Overview:
In this activity, students will work in small groups to plan and create their own series of paintings and text based on a historical event. The students might select an event that they are currently studying. They also might tell a story about an event in their school or community.
Begin by reviewing the following points from the Migration series:
- Lawrence used both words and images, in a series of sixty paintings, to tell his story. He arranged the images in a certain order so that the series has a beginning, middle, and end. He also repeated certain colors, shapes, lines, textures and patterns to hold the series of paintings together. At the same time, he added interest by changing these elements.
- Make sure that students understand that the story Jacob Lawrence told was about people with whom he had much in common. Although he was not really a part of the migration, he learned about it from his family members and friends. He also spent many hours in the library, researching his topic and answering his many questions about this important time in history.
- Explain to the students that they will have the opportunity to create a series of artworks that tell a story about an important event from history. They will need to think about how people living at the time were affected by the event, much like Jacob Lawrence considered how the people living in the South and in the North were affected by the Great Migration.
Students will need to consider:
- What important features or aspects of the event will be shown, especially how the event affected the people living at the time.
- How to depict the specific features or aspects of the event.
- How many images will be included in their series.
- What subject matter each image in their series will include.
- How the images will be ordered or arranged to best "tell the story."
- What text will accompany each image in the series.
- The size and format of the images in the series.
- How to use elements and principles of design to achieve desired effects in their paintings. (Elements of design include color, line, shape, texture, space, form, and value. Principles of design include contrast, balance, unity and variety, proportion, pattern, movement, rhythm, and emphasis.)
Cooperative groups should follow these steps:
Research!
- Brainstorm for ideas about what event to feature.
- Raise questions to investigate the event, making sure to note how people were affected by the event.
- Engage in necessary research, determining what resources to use.
- Compile notes from the research.
- Highlight ideas about what features or aspects are important to include in the series. Students can use graphic organizers (concept maps) to organize their findings.
Plan!
- Decide how the images in the series will be arranged to tell the story—what kind of image will begin the series, what will be shown in the middle, and what kind of image will end it.
- Create a series of small sketches—similar to a storyboard—to show how the images will be combined in a sequence to tell the story.
- Decide how the images will be similar. What colors, for example, will be used throughout the series?
- Decide on a size and format (vertical, horizontal or mixed) for the images in the series.
- Decide how words will be included with the image. For example, lines of text might be written in a place reserved at the bottom of each image or on a separate sheet of cardboard that will be displayed along with each image.
Create!
- Trim cardboard to the agreed-upon size.
- Use pencil to draw the images lightly on the cardboard.
- Use tempera paint to complete the images. Make sure that all those working on paintings in the series have access to the same agreed-upon colors.
- If desired, add details with markers or a fine brush.
- Add text.
Reflect!
- Display the completed series for others to view.
- Hold a group discussion in which you talk about the way that the images in the series tell a story. Classmates will give feedback to the groups on the following elements:
- What does the series say about the historical event?
- What does the series tell about the people who were living at the time?
- How are the various images in the series similar?
- In what ways are they different?
- How have the student artists conveyed individual perspectives or ideas about historical events?
- How important is the accompanying text? Could the story be told as well with images alone? Why or why not?
- Ask each student to reflect upon her/his individual contribution to the overall project. The students should address the following:
- Describe your finished artwork. What was your contribution?
- How have you used words to help tell your story?
- What ideas does your artwork suggest about a historical event?
- In what ways have you shown how people living at the time were affected by this event?
- What about your artwork especially pleases you?
| | | | | |
|
