Art Online Learning Courses & Lesson Plans

One thing we don’t do on a ship is use color that is at all yellowish green—you know, anything that will remind a traveler of the condition of his stomach.
—Dorothy Marckwald, interior designer, S.S. United States

Lesson Plans

The Art of Camouflage: Learn about the art of camouflage and how ship design in WWI was inspired by Cubism.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Posner Maritime Art & the Move from Sail to Steam: Students can view paintings to understand the transition from sail to steam power.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Objects and Immigration Stories: Use this project based learning lesson to teach students art skills through interdisciplinary work with social studies.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Jack Heaney and the Interior Design of the NS Savannah: Learn about color in interior design with this lesson about Jack Heaney and the design of the NS Savannah.
(Grades 5 – 8, 9 – 12)

Exploring The Fall River Line Interiors- Intro to Ceramics: Teach soft slab ceramics based on the interior design of the Fall River Line.
(Grades 9 – 12)

Life on Board- Charles Dickenson: Learn from a first hand experience of traveling on a steamship in the 1840s and create a project using one point perspective or book binding techniques.
(Grades 5 – 8)

Ship Shape: Students will demonstrate their understanding of basic shapes by using several cut out shapes to form a ship.
(Grades PreK – 1)

Other Topics to Explore

Visit the SSHSA Virtual Museum to see the Posner Maritime Art Collection.

Check out this Just for Fun activity with coloring pages from our collections.

Read more about Samuel Ward Stanton and his maritime drawings.

Secondary Sources

Click here to download the pdf of Lorraine Coons and Alexander Varias, Tourist Third Cabin: Steamship Travel in the Interwar Years, “Controversies of Design: Modernism and Traditional Style on the Liners” (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003).