• About the Work of Art

• About the Artist

Looking and Discussing
Grade: 6–8; 9–12
Subject: Visual Art, Language Arts

Photographic Portraiture

See Student Activity: Compare and Contrast

• Compare and contrast Bullrider 1985, High School Rodeo, Mineral Wells, TX with other photographic portraits in this guide—David Barry’s Sitting Bull and Dorothea Lange’s Woman of the High Plains “If You Die, You’re Dead—That’s All.”

• Compare similarities and differences in how each photographer approached his or her subject. What is the subject wearing? Where was the photograph taken—in a studio, outdoors, etc.?

• Consider each of the following in each photograph:
  
  Framing—the composition of the image
  Light quality—how the subject was lit
  Focus—the sharpness of the image, controlled mainly by the lens
  Texture—the surfaces of objects appear to be rough, smooth, soft, etc.
  Value—the range of light and dark values
  Angle of view—the place or position from which the photographer takes the image
  

Writing
Grade: 4–5; 6–8
Subject: Visual Art, Language Arts

Before and After

• Imagine you are reporting on the bull rider’s event for your school newspaper. Write questions you would ask in an interview with the bull rider.

• Look carefully at the bull rider’s face in Luther Smith’s photograph. In a paragraph answer these questions:
  
  How you would describe the bull rider’s face?
  What emotions do you think he is feeling?
  Do you think that the bull rider has already performed in the rodeo?
  What do you think life is like for a young bull rider?

• Write a paragraph about what might have taken place just before the photograph was taken, and what you think took place just after the photograph was taken.

Label Writing

• After carefully looking at Luther Smith’s photograph, write a label about the photograph. Include this information:

  • Title of work

  • Artist name

  • Type of photograph

  • The date the photograph was made

  • Two to five sentences in response to the work of art that you think will help inform visitors who look at the image

Link to TEKS Connections

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