Ad Astra:
Using Latin in a Cross-curricular Science Program
MoonLink Activity #1 (Robert
McCall)
I started my Latin MoonLink
unit by introducing the students to the paintings of Robert McCall,
an artist who has sketched and painted for NASA for more than
35 years. The students listened to a short lecture about McCall,
and then they were given Worksheet #1
to take notes on as the following slides were viewed.
|
Slide 1 |
"Mars Mission #1" (1972)
depicts the god Mars facing an astronaut. |
|
Slide 2 |
same as 1 |
|
Slide 3 |
"Palladios
Villa Revisited" (1990) depicts a space ship peeking
out behind a classical temple of some kind. |
|
Slide 4 |
"A Moment in Time" (1991)
depicts a space ship viewed through the columns of a classical
temple. |
|
Slide 5 |
"Transcendental Moment"
(1990) depicts a Greek column being used as some type of holding
device. |
|
Slide 6 |
Detail of the column and suited
figure. |
|
Slide 7 |
"The Starseekers" (1994)
depicts the faces of famous astronomers, etc., but features a
detail of the Acropolis of ancient Athens. |
|
Slides 8-11 are of paintings that
have only recently come to my attention as relevant to this unit.
I plan to use them in the future. |
|
Slide 8 |
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" |
|
Slide 9 |
"A Place Apart" |
|
Slide 10 |
"Apotheosis of Technology" |
|
Slide 11 |
"The Prologue and the Promise"
(This painting was done for Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida. |
Many of these space-related
paintings, although futuristic in appearance, contain ancient
Greek, Roman, and Egyptian references. The students were asked
to consider these classical aspects and the meaning of them in
each painting. With this activity, I was attempting to spark
the imagination of the students and force them to begin making
connections between modern images of space exploration and images
of ancient mythology and society.
