Teacher/Docent Resources for Southern Journeys: African American Artists of the South by Exhibits USA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance

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1 Teacher/Docent Resources for Southern Journeys: African American Artists of the South by Exhibits USA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance Lesson Plan: Collages and Assemblages Grade Level: 4 th + Time Required: 2 sessions Objectives: Students will examine how and why artists use the collages and assemblages to explore themes or ideas in art. Students will understand the use of found objects and what they can symbolize in art. Students will create a collage or assemblage based on a personal theme. Materials Needed: Found objects (collected by students): newspaper, magazines, fabric, cans, shoeboxes, bottles, buttons, paper towel rolls, toy parts, string, stickers, wood, leaves, photographs, etc. Art supplies: paints, markers, colored pencils, etc. Poster boards or large cardboard Glue or other adhesives Digital images: Jeffery Cook s Slave Dolls and Charly Palmer s One More Day Vocabulary: Assemblage: A three dimensional composition made of various materials such as found objects, paper, wood, and textiles. Collage: A picture or design created by adhering flat elements such as newspaper,, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, cloth, and other items to a flat surface. Found Object: A natural or man-made item, previously not intended for an artistic purpose, which is found by the artist and used to create a work of art. The artist performs little or no alterations to the object. Directions: Session 1 1. Begin the discussion with a visual analysis of Jeffery Cook s Slave Dolls and Charly Palmer s More Day. Ask the students the following questions to stimulate the discussion about the images: Explain what you see. What do you think is happening in the work? What do you see that makes you say that? What materials did the artist use? Why do you think the artist used these materials? What different textures do the materials create? What do you think the artwork would feel like? What do you think the artist is trying to tell the viewers who see this artwork? Explain. Do you think the artist adequately conveys his message? Explain. 2. After the visual analysis provide the following background information to the students: Jeffery Cook, Slave Dolls, 2005

2 Born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jeffery Cook ( ) studied art at Xavier University in Louisiana and the San Francisco Art Institute in California. Cook was also a professional dancer and performed around the world with a dance troupe. After touring as a dancer in 1986, he returned to New Orleans and pursued a career in painting and sculpture. Cook often used found objects to create art assemblages. An assemblage is a three-dimensional composition made of various natural and/or man-made materials, such as wood, cans, paper, and fabric. In Slave Dolls, Cook used tattered cloth, string, and other materials to make figures tat appear hopeless and powerless. Ask the students to tell what they know about slavery. For example, when and where did slavery occur in the United States? What did slaves do? Also ask the students why they think the artist chose to depict the assemblage this way. Charly Palmer, One More Day, 2009 Born in Alabama and raised in Wisconsin, Charly Palmer attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Palmer s favorite subject matter is people. He chronicles social and political aspects of African American history and culture in his artwork, such as slavery, the Civil Rights Movement. Palmer also uses art to explore his own Southern heritage. In One More Day, Palmer uses a collage of fragments of the past including his own to construct an open-ended story that he allows the viewer to complete. The farm in the background represents a farm his great uncle once owned in the South. The image of women in the foreground came from group photographs that intrigued the artist. The year 1829 was obtained form an old newspaper. Palmer used paint and several flat materials (lace, wallpaper, printed text, etc.) to create this collage. Ask the students to look at the different parts of the collage and construct a brief story of what they see. Also ask them why they think the artist named the collage One More Day. 3. After the discussion of the artist s work and techniques, tell the students that they will create their own collages and assemblages based on a theme using found objects and available art supplies. 4. Tell the students to think about an aspect of their lives that they would like to reflect in a collage or assemblage, e. g. neighborhood or community, family history, an experience. Have the students brainstorm about what they would like to do and the items they could collect. 5. Homework: Have the students decide whether they will create an assemblage or collage and encourage them to collect 20 items from their home or community to create the artwork. The objects should have qualities that the students find appealing and interesting. Items varying of design elements such as lines, textures, and shapes should also be considered. Be sure to encourage creativity. See the Materials Needed section for suggestions. 6. Instruct the students to bring the items to class for the art activity. (OPTIONAL: You may want to give the students a few days to collect their objects.) *Please explain any object restrictions to the students such as sharp objects, smelly or messy objects, or items that are against the school rules. Session 2: 1. Start by having the students briefly discuss the items they collected and brought to class. Use the following questions to guide the discussion: Why did you select these items? What is interesting about them to you?

