Coming together through Collage

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February 2011
LESSON PLAN
Coming together
through Collage
CLASS DISCUSSION
Romare Bearden, one of America’s foremost artists of the
20th century, was a humanist, social activist, musician, poet and
artist. Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Bearden
moved with his family to New York when he was just a toddler.
He grew up in the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, in a home
where visitors included musicians Duke Ellington and Fats Waller,
poet Langston Hughes and writer W.E.B. DuBois. He often
traveled to visit relatives in North Carolina and Pittsburgh and
the varied experiences and memories of his youth colored his art
throughout his life.
Bearden studied at Boston University, New York University, and
the Sorbonne in Paris, and his learning never stopped. He visited
museums where he would study the techniques of masters
like Picasso, Goya, Matisse and Manet. He joined dozens of
literary magazines and art societies. He was a painter, illustrator,
musician and poet, but is best remembered for introducing
America to the art of collage.
This stamp art is a detail from
“The Lamp” (1984) by Romare Bearden.
Bearden’s collages were unique multi-media works, all-inclusive
and colorful as the themes they celebrated. Using newspaper
clippings, wallpaper, wrapping paper, brightly colored foils,
fabrics and paint, Bearden depicted images of classic literary
myths, proud black women at work, and ritualistic Southern
black tableaus. The glossy pictures in his pieces – torn straight
from magazines and journals – reflected Bearden’s ongoing
interest and awareness of current events, while the arrangement
Lesson Plan Continued
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February 2011 Lesson Plan • Coming together through Collage
and color suggested his own feelings and
interpretations. Bearden spent more than 20 years
working for New York City’s Department of Social
Services and was keenly invested in the causes and
goals of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated
not just for the acceptance of African Americans, but
also for general and universal tolerance of all human
beings. Bearden felt that artistic expression made us
one as human beings, and simultaneously, made us
our own individuals.
ACTIVITY
In this lesson plan, your students will emulate
the art of Romare Bearden by expressing their
interpretation of the term tolerance through collage.
Similar to Bearden’s method, this activity will stress two
important processes. First, your students will scout out
images and words in recent periodicals that they find
culturally relevant or evocative. Then, they will arrange
those clippings in a tableau that shows their views of
equality.
What you will need for this activity:
• A couple dozen newspapers and magazines,
containing both text and images
• Fabric, paper and foil scraps
• Safety scissors or scissors, one pair per student
• Glue sticks
• Paper, one sheet per student (you may choose to
use legal or ledger paper for larger creations)
• Depending on your need, crayons, pastels, markers,
and other coloring materials
Begin this project by printing out the four stamps
featuring Romare Bearden’s collages, found at the
end of this lesson plan. Distribute the stamp art to
your students, or display them prominently in your
classroom. Instruct students to study the imagery so
that they will be able to emulate Bearden’s works in
their own collages. Canvas the class for terms that
they feel best illustrate freedom from racial, ethnic
or religious prejudice and write them on the board,
resulting in a library of tolerance terms. Then assign
students the task of bringing in to class various printed
materials — magazines and newspapers, scraps of
colored paper and fabric, bric-a-brac, foil papers and
anything they feel will contribute to their compositions.
Separate the class into small groups and divide the
collected materials evenly among the groups. Assign
each group three or four of the tolerance terms on
the board. Devote about half an hour to 45 minutes of
class time for students to look through their magazines
and newspapers for inspiration, and to cut out the
images or words they find interesting.
Their next step will be thoughtfully placing their
clippings in a meaningful and well thought-out collage.
Take as much time as you need with this step, as the
creative process is demanding for even the most
seasoned artist! Encourage students to embellish their
works with their own original illustrations and words.
When your students have finished their collages
(encourage them not to leave any white space on
their sheets, similar to a Bearden image), have each
one share his or her creation with the class. Hang the
collages on a bulletin board in or outside the classroom
in honor of Black History Month. To supplement your
student’s collages, you may also choose to follow the
poem-writing lesson for February found in the School
Days & American Ways 2010-11 Teaching Guide!
DESIRED OUTCOME
Similar to our February lesson plan found in this
year’s School Days & American Ways, this project is
designed to honor our nation’s Black Heritage by
having students meditate, analyze, and express their
own opinions on the subject. We’ve designed the
lesson around an art project because, as Bearden
himself believed, art is what unites us as a society, but
defines us as individuals. And as the subject of racial
and ethnic equality is a sensitive one, it will comfort
your students to approach it in a manner that is open,
personal, and positive. Bearden believed in the
patronage of both youth and emerging artists because
he knew that both these groups of people were
astutely aware of — and had the power to change —
conflicts and issues in modern society. We hope that
by immersing themselves in magazines, newspapers,
and photo-journals, your students will develop a
curiosity and an opinion about the world today. By
combing through objective news, we also hope that
they will appreciate the meaning of universalism and
tolerance.
CURRICULUM STANDARDS
American History: 20th Century, Civil Rights Movement
Arts & the Humanities: Art History, Multimedia Expression
Civics: Urban Studies, Arts Appreciation and Patronage
Social Studies: Groups and People, Black History
USPS COMMUNITY CONNECTION
February 2011 Lesson Plan • Coming together through Collage
Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
USPS COMMUNITY CONNECTION
February 2011 Lesson Plan • Coming together through Collage
Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.