Student art inspired by living artists and the letters that followed...
Student artwork based on the work of Harmonia Rosales who recontextualizes masterworks with people of color.
As students have more classes with me, their explorations become more independent. I take time to show them a broad array of media through choice-based lessons. Over the course of their first year, they become familiar with my expected studio habits and material care.
I am also trying to hang authentic works of art in my classroom to inspire my students. For example, I have a Kehinde Wiley signed skate deck above my door. I want students to understand that art is not just history, but happening in exciting ways today.
In this lesson my Art 2 students reflected on issues they care about. Some focused on culture, gender issues, mental health, or their activities and hobbies. We then searched for living, professional, contemporary artists that shared similar life stories or interests. (Artists who were in a professional gallery or museum.) Time was spent researching the artist’s work, media, and style to develop a personalized independent art exploration. Printed samples of the artist’s work were always on hand and used as reference when questions came up. If a student struggled with handling the background, I would ask, “what did your artist do with their backgrounds? How did they use color, pattern, or art elements to create a cohesive artwork?”
We stopped mid-way through our work to do a peer review and critique. I handed 2 post-it notes to each student. Everyone had to give 2 pieces of feedback during our session, to track that everyone participated. This was written on the post-it notes and added to student workbooks where they were documenting their research. This was an important moment to refocus students on their project and reinforce the good things we were seeing and help strengthen weaknesses.
We spent one day photographing work with a neutral background and printing images at the conclusion of the project.
Students wrote letters to their artist that were edited in collaboration with the English department. At the conclusion of this exhibition, letters and sample artworks will be sent to the inspiration artists. We hope to receive replies from some. (We did!)
Finding addresses can be a bit of a challenge. Some artists have blogs or websites where to can send a message and ask for a mailing address. Some do not and we sent letters to galleries that represented those artists hoping our mail would get passed on.
Index cards describe the connections students were able to make with their artists of inspiration. These were hung next to artworks and samples for context.
I am also trying to hang authentic works of art in my classroom to inspire my students. For example, I have a Kehinde Wiley signed skate deck above my door. I want students to understand that art is not just history, but happening in exciting ways today.
In this lesson my Art 2 students reflected on issues they care about. Some focused on culture, gender issues, mental health, or their activities and hobbies. We then searched for living, professional, contemporary artists that shared similar life stories or interests. (Artists who were in a professional gallery or museum.) Time was spent researching the artist’s work, media, and style to develop a personalized independent art exploration. Printed samples of the artist’s work were always on hand and used as reference when questions came up. If a student struggled with handling the background, I would ask, “what did your artist do with their backgrounds? How did they use color, pattern, or art elements to create a cohesive artwork?”
We stopped mid-way through our work to do a peer review and critique. I handed 2 post-it notes to each student. Everyone had to give 2 pieces of feedback during our session, to track that everyone participated. This was written on the post-it notes and added to student workbooks where they were documenting their research. This was an important moment to refocus students on their project and reinforce the good things we were seeing and help strengthen weaknesses.
We spent one day photographing work with a neutral background and printing images at the conclusion of the project.
Students wrote letters to their artist that were edited in collaboration with the English department. At the conclusion of this exhibition, letters and sample artworks will be sent to the inspiration artists. We hope to receive replies from some. (We did!)
Finding addresses can be a bit of a challenge. Some artists have blogs or websites where to can send a message and ask for a mailing address. Some do not and we sent letters to galleries that represented those artists hoping our mail would get passed on.
Index cards describe the connections students were able to make with their artists of inspiration. These were hung next to artworks and samples for context.
We did begin to get replies from a few artists a couple months after this project was complete. Students were so proud to receive hand-written notes, gifts, and autographs.
We made sure to share their replies with the advanced English class that edited their original letters.
We made sure to share their replies with the advanced English class that edited their original letters.
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