3 What are their original purposes? Where did you find them? 2. Next have the students think about their designs. Students may make sketches if necessary. Tell them to keep these questions in mind: How will the items fit together? How will the objects work together to convey my message? 3. Make the art supplies available and have students begin their collages or assemblages. 4. Conclusion/Discussion: Ask the students how they feel about their finished work. What did they enjoy most about the project? What was challenging? Using the visual analysis questions for Slave Dolls and One More Day (see Session 1) have the students analyze each others work. Also encourage the students to give a brief presentation of their work explaining what they mean to them.

4 Teacher/Docent Resources Lesson Plan: The Great Migration Grade Level: 5 th Time Required: 2 sessions Objectives: Students will learn about the history of the Great Migration through introductory information and individual research. Students will examine how Benny Andrews reflects the theme of the Great Migration in the work Migrants. Students will create artwork that explores an aspect of the Great Migration. Materials Needed: Digital image: Benny Andrews, Migrants, 1996 Internet access- In Motion: The African American Migration Experience (Migration Resources), The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Art supplies: paints, colored pencils, markers, found flat materials for collage (optional), etc. Chalk board or overhead projector Paper and pencils Vocabulary: The Great Migration: The massive resettlement, spanning the decades from 1910 to 1930, of over six million African Americans from rural South to the industrial North in search of jobs and freedom from discrimination. Migrant: A person who moves from one region or country to another. Collage: A picture or design created by adhering flat elements such as newspaper, wall paper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, cloth, and other items to a flat surface. Directions: Session 1 1. Begin the session with a visual discussion of Benny Andrew s Migrants. Use the following questions to guide the discussion: What do you see? What do you think is happening in the picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What materials did the artist use? Why do you think the artist used these materials? What do you think the artist is trying to tell the viewers of this picture? Explain. 2. After the visual discussion of Migrants provide the following background information to the students:

5 American artist Benny Andrews ( ) created a body of artwork called The Migrant Series. The art focuses on American migrations that reshaped the United States population in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These migrations include American Indians Trail of Tears during the 1830s, and African American relocation to the North from 1916 to This last migration was called The Great Migration in which millions of African Americans left the South for the North in search of jobs and better treatment. In Migrants, Andrews depicts in a collage what the Great Migration may have been like for individuals and families. Leaving family members and friends with only a few possessions, people traveled to an unfamiliar place in hopes of fulfilling their dreams of a better life. Young men between the ages of 18 and 35 were often the first to make the grueling journey with the goal of reuniting with their families once established. Entire families rarely migrated all at once because the cost was too expensive. Why did so many African Americans leave the South? Several factor resulted in the mass migration. One reason was due to crop devastation by the boll weevil. In 1898 the insect invaded Texas and proceeded east across the South. Because the Southern economy was based heavily on agriculture (namely cotton), many people no longer had a means of making a living. Another factor that contributed to the migration was World War 1. The war brought halt to the immigration of European industrial workers to the U.S. resulting in a labor shortage. By the time the U.S. officially entered the war in 1917, workers were in great demand to produce arms and war-supplies. Workers from the South were ready to step in. The southern region itself suffered from the underdevelopment and isolation in The South was slow to recover from the Civil War and it over relied on cotton to sustain the region s economy. In addition, the region had few schools, lower literacy levels, and poorer basic services. Southern workers were also grossly underpaid. The largest factor that played in migration was the deterioration of the political and social climate in the South. By 1910, most African Americans lost the right to vote due to restrictive requirements. Jim Crow laws, which enforced segregation of whites and blacks, led many to leave the South. Finally, intimidation and violence (such as lynching and mob violence) sought to disenfranchise, control, and terrorize African American communities. By train, boat, car, and horse-drawn cart, African Americans migrated to northern cities such as Chicago, New York, and St. Louis for better wages, educational opportunities for their children, and an improved way of life. Source: In Motion: The African American Migration Experience ( The Great Migration), 3. Have the students reflect on the anxiety or concerns the migrants might have had felt as they contemplated whether or not to make the journey. Ask the students to think of questions they might have pondered (for example, how much will the trip cost?)write the students questions on the board or overhead projector and ask them to explain why they think the migrants would consider those questions? 4. Draw the students attention back to Benny Andrews Migrants and simulate a discussion with the following questions: Why do you think the artist chose to depict the Great Migration this way? Describe the mood of the picture. Do you think the artist adequately conveys his message? 5. Assignment: Art Project

