Metals: Michael Merriman, Hand Crafted Knives
4:16
Grades: 6 - 12
Video Description: Meet Michael Merriman, creator of handcrafted knives. Knives may not be what you think of as art, but that will change once you see Michael’s work.
Type of Video: Profile*
Unique Video ID: AandA-MMerriman**
Quick Ideas for Using the Video:
- For Discussion: At the beginning of the video, the artist says, “I wanted to make things that were beautifully functional. Prior to viewing the video, ask students their reaction to that statement. What do they think it means? What type of art do they think he might be creating? View the video and then discuss the artist’s work. Is it art? Why or why not?
- Activity Idea: Have students research the “look” of knives in different periods of history and hypothesize why they think knives from different times or locations look differently?
*Profile videos use a first-person/first-hand approach to highlight interesting people doing interesting things in the area of study.
**The unique Video ID can be used to quickly locate a single video in the ET collection. This search function is designed to let teachers assign students to watch a specific video and have only that video appear as a search result. Just click on Search and choose “By Video ID.” Then type in the Video ID as it appears above. Be sure to include the dash.
