Lesson Plan: Paper Mosaics & Collage. Unit Plan " A Jazzy Renaissance" A Cultural Experience for the 21st Century

Unit Plan: A Jazzy Renaissance

Teacher: Essex Garner 

LTC 8900: Artistic Thinking: Multimedia Applications for Teaching Art Course Developed by Melissa A. Mudd

Grade levels: 9 through 12
Age levels: 13 through 17

     The Big Idea: This is the second lesson of three within the "Jazzy Renaissance" unit of instruction. Class time allotted for each lesson is one hour.

Jacob Lawrence

Art Fundamentals II student work.

Jacob Lawrence Mosaic (Boy with Kite)
Eugene R-5, Eugene, Missouri

         Conceptual Structure:  Jazz emerged from the heart of New Orleans. It played a significant role in the building of America’s cultural landscape. America has a growing population that is rich in cultural diversity like the many pieces of mosaic artwork we will be working on in this lesson. As we follow the Great Migration of almost two million African Americans to the northern cities from the previous lesson. We also understand they took not only their new music genre with them, but were the driving forces of the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. It’s important to understand at this time that African American literature was finally being taken seriously just like the Jazz renaissance in Southern states. Although this movement initially focused on literature led by the poet Langston Hughes, it evolved to include, art, theater, music, and politics. Although African American music, art, and literature had crossed the racial divide laws like the Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson that declared racial segregation constitutional kept this mosaic fabric of America separate and unequal. Northern states unlike the South allowed all African-Americans adult men, the rights to vote and educational opportunities. These social and political gains were marginalized behind the Great Depression initiated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. By 1935 to preserve the skills and self-respect of the unemployed during the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt under the New Deal established the Works Process Administration (WPA) to stimulate the economy. This organization also governed the WPA Federal Art Project, which provided jobs for unemployed artists, actors, and writers not excluding many talented African Americans.

The Revolution Is Televised
 

Art Fundamentals III student work.

Eugene R-5, Eugene, Missouri

1. Goals and Objectives:

• Students will learn to use a new technique not based on fine drawing skills, and develop an appreciation for the Harlem Renaissance artists within the crafts of mosaics and collage work. Students will incorporate the disciplines of composition, color placement, arrangement of shapes and esthetics.

• This lesson strengthens the student’s awareness in diversity issues, art and music appreciation, explores different drawing and music media, and develops socially aesthetic concept necessary for the understanding of other social groups in American.
   

• Students will connect today's artistic imagery with the different collage, montage and mosaic works deemed socially relevance of this era with their own artistic social theme.      
                               

• The students will demonstrate prior knowledge of lessons learned within the foundational elements of previous lessons.
   

• The students will examine two or three-dimensional concepts that fall under art censorship for this era and discuss the artistic liberation’s many of these artists where undergoing.
   

• The students will report on what constitutes patiently offensive art within the public domain.
   

• Students will also develop their topographical Map Reading skills through identifying historical markers with current geographical information of the state of New York and pertinent cultural facts concerning this area.

2. Lesson Concepts:

     Make sure your students understand that the mosaic they will be constructing can represent a social statement they are trying to convey. Ask students if they believe the definition of a "mosaic cultural" could be defined to much more than a collage of deferent diverse groups of their cultural heritage. Next, see if they are able to make those connects that are reflective in today’s global society. Make the connections many of these artists made within the stylized and idealized approach to the West African art motif, and the connections they references politically in their art to the slave trade and Jim Crow standards their predecessor had to undergo. Remember that this is a good time to teach your students "the best way not to repeat bad things in history, is to know your history".

3. Instructional critical study:

• The students will develop an appreciation of how artists operate in public spaces, strengthen techniques in art criticism, and develop a better awareness of the aspects of this cultural art form.

• Students will incorporate the disciplines of composition, color placement, arrangement of shapes and esthetics. Encourage students not to us straight lines for their design.

