“As soon as I got back to Boston I popped in the DVD. Watched it 2X in a row...

What a great documentary. I adore it on so many levels -- the history of the area, the love of the mountain,
the drama of life, and the complexity of what we think of as a more simpler time. Reminds me that
nothing is really simple, even when we desire and design for simplicity. A great human story.”

- Jen Hall, Professor of Art Education, Mass. College of Art

W E L C O M E ! Students, teachers, artists, naturalists, writers, photographers! You found...

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................The Camouflage Curriculum

• 1  Discover the DVD
  
• 2  Discuss QUESTIONS, post COMMENTS
• 3  Take a FIELD TRIP to Mt. Monadnock 
• 4  Write, paint, photograph: PROJECTS
• 5  LINK to events + museums + fun stuff

I N T R O D U C I N G . . . the movie, the blog, the banners, the mission

The Camouflage Curriculum is the blog for the movie,  

INVISIBLE: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage. 
MISSION: Together, the movie and blog seek to encourage 
people everywhere to learn about the artist Abbott Thayer, 
to think more deeply about art and the environment, about
conservation of natural surroundings as a form of sanctuary, 
and through camouflage, about humanitarian issues in war.

I N V I S I B L E . . . the movie's back story

Pamela Peabody discovered rare, archival footage and produced new interviews with historians, descendants and...

B E G I N N I N G S . . . from animal portraits to global theory

 

The peacock - invisible to the eyes of a fox or weasel or turkey vulture

< Peacock in the Woods, by Abbott Thayer, assisted by Richard Meryman,
click image to pop up

'Concealing coloration' and 'countershading' are combined in Camouflage

View more examples in 'full story' below -

DUBLIN ART COLONY . . . Thayer & friends, Meryman, Brush, James, Smith, Monadnock

< Winter Morning Sunrise at Monadnock, 1911. "You don't look at the painting to see what Mount Monadnock looked like. You look at the painting to see Thayer," said Richard Murray, senior curator, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, in the movie.

Richard Meryman spoke on the Dublin Art Colony: A Medley of Great Gifts with pictures, lore, anecdotes and surprises on Friday, July 16 at Amos Fortune Forum. 
"It’s nucleus was Abbott Thayer," said Meryman, "a major American painter who settled near Dublin Lake in 1888. He was an inspirational magnet and a thicket of peculiarities ...who believed his painting was dictation from a God who also pervaded nature. This led to a theory of concealing coloration of animals and birds, which eventually became military camouflage." Meryman continues, "Thayer's friend George de Forest Brush...

G O A L S . . . Follow Thayer's quest for international military camouflage -

- and one can see the results of commitment to ideals, not only to the artist's 'ideal beauty' but also to humanitarian...

S Y L L A B U S - 9 LESSON PLANSLesson Plan 1: INVISIBLE - 'Before' Viewing Questions

Before viewing the movie, please read the following questions, and then as you view the film, jot down ideas...

Lesson Plan 2: View the Movie - 'After' Viewing Questions

In the movie you will discover the background, logic and chaos of camouflage, and see connections between art and...

Lesson Plan 3: Mentor or Hero - Post Your Comment

After seeing the movie, participate an extended online discussion of mentors and heroes by posting your own...

Lesson Plan 4: Field Trip - Memorable Mount Monadnock

Plan a day trip to visit the mountain that inspired Thayer's ideas of camouflage, a group hike on Mt. Monadnock...

Lesson Plan 5: Write a Monologue - "I am Monadnock"

Imagine yourself as Grand Monadnock. In the first person, write 700 words about: Who are your friends...

Lesson Plan 6: Art Studio One - New Camouflage Art

Create your own designs for camouflage art, with 3 colors of acrylic paint on on paper or old clothes...

Lesson Plan 7: Art Studio Two - My Monadnock - Art and Photo

Monadnock is like a giant mirror that reflects the weather and the time. Monadnock looks different every...

Lesson Plan 8: Art Studio Three - New Animal Art

Thayer began his career as an "animalier" - a painter of animal portraits as a child and teenager...

Lesson Plan 9: Art Studio Four - Monadnock Angel

Thayer was a portrait artist of celebrities and high society. He often added wings to his subjects. One of his last...

Art Show Event

Gather all the art and writing projects related to The Camouflage Curriculum and present a public exhibition.

Your Recommendations

Please post your recommendations for reading in the comments box. For insights and photos, read the articles...

Camouflage Curriculum Assessment / Evaluation

We welcome your comments and suggestions in the box below.

M O N A D N O C K . . . Abbott Thayer's Legacy

The natural setting of Monadnock is being challenged every day. A group of concerned local citizens...

The Crucial Moment of Deception

"On 11 November in 1896, an American painter known for his society portraits and demure landscapes made an unusual appearance at the Annual Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abbott Thayer arrived at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology on Oxford Street bearing a sack of sweet potatoes, oil paints...

C O N T A C T

The Camouflage Curriculum offers teachers Camouflage Workshops by artists as well as  the Monadnock Angel banner...