The students I teach are in grades 5 through 8. The school population covers diverse ethnic backgrounds with large African-American and Hispanic communities. These two groups make up approximately 70% of the student body. This magnet school teaches a range of social and economic experiences. AIDS awareness and education crosses all lines of social and economic status. It is an equal opportunity disease and one for which education and prevention can be very effective.
____
The students are interested in AIDS as it relates to their lives. One question that presented itself in the initial presentation of the Healing Community painting series was: “What do we do if we find a needle on the sidewalk on our way to school?”
____
____
This question led to an explanation of how weak the AIDS virus is outside of the body, how ordinary bleach can destroy it, and the importance of not picking up the needles because of the potential for accidental harm. The discussion that grows out of the paintings is a key aspect of this unit. It is through the use of visuals and the involvement in the emotional content of the paintings that the unit gains its strength. The skills required of the students, in order to express themselves and their own image, grows from answering the variety of questions they have about AIDS.
____
____
The needs of the students, and the creation of a safe environment in which to ask questions about AIDS, are some of the advantages to approaching AIDS education via the art experience. Because the images presented in the series represent children not unlike themselves, and adults similar to adults they can identify with, the possibility that the students will ask questions that they are genuinely concerned about is great. The variety of problems students face in their lives may be considerable. However, in the context of discussion and interpretation of paintings and music there is an opportunity to voice some of their deeper fears and concerns because they can refer to the painting or lyrics and not feel they are revealing very private information.
____
____
This is primarily an Art Image unit, not a health unit. The use of art as a means to educate and encourage students to personalize issues which reflect concerns directly connected to their daily lives, is using art as an expression in the services of an integrated arts approach.
____
____
The unit is designed to address the needs of the student population, but it is not intended to go into great depth about the disease except in relation to the Healing Community, the portraits, and the questions generated by the discussion.
____
____
Each picture has a specific story, and it is explained in general terms during the first presentation. We also discuss the importance of confidentiality in regards to those infected with the AIDS virus. To understand why respect of privacy is so important leads to the core issues that underlie the goals of the unit. Respect for individual needs, and a discussion of prejudice against people living with AIDS, brings forth the issues that relate to ethnicity and fear.
____
____
Fear is at the center of the issue of AIDS, because it is difficult to see beyond our fears when confronted with the idea of a terminal or chronic disease. It is the dialogue that emerges from the students themselves that leads to conversation about one’s fears and the need for compassion and understanding. This effectively provides a means to reduce the student’s fears and reinforces reasons for looking at AIDS from an alternate perspective.
____
____
After the introduction of the Healing Community portraits, the unit moves to portraiture and self-portraits as a way to articulate expression of feelings, as well as meet the curricular needs regarding ability to draw the figure.
____
____
Teaching the portrait provides an image of self that is specific. Through instruction and observational drawing (specifically the 8th grade unit) the students develop a confidence as their drawing reflects their abilities to control the media. The portrait serves the purpose of defining how they look to themselves and how they may be looking at others. Art makes it possible to explore a variety of self-images without having to own the implications. It is as if the student is protected by the process in discovering aspects of himself. They are in control of what they draw, how they draw it, and they learn to sense the motivations for the portraits. The students are involved in asking interesting questions about portraits in general, and, self-portraits in particular.
____
____
The skills fostered by this process growing from the observational drawing, tracing of projected images, and soft rendering of surfaces using cray-pas, brings the student towards a level of artistry and accomplishment of a task greatly respected by this age group. “Does it look real?” The confidence that is gained by creating a successful portrait of another or a self-portrait is considerable as a means of improving self-awareness.
____
____
In the context of the unit, self-awareness as it relates to self expression is the first and obvious outcome, but because the portraits are presented as positive healing images, an opportunity to discuss wellness and how a student might feel about themselves increases. To use the portrait as a means of learning about the history of art, and the many ways in which portraits are drawn by a variety of artists from different cultures, is an aspect of this unit which can be expanded upon at a later date. It is important to maintain the focus of the 36 portraits as presented making reference to them, not only to demonstrate the variety of techniques used in the execution, but also to keep in the forefront the AIDS education aspect of the paintings as they refer to the student’s self-awareness.
____
____
How students cope with the social issues is a subject of major importance as they mature. In the context of a middle school environment, to provide an art unit that allows for discussion of social issues is a positive endeavor. In this circumstance, if information emerges which requires other supports and professional help, the art instructor must use common sense and good judgment. The art unit itself does not attempt to draw assumptions and counsel with personal matters. However, if the unit is a success, students will emerge with the confidence to seek the help that they require.
____
____
The unit as it develops through art will finally result in a final presentation of the portraits that have been completed by the students. Each student’s work and progress varies, but as the unit reaches it’s completion, the self-portraits and the ties to the subject of ethnicity will be discussed further. How illness separates people from one another through fear is related to how a person’s color can separate people through fear.
____
____
At this point in the progression of the class, some mention is made specifically about drug use and sharing of needles. For the majority of children infected with HIV/AIDS, they received the virus by parental drug use. How this is connected to people of color is a profound issue for our time. The increased incidents of HIV/AIDS in the Black community is considerable and a result of behaviors related to addiction that reflects negative impressions towards people of color. Fear of AIDS becomes fear of blacks, reinforcing a stereotype that destructively builds upon a history of prejudice, not taking into account the larger picture of social evolution and change. It only reinforces the repeated prejudice that people of color routinely encounter.
____
____
It is in this final stage of the unit that prejudice is discussed in the context of wellness. For wellness considered from a broader perspective defines how people feel about themselves and their self-esteem. If image of the self reinforces esteem, then the idea of taking better care of oneself, avoiding unhealthy circumstances that would adversely effect good health, seems appropriate as a way to appeal to the student’s ways of coping with their concerns over HIV/AIDS.
____
____
All of the activities related to painting and drawing have centered upon images of self. The last assignment of the unit is to have the students make a final work in Art, and connect the ideas of the Healing Community to their own community. From Self to Other: this is the ultimate goal of the process. In drawing the connection between themselves and the community in which they live, it is possible to build a stronger support system. Where they fit into the picture may allow for greater strength to understand their fears and concerns.
____
I do not know if this unit will be successful in making the bigger connection to emotional growth and greater compassion for students in regards to HIV/AIDS and their own community. I do believe discussions combined with self-portraiture will provide a means of expression in the context of exploring fear, and it’s counterpart, love. Most students love art and to connect their feeling for image making with something as significant as the fears of HIV/AIDS is a positive venture.
