Black Lives Matter At School - 2nd Grade Art

As a part of the Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action, the second graders participated in a project in the art room with the resource teaching team. The students were introduced to one of the themes of the Black Lives Matter curriculum: Globalism & Diversity, and explored that theme through the lens of the visual arts. In the classroom, a wide variety of different types of artwork from African-American and black artists was printed and displayed. The second graders participated in a "museum walk" and moved around the room silently, just looking and noticing things about the artwork. Slowly, students moved towards an artist that particularly captivated their imagination or piqued their interest.

After selecting an artist to study, they completed an exploration worksheet, in which they identified which material/s they thought the artist used, what adjectives could be used to describe their work, what emotions it evoked and what colors they found in their work. The students were then challenged with the task of creating their own artwork in response to the artist that they observed. They selected which materials they would like to work with and made a small pencil sketch before they began. As a class we discussed how to make an artwork that is inspired by something but is not just a copy. The second graders were invited to use different elements from their artist's work, choosing between using the same or similar media, trying to evoke the same type of adjectives or feelings, using the same colors or recreating some parts of their imagery.

The students worked independently at stations set up with a variety of art supplies including clay, wood, tiles, paint, collage, drawing, sewing and beading. Their responses to the artwork were unique and included a wide array of media and interpretations. Some students used imagery from a two-dimensional work and re-imagined it as a three-dimensional sculpture, while others created a painting based on a sculpture they observed. Other students reinterpreted small brushstrokes from a painting as mosaic tiles glued on a board. Some created small wooden structures combined with clay elements, while others created marker drawing using shapes and lines inspired by what they observed.

 

The "museum walk" gave the students a chance to be exposed to a large number of artists and artwork, while their response to one artist's work gave them a chance to delve deeper into their understanding of the piece. Be sure to stop by the display of African-American and black artists and the second graders artistic responses to their pieces that will be going up in the hallway next week!