​rethink.

Lesson overview:

In this lesson, students will have the chance to view artwork created by Kara Walker. The teacher will explain Kara Walker’s art work techniques (silhouette cut outs) and how she portrays how the memory of slavery continues to live on in the contemporary moment. It is important to teach the students about Kara Walker because she exemplifies how slavery continues to shape our lives, culture, and politics today. Through this, students can also see another visual of how slaves were portrayed and can compare it to what they’ve seen and learned in the previous lessons.

 

 

Materials:

• Slavery! Slavery! by Kara Walker

http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker/Main/HistoryCollusionOfFactAndFiction?action=dispimg&im=KW_SlaverySlavery.p.jpg

• Kara Walker’s website

http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker?n=Main.HomePage

• Chart paper

• Pen/pencil

 

I

Instruction:

1. The teacher will first pull up Kara Walker’s website in order to give the students background knowledge about the techniques she uses in her artwork and the messages she is trying to send.

• http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker?n=Main.HomePage

2. The teacher will then show the students Kara Walker’s artwork titled, “Slavery! Slavery!”

3. The teacher will use a VTS (Visual Thinking Strategy) approach to generate a discussion about what the students see within the piece.

• Through this strategy, the teacher will stay very open minded and ask open ended questions while always giving the students time to think. No prior knowledge is needed, and by using VTS it gives students the chance to engage in conversation about art which helps them make meaning.

• First the teacher will ask the students what is going on in the artwork and ask them to explain why they think that in order to generate a discussion. Through this, it allows the students to justify their thoughts as well as give them a chance to point out different things in the art that others may not have noticed. Lastly, the teacher will ask the students what more they can find allowing other students to contribute and point out other aspects of the art.

• The teacher should always thank the students for their observations and praise any contributions that are made without giving his/her opinion.

4. On chart paper, the teacher will document some of the observations that the students made during the VTS discussion. As a class, the students will review what they’ve come up with and discuss what message they think Kara Walker was trying to portray through this piece of art.

5. The teacher will show the students other pieces of her work that uses her light projection technique and will discuss with them that by using certain lighting, a person standing in front of the  artwork will have their shadow cast on the wall also. “In this way, visitors literally enter the narrative and the history it suggests through their own silhouettes” (http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker/Main/TechniquesAndMedia).

6. To finish the lesson, the teacher will lead a discussion on any stereotypes the students may see in Kara Walker’s work. The students will make connections between the stereotypes portrayed in Kara Walker’s art and the stereotypes they’ve learned about in past lessons.

 

Standards:

8.3.4.D: Distinguish between conflict and cooperation among groups and organization that impacted the history and development of the United States.