The creative fire...

Our school was fortunate to receive a TreatySmarts grant this year, and we are using this grant to explore identity and culture and how they influence art. The unit starts off with the front-end loading of the information pertaining to Treaties, and will culminate in a slam poetry night at the Broadway Theatre. Ideally our students will write poems that pertain to the FNIM content they learn in class and speak passionately for peace, tolerance, acceptance and understanding for all people.
Our first exploration into identity and art was an assignment on Ted Harrison. I chose the questions: Is it possible to express your identity through art? Basically students had to view Ted Harrison's art and then guess who he is. I asked guiding questions and recorded their ideas on the board. Later we read his bio and looked at pictures of him. We discovered that some of the assumptions we made about him were accurate, but some were not. We then moved into the creation phase. Students were instructed to copy Harrison's style and create a piece of art that expresses their identity. After their art was completed, they were to write a reflection on how their art does or does not represent them. The final part of the assignment was to write a 1-3 paragraph biography on Ted Harrison, and to write a similar autobiography in third person about themselves.

Surprisingly many students had troubles copying this style of art. Maybe it was the combination of trying to combine a style with their identity. When I asked this inquiry questions, I assumed that the answer would be yes, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe the answer is yes if you are given free reign, but when you must mimic someone else's style it becomes more difficult.

Today we started to explore stereotypes exposed through art. We found this thought provoking First Nations Artist, Keesic Douglas. His art tackles stereotypes though photography. A teacher candidate took the lead on this lesson and showed the students Douglas's art. We discussed the meaning of the word stereotype and tried to list the stereotypes expressed through the art. This lead to a lively discussion about stereotypes that we all face. Tomorrow we will have students create a collage of the stereotypes portrayed in the media. They will be allowed to cut words and photos out of magazines for this collage. The difficult part for them will be to find stereotypes that are specific to them. While they are working on their collages, I will have students come one at a time for a black and white photo shoot. Once their collage is complete, they will begin the work of recreating the style of Keesic Douglas. Their materials will be their own photo and a sharpie. They can use words and pictures to draw on their photo and expose the stereotypes they are subjected to. Keesic Douglas's work depicts the stereotypes that First Nations people face, and our art likely will not. We will need to do this with a measure of cultural sensitivity, but with the idea that tolerance and acceptance of ALL people is the our common goal.

Finally, we will put all of our work into zines. Zines, short for magazines, are self published mini magazines that target a small niche. As we work over the next few months, the students will each build their own zine with art, poetry, and reflection.

Next week we begin working with two slam poetry artists. They will help teach our students about slam poetry and eventually lead them through the creation of their own slam poems. Working with these artists, as well as the Mendel Art Gallery, would not be possible without the TreatySmarts Grant, and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. For this opportunity, I am grateful.
For those of you who don't know what a slam poem is, here is a video:



 Here is the assignment the students worked through:

   Identity Inquiry Project by