6 For the assignment, tell the students that they will do further research on the Great Migration (in class or at home), including reading essays and viewing historical photographs. Then they will each create an artwork (painting or collage) that depicts some aspect of the Great Migration (at home or in class) Instruct the students to visit the following web site to read essays and view pictures regarding the Great Migration: * IN Motion: The African American Migration Experience ( Migration Resources), The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Tell the students that they may also look for information in the local library. Encourage the students to keep notes or a journal of what they find interesting about the Great Migration. This information will help them decide what they would like to depict in their art program. Once he works are completed, have the students present their paintings or collages to the class and ask them to address the following question: * What did I learn from my research of the Great Migration? * Why did I choose to depict the Great Migration this what? * What materials did I use? Why?

7 Teacher/Docent Resources Lesson Plan: What is the Blues? (An Introduction) Grade level 8 th + Time required: 1 session or more if necessary Objectives: Students will learn general information about the history and content of the blues. Students will listen to and compare various blues songs. Student will gain a basic understanding of the 12-bar blues. Materials Needed: Comparing the Blues worksheet (located in the educational programming guide) Pens/Pencils Chalk Board Internet Access Blues CD (various artists) Pre-select three songs for the students to listen to in the classroom. The songs should differ in subject matter and tempo. Consider finding songs by the artists mentioned in the blues information below. Vocabulary: Blues: A genre of American music that evolved out of African-American work songs, field hollers, spirituals, and country string ballads of the South more than a century ago. It is the foundation of other music forms including jazz, rhythm and blues,, rock and roll, and hip-hop. Bar: Also called a measure, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. Call and Response: A musical term referring o the alternation between two musical voices in work, particularly that between a solo singer (the call ) and a group chorus (the response ). In the blues, the call and the response structure may have derived in part from work and gospel songs, and is particularly prominent in Delta blues an styles arising from it, in which the solo performer often uses his guitar to respond to, and sometimes even complete his vocal line. Directions: 1. To start the discussion, ask the students the following questions regarding the blues: (Be sure to write the student responses on the board so that all may see.) What do you already know about the blues? What songs have you heard? Did you like the music? Why or why not? How did the music make you feel?

