Collage Inspired Fashion Design - Magazine Collage, Mix Media
Contour Line Shoe Drawings - Watercolor and Sharpie
Thrashbird Visit and Mural
|
|
For the last 6 weeks, in an attempt to increase student engagement and orchestrate more meaningful classroom experiences, I've been teaching my 7th Grade art students about street art. Most of my students live in or around the Pico/Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, where observing street art and graffiti is a part of daily life. I wanted to appeal to them in a way that seemed natural and honest. For the last 6 weeks, in an attempt to increase student engagement and orchestrate more meaningful classroom experiences, I've been teaching my 7th Grade art students about street art. Most of my students live in or around the Pico/Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, where observing street art and graffiti is a part of daily life. I wanted to appeal to them in a way that seemed natural and honest. This included being mindful that a teaching street art to a group of Latino students, from the perspective of an outsider, could come across as forced or inadvertently appropriate the culture of my students. So I became wholly invested, spending my weekends driving/walking around the city looking at art, reaching out to artists, and gathering artifacts for my class that were genuine examples of the street art and graffiti world in Los Angeles. I didn't just want Pinterest templates developed by another white woman from Connecticut.
In class, we studied multiple prolific street artists who create in Los Angeles and around the world, in an attempt to broaden our understanding of how artists create, why artists create, how their creations have an impact, and why all of this is so important. Students were immediately invested - far more than I could have ever hoped or imagined. We practiced identifying artists through analyzing the techniques and content present in the artworks. This practice quickly became a favorite, and students would race each other to see who could identify what media an artist was using, or what characteristics lead them to believe it was the work of a particular artist. Students practiced common techniques in stenciling, wheat paste, and spray painting, through the lens of creating social commentary. This theme gave us an opportunity to dive deeper into the intentions of certain artists, whose work circles back to social justice and advocacy, and serve as a powerful call to action for an audience.
One artist's local works were particularly inspiring to many of my students, who after seeing his technology questioning Clones, subversive billboard takeovers and massive freeway slogans, quickly began to emulate. This artist was Thrashbird and soon he was all my students wanted to talk about. Student artist Angelica Andrade said, "He’s interesting with his art. He tries to solve big problems in the world, like how people are addicted to their technology… so when people see his clones, they realize that they need to stop and talk to people. I think his art is very inspiring."
Through a casual and serendipitous Instagram encounter I reached out to Thrashbird, who was quickly and emphatically interested in coming in to talk to my students. Due to student demand, I extended our studies of Thrashbird for 2 weeks. Every day we'd look at a new piece of work and discuss its social and cultural implications, before spending our studio work time creating our own mural designs, attempting to do the same. I think examining Thrashbird’s work really helped my students understand how impactful art can be, and for some it was that “Aha!” moment that we strive for as teachers. Not only were they making stronger connections between visual language and content, but they were starting to create artwork that did the same.
Wednesday April 26th was the day of Thrashbird’s visit. He had generously agreed to spend an entire day of classes talking to and creating a mural with my students. I had them develop interview questions for him, which really ranthe gamut: “Your artwork is really unique, and doesn't copy anyone else’s, so I was wondering if you have any specific role models or other artists who inspire you and your style" was one example. “Are you single...” was another and he answered all of them with the same amount of enthusiasm and respect. My students were so excited to be talking to this enigma of an artist they had studied for the last few weeks. The next day, when debriefing about the experience, student artist Jose Guzman reflected, “Getting to talk to and know a real street artist was awesome because it gave a lot of us the confidence to go out and make our own art, because we can see that people can be successful as artists.” It was clearly a highly influencing experience for them.
Not only were my students able to talk to Thrashbird, but he lead the development of a mural with them. Each class contributed to the mural in some way, and all students had an opportunity be involved. They were so enthusiastic to be able to paint alongside a professional artist. The evolution of the mural was organic, and he let my students really take the lead and create the way they wanted to. Giving them the encouragement and freedom to express themselves, and transform my classroom space the way they wanted, gave them so much agency! Thrashbird decided, with the help of the students, to include the phrase, “STRENGTH IN SOLIDARITY” on the wall, a poignant reminder of the world we live in, with emphasis on the importance of unity in moving forward. This phrase could not have be more apropos for my learning space. Emphasizing unity gives my students and I hope. I am so grateful for this experience, which undoubtedly has changed the perspectives of my students and the way they think about what it means to be an artist and make art.
In class, we studied multiple prolific street artists who create in Los Angeles and around the world, in an attempt to broaden our understanding of how artists create, why artists create, how their creations have an impact, and why all of this is so important. Students were immediately invested - far more than I could have ever hoped or imagined. We practiced identifying artists through analyzing the techniques and content present in the artworks. This practice quickly became a favorite, and students would race each other to see who could identify what media an artist was using, or what characteristics lead them to believe it was the work of a particular artist. Students practiced common techniques in stenciling, wheat paste, and spray painting, through the lens of creating social commentary. This theme gave us an opportunity to dive deeper into the intentions of certain artists, whose work circles back to social justice and advocacy, and serve as a powerful call to action for an audience.
One artist's local works were particularly inspiring to many of my students, who after seeing his technology questioning Clones, subversive billboard takeovers and massive freeway slogans, quickly began to emulate. This artist was Thrashbird and soon he was all my students wanted to talk about. Student artist Angelica Andrade said, "He’s interesting with his art. He tries to solve big problems in the world, like how people are addicted to their technology… so when people see his clones, they realize that they need to stop and talk to people. I think his art is very inspiring."
Through a casual and serendipitous Instagram encounter I reached out to Thrashbird, who was quickly and emphatically interested in coming in to talk to my students. Due to student demand, I extended our studies of Thrashbird for 2 weeks. Every day we'd look at a new piece of work and discuss its social and cultural implications, before spending our studio work time creating our own mural designs, attempting to do the same. I think examining Thrashbird’s work really helped my students understand how impactful art can be, and for some it was that “Aha!” moment that we strive for as teachers. Not only were they making stronger connections between visual language and content, but they were starting to create artwork that did the same.
Wednesday April 26th was the day of Thrashbird’s visit. He had generously agreed to spend an entire day of classes talking to and creating a mural with my students. I had them develop interview questions for him, which really ranthe gamut: “Your artwork is really unique, and doesn't copy anyone else’s, so I was wondering if you have any specific role models or other artists who inspire you and your style" was one example. “Are you single...” was another and he answered all of them with the same amount of enthusiasm and respect. My students were so excited to be talking to this enigma of an artist they had studied for the last few weeks. The next day, when debriefing about the experience, student artist Jose Guzman reflected, “Getting to talk to and know a real street artist was awesome because it gave a lot of us the confidence to go out and make our own art, because we can see that people can be successful as artists.” It was clearly a highly influencing experience for them.
Not only were my students able to talk to Thrashbird, but he lead the development of a mural with them. Each class contributed to the mural in some way, and all students had an opportunity be involved. They were so enthusiastic to be able to paint alongside a professional artist. The evolution of the mural was organic, and he let my students really take the lead and create the way they wanted to. Giving them the encouragement and freedom to express themselves, and transform my classroom space the way they wanted, gave them so much agency! Thrashbird decided, with the help of the students, to include the phrase, “STRENGTH IN SOLIDARITY” on the wall, a poignant reminder of the world we live in, with emphasis on the importance of unity in moving forward. This phrase could not have be more apropos for my learning space. Emphasizing unity gives my students and I hope. I am so grateful for this experience, which undoubtedly has changed the perspectives of my students and the way they think about what it means to be an artist and make art.
