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Conflict
in the Arts
Teacher: Kevin
Miller
Arts Discipline:
Visual Arts
Grade Level: High School
Team: E
Topic: Considering the Postmodern
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"SAY AND DO!"
alphabet
"SAY AND DO!" idea starter samples 1
"SAY AND DO!" idea starter samples 2
"SAY AND DO!" idea starter samples 3
"SAY AND DO!" student handout
UNIT:
Conflict in Postmodernism: Destructured, Decentered, Dehumanized!
LESSON: "Say and Do Words" (Street Art/Graffiti)
DATE:
TEAM WARM-UP:
What do you need to know?
- Think of all
the words you can that say what they do or mean. Hint: Mooo!, Bang!,
Pop!, Growl!, Bark!, etc.
STUDENT OBJECTIVES:
- Students will
understand the definition of the word "conflict" (relative
difference) and be able to use it to help themselves understand its
relationship in Postmodernism.
- Students will
demonstrate a basic knowledge of the essential definitions for modernism
and postmodernism.
- Students will
consistently address the task using purposeful and accurate thinking,
execution and assessment.
- Students will
know what, why and how as attainable goals in their efforts toward
understanding postmodernism.
ESSENTIAL CURRICULUM:
- Outcome One:
Perceiving and Responding-Aesthetic Education. The student will demonstrate
the ability to perceive, interpret, and respond to ideas, experiences,
and the environment through the visual arts.
- Outcome Two:
Historical, Cultural, and Social Contexts. The student will demonstrate
an understanding of the visual arts as a basic aspect of history and
human experience.
- Outcome Three:
Creative Expression and Production. The student will demonstrate the
ability to organize knowledge and ideas for expression in the production
of art.
- Outcome Four:
Aesthetic Criticism. The student will demonstrate the ability to identify,
analyze, and apply criteria for making visual aesthetic judgments.
BACKGROUND
Graffiti is
found everywhere, especially in the urban setting, but no where
is it more prevalent and of higher overall quality than New York
City. (This could be debated, but for our unit, New York City wins!)
Graffiti is the focus of this lesson, specifically the words that
have a visual meaning as well as a communication meaning . . . in
other words they "Say and Do!" These can be considered
visual puns as well.
Words such as:
SLIP . . . SLIDE
. . . SINK . . . TITANIC . . . TEAR . . . BREAK . . . MIDDLE . .
. THREE . . . SHADOW . . . DONUT . . . etc.
are but a very
few of the words that suggest that they both say and do what they
are. Some need an illustrative approach such as DONUT with letterforms
for everything except a rendering of a donut to form the O. Or THREE
with an additional E, making it THREEE . . . all in letterforms
(typography). Or SINK or TITANIC in letterforms slowly dropping
below the horizonline one letter at a time to suggest sinking.
The list can
be exhaustive. This is a very fast lesson, taking about three studio
days. Support it with rendered typographic samples; music such as
Take the A Train, Slaughter on 10th Avenue, American in Paris; films
like the West Side Story with its credits on graffiti by Saul Bass;
videos from both TLC and Discovery on urban history and practitioners
of graffiti, and artists both well known (Chris Harling) as well
as unknown who practice graffiti art. This is a rich subject area
for postmodernism.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the graphic version of onomotopoetic words while
investigating typography forms and shapes. We are all familiar with
words like MOO or BARK or ROAR or CRASH. They are words that in their
vocalization describe accurately the sounds they are spelling. The same
can be found for words that when visualized in a creative manner will
also describe what they mean . . . "SAY AND DO!" Create as
many as you and your tablemates can visualize.
MATERIALS:
- #2 pencils and
colored pencils
- 8 1/2 x 11 white
paper
- black and red
thinline and various colored broadline markers
- erasers/whiteout
- alphabets provided
- gluesticks
ART TERMS:
PROCEDURES:
- Working with
everyone at your table, create a list of as many words that will translate
into visualizations that illustrate their meaning . . . "SHOW
AND DO!" Look carefully at the samples provided. Try as many
words as possible, trying simple sketches to see how or what the words
will develop into as "SHOW AND DO!" visualizations. Try
to keep the sketches as simple as possible, that is, the meaning will
be clear with the simplest visualization as you can get away with.
Try to keep the typography the foremost illustrative visual. In other
words, don't illustrate (make pictures) the "DO" of the
words unless it is the only option you can use.
- Using the alphabets
provided, begin to trace the letterforms onto the white paper, making
the letterforms show the "SAY AND DO!" meaning of the words
you have chosen. Use the lightbox or tape to the glass of the windows.
Be careful and make accurate tracings. (Real quality here will make
all the difference in the final artwork!)
- Work-up at least
three difference final "SAY AND DO!" words in pencil. Then,
using the colored pencils or the thinline markers, outline the typography.
Fill-in with pencils or the broadline markers. Quality rendering is
very important for high quality and for clearly defined illustrations
of the meaning of the words you have chosen.
- When you have
finished your "SAY AND DO!" words, pin them on the crit
wall for review and discussion.
- Using gluesticks,
mount the "SAY AND DO!" words in your book.
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Sponsored
by The
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The
Center for Renaissance and Baroque
Studies, and the Maryland
State Department of Education.
We welcome your comments
and suggestions.
Last updated 22 May 2001
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