The following assignment helps students develop a personal connection to the text and mine their own experience for a topic of their own to generate art later in the unit. A sample assignment for this portion of the unit is the following:
Playlist
Background:
Bisa Butler and her husband, a DJ, created a playlist with songs to coincide with some of her quilts and other works at the Art Institute of Chicago. As a class, we will look at the art and listen to the playlist. We will read Butler’s descriptions of her artwork and speculate on the music choices.
In this assignment, students will select their own pieces of art and a song. While generating this compilation of artwork and music, students will need to write a justification for the choices they made and the specific connections between the two.
- In a Google Document or Google Slides Document there should be at least 12 slides.
- The first slide is the cover page with a title to the playlist, a list of the artwork and a list of the songs.
- The 5 next pairs of slides will consist of one slide with a picture of the artwork and the link to the track followed by a slide with a rationale for the selections.
- The rationale must explain the significance of the art and contain 1 to 3 lines of lyrics as support for the connection.
- The final slide must be a Works Cited.
- Students will present their final work in class.
Another lesson for students to delve into contemporary Black artists is to search for art that speaks to them. I will provide them with a list of Instagram Sites of stellar artists to explore.
They can peruse the following sites:
Shonibarestudio - A site that has Yinka Shonibare’s artwork
Trenton_doyle_hancock - A site with Trenton Doyle Hancock’s artwork
Cocofunhouse - A site with David Leggett’s artwork
Jordanmcasteel - A site with Jordan Casteel’s artwork
Kara_walker_official - A site with Kara Walker’s artwork
Nickcaveart - Nick Cave artwork
Bisabutler - Bisa Butler’s artwork
muholizanele- Zanele Muholi’s instagram with some of her own artwork
Jackshainman - Jack Shainman Gallery artwork
Students will look over the artwork available on the artists’ Instagram. As the artwork that appeals to them most rises to the surface they can start to process what they are viewing. I will have students take a day to absorb their art piece. Then students will respond to the some basic prompts below.
- What draws you to the artwork?
- Describe what you see.
- What colors, shapes, images, ideas, etc stand out to you?
- What do you think the artist is trying to convey in the piece?
- How is the artist conveying their message?
- What questions do you have?