LEONARDO DA VINCI PROJECTS

Project Areas:

The Virtruvian Man: Involves his interest in geometry and angles. Investigates the knowledge on symmetry & proportions as relates to the human body, art and architecture. Create new images and projects using geometry/angles knowledge.

Leonardo as a Painter: Overview of his paintings, themes, techniques. Create a modern day Mona Lisa using collage and an Andy Warhol approach or your own idea.

The Renaissance News: Creating a newspaper (e.g. The Renaissance Rumor). Articles can include “A Lack of Respect for the Dead” discussing Leonardo’s arrest for dissecting human corpses. “Learn About Lisa” living conflicting views as to who was the real Mona Lisa, an obituary for Michelangelo, and other interesting topics. (could be presented in the form of a nightly newscast)

The Restless Inventor: Flight. Focus on Leonardo’s experiments with flight and his drawings of birds and bats. Create the famous wings, test them and present other information about his inventions including helicopter or gliders in the form of paper airplanes (even a small skit as if at Leonardo’s workshop)

Leonardo’s Obsession with Water: Focus on his work with hydraulics. Could build a sluice system and show it in operation. Invent a mountain (like in Tivoli) that works using the laws of hydraulics with no engine. Look also into why Leonardo was fascinated with water and make connections to his paintings and/or notebooks.

The Restless Inventor: Boats. Focus again on his fascination with water. Could build model boats based on his paddlewheel design. Show them in operation and test them to survive wartime conditions as Leonardo prided himself in military inventions and was hired by the Duke of Sforza primarily for this purpose. Or the boat with sail that travels the fastest.

The Restless Inventor: Parachutes. Focus again on his fascinations with flight. Could design several types of parachutes based on his model and test them for flight in the atrium. Modern connection sto flight design could be made in the presentation.

The Last Supper Cooking Show: Focus on Leonardo’s vegetarianism and his plans for a healthy diet, making suggestions for our eating habits. Could prepare a Renaissance cookbook and cook several dishes for the audience.

The Relentless Inventor: Leonardo da Vinci’s Machines. Learn about simple machines in the inventorsworkshop site and what machines he invented. Investigate one or more machines as they developed up to the modern times. Invent your own mechanical something….a toy, a machine to make life easier in some way, etc…

Rockin’ in the Renaissance: As a final presentation students can write and perform a song with lyrics about Leonardo’s life and its importance today.

Project Photos