fleet of ancient Greek triremes—agile ships with three layers of oars and a metal-capped ramming beam on their prows—charged into a massive Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, destroying the Persian fleet and freeing Greece from Persian domination. Athens was free to rebuild, and the Greeks began their form of democratic government.

The Trireme Trust, a British organization that built a working trireme based on Greek descriptions of the ship, has provided us with pictures of their ship for our lesson. We combine the ship with information about how line, color, and the Art Deco style can create a sense of speed and power.

Students will draw a trireme, and then are given the following design tools to make their design of the ship seem as dynamic and powerful as possible:

• The language of lines
• The use of warm and cool colors
• Inspiring examples from the Art Deco period

This lesson includes both POWERPOINT and VIDEO versions of the lesson plus 2 downloadable printouts: a warmup and a drawing of the trireme.

Approximate Time to Complete the Art Class:

• Drawing the ship: 25 minutes
• Adjusting the style of the drawing: 20 minutes
• Coloring the drawing with watercolor pencils: 40 minutes
• Total time: 85 minutes

Families will have access to the online lesson for one year from the date of purchase.