Thomas Hart Benton & Diego Rivera
Faith Ringgold
Jean Shin
This unit was based on the big idea of stories. This can be an important unit for students, as they are typically ecstatic to share stories with the class. According to Pink, “story is just as integral to the human experience as design (2006, 101). For the cartoon piece, I depicted a slightly nervous, yet welcoming teacher waving in her first grade class. The diverse students are each carrying their “baggage” into the classroom, including poverty, abuse, ELL, etc. For the Faith Ringgold piece, I created a reminiscent picture of my sister and I snuggled by the fire on Christmas Eve. The quilt surrounding the picture shows a pattern of Christmas colors mingled with the colors of the fire. For the Jean Shin piece with found objects, my group and I found a variety of recycled soda cans, water bottles, and newspapers. We used the soda cans to represent the “bad side” of our people polluting the Earth, with the newspapers representing the smoke and pollution that goes along with that. The water bottles represented the “going green” side of this issue, with bottle cap bunnies happily enjoying the clean air.
Again, the main idea of stories is very suitable for students, as are the type of projects that we completed in class. Pink states that “stories have the felicitous capacity of capturing exactly those elements that formal decision methods leave out” (2006, 103). The cartoon piece would be a great way for students to learn more about the art of satire and sarcasm in cartoons, and for them to depict these things in a kid-friendly way. The quilt piece allows students to share a story that is important to them, while adding a homey touch of the quilt surrounding it. This could also be altered so that students each illustrate their story on a small piece of paper, then put all of them together to create one big class quilt. The found object piece allows students to see art in everyday objects and send a message by putting these objects together. Students could also do this as a class group and create their own miniature classroom or school using found objects.
References:
Pink, D. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY. The Berkley Publishing Group.
Again, the main idea of stories is very suitable for students, as are the type of projects that we completed in class. Pink states that “stories have the felicitous capacity of capturing exactly those elements that formal decision methods leave out” (2006, 103). The cartoon piece would be a great way for students to learn more about the art of satire and sarcasm in cartoons, and for them to depict these things in a kid-friendly way. The quilt piece allows students to share a story that is important to them, while adding a homey touch of the quilt surrounding it. This could also be altered so that students each illustrate their story on a small piece of paper, then put all of them together to create one big class quilt. The found object piece allows students to see art in everyday objects and send a message by putting these objects together. Students could also do this as a class group and create their own miniature classroom or school using found objects.
References:
Pink, D. (2006). A Whole New Mind. New York, NY. The Berkley Publishing Group.