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Two classes, Printmaking and Sociology, came together to work with a writer and a performance artist to explore ideas of beauty, success, risk and consumer fear. After 12 sessions of performance exercises, writing exercises, group discussion and book making, the students returned to their classrooms. There the students used their experience with the artists to make academic connections. Back in the classroom, the printmakers studied conceptual art and created their own designs that included text from their writing. We took photos of them acting out their ideas and they used these photos to make the final images on silkscreen. Students did reflective writing on the whole process, and some even went on to make elaborate mixed media collages using their prints and their ideas of beauty, success, etc. The sociology students went on to write reflective papers connecting the performance experience with the sociology text they had been studying. The teachers and a few students went to the Chicago Reading Initiative Showcase to present a Power Point presentation and discuss what we accomplished. We received great feedback and praise for our efforts and the students' work and writing. A TEACHER'S PERSPECTIVE "I learned so much about getting to great material for art making through this experience. I saw how ready the students are to go deep and think and write and talk about issues and then make meaningful art from these topics. I learned how important it is to check in along the way during any unit or project, about what students are learning and thinking and wanting. And only when I let them respond and asked them questions about their learning process and experience, did I know if they were engaged and learning what I wanted them to. |
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"I also realized what they weren't learning, and had a better understanding of what questions they were asking along the way. "The exploration my students did through the writing and performance gave them such a solid handle on their feelings and views and ideas that when they got to the final art making, it was such a thrill for them to make something they cared about and knew so much about, rather then just another assigned 'project'." Lorelei Kirsch, |
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© 2004-2007 Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) 203 N. Wabash, Suite 1720, Chicago, Illinois 60601-2417 | ||||||