• The students will come away with a better understanding of how mosaic and collage works of art are seen through the public lens and how this art form can make resolute statements like drawing or painting.

• The students will make a personal connection to a particular artist within the WPA or Harlem Renaissance during the course of the research process.

• The students will come to appreciate the planning process for this era, government intervention in public affair, and better understand what the WPA was.

• The students will digitally record and comment on their work and with their peers. Students will ask the questions: "do you think your artwork changed or effected someone’s opinion concerning the social issues of others"?

Rap Girls

Example Student Artwork
 

Art Fundamentals III student work.
Eugene R-5, Eugene, Missouri

Roberto Clemente
Puerto Rican Black Hispanic

Art Fundamentals II student work.
Eugene R-5, Eugene, Missouri

• Students will find a photograph and or picture to trace out their image for this project. Students need to be aware of the value changes within the picture they choose for this project. For normal class periods and the experience levels of the fundamental classes; allow for 8 1/2" x 11" paper for this project.

• Transfer their traced drawing to construction paper by the carbon copy method.

• Have students start cutting out shapes from magazine articles or picture to be used as their tile pieces. Make sure the students at this time are thinking about varieties of colors, texture and values to be incorporated into the overall look of their work.

• While students are placing their paper tiles onto the construction paper.
•  

5. Instructional critical studies:

• The students will develop an appreciation of how artists operate in public spaces, strengthen techniques in art criticism, and develop a better awareness of public Art.

• The students will come away with a better understanding of how functional and nonfunctional art through the artist’s and publics lens, and look at how art is perceived and appreciated by others.
   
• The students will make a personal connection to a particular artist, theme and or their work during the course of the research process.

Looking Back
Puerto Rican Black Hispanic

Art Fundamentals II student work.
Eugene R-5, Eugene, Missouri

• The students will come to appreciate the planning process for this art form and the music period.
   
• The students will digitally record and be evaluated on their chalk illustration by their peers. And reflect on ideas of public opinion concerning their project. Students will ask the questions: do you think your artwork changed or effected someone’s opinion concerning the social issues of others?
   
• Demonstrate the overlapping and grout methods of tile placements.
   
• The group method of seeing the lines between overlapping tiles does have as much to any relevance when demonstrating a collage technique.
   
• Insure students understand that the color and texture selections from their cut out pieces of paper tiles will affect the compositional make-up and contrasted areas.
   
• Make sure the students paper selections relate to the subject color surface areas. Example: Paper pieces cut out to reflect green patterns could be cut from leaves, grass, etc. Try and have your students make connects with the geographical map provided within this exercise as needed.
   
• Let the mosaics dry, preferably overnight and prepare for background mounting.

Clean Up: Allow 5 minutes or more if needed to accomplish this before class ends.

What you will need:

• 8 1/2" x 11" construction paper or larger for support canvas and a larger sheet if possible as a mounting board.

• Carbon paper for transfer method. If you don’t have, carbon papers use the grid method from the previous lesson.
   
• A variety of magazines, old news papers coupons and or articles. Start collecting before the class and have your students bring in old magazines from home. The more you have the wider the selection of value changes and texture your student’s will be able to articulate.
  
  Basic construction glue and cue tips for the glue application.

  Scissors.

  Water and paper towels or old towels and rags - to clean up as necessary.

  Camera to take pictures.

Digital Media
Mosaic
Collage
Grout Support
Indian and Islamic Art
Proportion
Elements of Art
Censorship
WPA
Two-dimensional
Composition
Perspective
Romare Bearden
Jacob Lawrence
Map Legion
Langston Hughes
Jazz Harlem Renaissance
Dixie Land
The Great Depression
Wall Street Crash
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The New Deal
Crafts
Aarrangement
Shapes
Esthetics
Mmosaic pattern
Carbon Copy
Tracing paper
Value changes
Overlapping Technique
Grout Methods
 Portrait mosaics