Contact
 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway • Tempe, AZ 85281 • Box Office: 480/350-2TCA (2822) • Facsimile: 480/350-2828
Event booking:480/350-2814  •  Education/Tours: 480/350-5679  •  Media: 480/350-2880 • General: 480-350-2829

Objectives
1. Students draw/describe forms and spaces they see in the Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA).
2. Students compare their experience of the exterior and interior of the TCA with what they imagined from photographs (or with earlier visits).

Arizona Visual Arts Standards
 RELATE: Concept 3: Elements & Principles
PO 201: Identify visual/tactile characteristics of artworks from diverse cultures, different places or times.
RELATE: Concept 4: Meanings or Purposes
PO 201 & 301: Interpret meanings and/or purposes of an artwork using subject matter, symbols and/or themes.
PO 301: Analyze visual/tactile characteristics of artworks from diverse cultures, different places or times.

EVALUATE: Concept 5: Quality
PO 001 & 102: Compare an original artwork with a reproduction (e.g., make a museum/artist’s studio visit to compare details, size, luminosity, three dimensionality, surface texture).

Resources and preparation
 Arrangements for field trip to the TCA
Advance discussion with assigned TCA docent, if possible
“Tempe Center for the Arts” worksheets

Activities
Review & preparation
 Distribute “Tempe Center for the Arts” worksheets and ask students to answer as many questions as they can during their tour. If writing responses on the worksheet is not practical or possible during the tour, review the questions to guide students in focused observation as circumstances permit. For example, you might use questions on the worksheet when students assemble or travel to or from the TCA.  

Take notes on any new information presented by the docent as well as interesting questions, observations or responses made by your students during their tour.

If the circumstances of the visit do not allow students to complete their worksheets, remind them of the questions and explain that later, in class, you will lead a discussion asking about their observations of and responses to spaces and forms at the TCA, especially as they approach and enter.

Assessment Guides
1. Students draw/describe forms and spaces they see in the TCA.
Assess questions 1-8 on the “Tempe Center for the Arts” worksheet.

  • Exceeds expectations - Student responds accurately and with specificity to all of the first eight questions and refers accurately with specificity to forms and spaces at least twice.
  • Meets expectations - Student responds appropriately to at least six of the first eight questions and refers accurately to forms and/or spaces at least twice.
  • Approaches expectations - Student responds appropriately to at least four of the first eight questions and refers to forms and/or spaces at least once.
  • Fails to meet expectations - Student responds appropriately to some of the first eight questions but does not mention forms or shapes.

2. Students compare their experience of the exterior and interior of the Tempe Center for the Arts with what they imagined from photographs (or earlier visits).
 Assess questions 9 and 10 on the “Tempe Center for the Arts” worksheet.

  • Exceeds expectations - Student identifies a feeling or idea expressed by the building and persuasively supports his/her interpretation by referring to several features of the building.
  • Meets expectations - Student identifies a feeling or idea expressed by the building and supports his/her interpretation by referring to at least one feature of the building.
  • Approaches expectations - Student mentions some feature of the building that s/he likes or dislikes.
  • Fails to meet expectations - Student comments on the building.

Extension Activities
Assign students to groups asking each group to focus and prepare a report on one of Barton Myers’ Seven Architectures:

  • The Architecture of Site (where the Center is built)
  • The Architecture of Arrival (approach and entrance to the Center)
  • The Architecture of the Lobby (hall or waiting space near the entrance of the Center)
  • The Architecture of the Room (theater and gallery within the Center)
  • Architecture of the Back of the House (backstage and support space at the Center)
  • Art in Architecture (integration of artworks with the Center)
  • Craftsmanship in Architecture (use of materials in and construction of the Center)

Next