8 What singers do you know or have heard of? 2. Next, give the students introductory information about the musical genre. A Brief History of the Blues: Emerging from Texas, Louisiana, the Piedmont region, and the Mississippi Deltas, the blues evolved from various forms of African American slave songs such as work songs, field hollers, spirituals, and country string ballads in the South. Rural music that captured the suffering, anguish, and hopes of 300 years of slavery and tenant farming, the blues was typically played by roaming solo musicians on acoustic guitar, piano, or harmonica at weekend parties, picnics, and juke joints. Their audience was primarily made up of agricultural laborers, who danced to the rhythms, moans, and slide guitar. W.C. Handy (known as the father of the blues ) was among the first to recognize the value of the blues, and Southern black music in general. An accomplished bandleader and songwriter who performed throughout the South and New York, Handy came across the Delta blues in the late 1890s, and his composition Memphis Blues, published in 1912, was the first to include blues in the title. While historians do not recognize Memphis Blues to be an actual blues song, it did influence the creation of other blues songs, including Crazy Blues which is commonly known as the first blues song to be recorded (by Mamie Smith in 1920). Legendary blues singers from the Delta include Sons House ( ), Robert Johnson ( ), and Gertrude Ma Rainey ( ). As the African American community that created the blues began moving away from the South to escape its hard life and Jim Crow laws, blues music evolved to reflect new circumstances. After thousands of African American farm workers migrated north to cities like Chicago and Detroit during both World Wars, many began to view traditional blues as an unwanted reminder of their days toiling in the fields; they wanted to hear music that reflected their new urban surroundings, In response, blues artists such as Muddy Waters ( ) and Howlin Wolf ( ), left Mississippi for Chicago. The artists swapped acoustic guitars for electric ones and filled out their sound with drums, harmonica and standup bass. This gave rise to an electrified blues sound with a stirring beat and pointed the way to rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Other notable blues artists include Elmore James ( ), Koko Taylor ( ), and B. B. King (1925). Source: PBS, The Blues Classroom The Sound of the Blues: The most common musical form of the blues is the 12-bar blues. The term 12-bar refers to the number of measures, or musical bars used to express the theme of a typical blues song. Nearly all blues music is played to a 4/4 time signature, which means that there are four beats in every measure of bar and each quarter note is equal to one beat. A 12-bar blues is divided into three four-bar segments. A standard blues progression, or sequence of notes, typically features three chords based on the first (written as I), fourth (IV), and fifth (V) notes of an eight - note scale. The I chord dominates the first four bars; the IV chord typically appears in the second four bars; and the V chord is played in the third four bars. The lyrics of a 12-bar blues song often follow what s known as an AAB pattern. A refers to the first and second four-bar verse, and B is the third four-bar verse. In a 12-bar blues, the first and second lines are repeated, and the third line is a response to them often with a twist. Source: PBS, The Blues Classroom

9 3. Next, tell the students that they will now listen to three blues songs and compare the songs subject matter, beat/rhythm, and instruments using a worksheet.. Subject Matter: The students should listen very carefully to the lyrics of each song. Encourage them to write down lyrics that particularly standout. Here, the students should write what they think the song is about and why they feel that way.. Beat/Rhythm: Is the tempo of the song fast or slow? Does the beat start slow then speed up? What are some other interesting sound characteristics of the song? The students should also describe the singer s voice. Is it high pitched or deep, loud or soft? Be specific.. Instruments: What instruments are heard? How do the instruments compliment the artist s voice? 4. Pass out the comparison worksheets (one per student). Before each song is played, please announce the title and artist so that the students may write the information on the worksheet. Also, allow the students to fill in their responses after each song is played. 5. After all the songs have been played, have the students discuss and compare their responses to the music. Additional questions to stimulate the discussion include: How did the lyrics make you feel? Did you feel sad or happy? How did the beat/rhythm make you feel? Did you feel like dancing or crying? What song did you like the best? Why? What song did you like the least? Why How does the song compare to songs or musical genres you hear today? Extension:. Blues Geography: Divide the students into groups and ask each group to research the history of one blues region. They are Mississippi Delta, Texas, Louisiana, the Piedmont region (southeastern United States), New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and Memphis. Have each group present a brief presentation to the class.. Blues Artists: Have the students write individual reports on a blues singer. Visit PBS, The Blues Web site for a list of artists: Singing the Blues: Encourage the students to write a blues song of their own. Their inspiration may come from a number of sources: a past experience (happy or sad), something that is currently happening in their lives, etc. Ask for volunteers to sing their songs. Suggested songs for comparison exercise: Son House, John the Revelator Son House, Death Letter Robert Johnson, Cross Road Blues Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bo Weavil Blues Muddy Waters, Mannish Boy Howlin Wolf, Smokestack Lightnin

10 Howlin Wolf, Killing Floor Elmore James, Dust My Broom Koko Taylor, Wang Dang Doodle B. B. King, Three O Clock Blues B. B. King, The Thrill Is Gone Many of these songs can be accessed on the Internet, such as Playlist.com (