Once again I had the privilege of helping with the Art Lit program in our daughter's class. The entire school studies the same artist for the month and creates a project inspired by that artist's story and style.
Lois Mailou Jones was our artist of the month.
Artist Statement: "Mine is a quiet
explorations quest for new meanings in color, texture and design. Even
though I sometimes portray scenes of poor and struggling people, it is
a great joy to paint."
Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998) was a prominent African-American
artist in the mid- to late-twentieth century. In addition to teaching
at Howard University for several decades, Jones became the first
African American to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. As her biographer Tritobia Haves Benjamin told Beth Baker of
"Ebony", "She is a reflection of the varied facets that represent
American art. Just as American art has unfolded, embracing different
styles and different cultures, so too has Jones' career." More here>>
In preparing for this art/lit project, we parents learned about her career, inspiration and what she overcame because of the time her career began and the fact she was a black woman in the U.S.
She even submitted entires to art contests without revealing her color by having friends deliver the pieces. When she'd win, she'd request the prizes be mailed to her. She made the mistake once of picking up the prize in person. When they saw she was a black woman, they took it back from her.
The children learned about textiles, warm and cool colors and how important they are in her art. They learned that the warm colors draw your attention first and the cool colors help set off the warm and emphasize them.
As part of the preparation we I cut out about 30 African animals from black paper. We were actually able to copy the stencils onto black construction paper. They were just a bit darker so that I could see them in REALLY good light to cut them out.
Today, the children saw slides of her art and heard her story. Then, we passed out the animals, the back Astro-bright paper to glue them onto and a pile of shapes, glue sticks and bright scraps. The children loved the project and learning about another artist.
With this program, they are retaining the knowledge of the artists we cover and they are recognizing their styles in other art. It's fun to hear them say the artists' names and mention some fact about them very naturally.
I must admit, I'd seen many of the older classes complete this project and our classes had the first hula skirts on the animals. You never know with Kinder garters.
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