Resource: Contemporary Art Dialogues @ DAM
A series of issue-oriented artworks, conversation prompts, and art making ideas for the k-16 arts classroom.
Contemporary Art as a Site for Critical Dialogue
One of my key takeaways from studying with Dipti Desai and Jess Hamlin, Marit Dewhurst, and Rob McCallum at NYU, was that contemporary art is an ideal site for *critical dialogue* and consciousness raising.
Whenever a museum invites me to host a workshop, I am immediately excited to browse their collections, and identify a few issue-oriented artworks to ACTIVATE for our use in the classroom. I look for artworks which make a statement or ask a question about social justice or liberation, and I support workshop participants in approaching those artworks as opportunities for students to have brave conversations around “difficult topics,” AND as inspiration for visionary / activist art making. Together, we create guided inquiry questions and art making prompts to accompany each image.
When Erica Richard invited me to facilitate a workshop with The Denver Art Museum, I was especially excited because the DAM has an especially exciting permanent collection of issue-oriented contemporary art to choose from. In this month’s letter, I am sharing a few of the artworks we ‘activated’ during that workshop.
Setting yourself up for Success
Asking students to explore social justice topics without first establishing a safe and respectful class community can inadvertently cause more harm than good. Have you contracted classroom norms? Have you revisited these norms recently? Have you created enough space for joy before diving into ‘difficult conversations’? Are you and your students prepared to respond to problematic statements or biased thought?
Have students seen positive and joyful representations of people of the global majority, before engaging in conversations about our oppression?
Artworks + Teaching Resources
Here are four of the resources I created in collaboration with docents at the Denver Art Museum. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about what you see.
David Bradley, Land O Bucks, Land O Fakes, Land O Lakes. 2006
Grade Level:
6-12, Higher Ed
Historical/Cultural Context:
“David Bradley reformulates pop imagery such as this Land O'Lakes butter box —found in American Grocery stores— to combat cultural myths and the treatment of Native Americans. In his own words: "For five hundred years, American Indians have had everything taken from them. One of the last valuable things the own is their identity. Now that Indian identity has become a marketable commodity, it is being taken, as well."
- DenverArtMuseum.org
Guided Inquiry:
What does this image remind you of? Have you seen items like this in the world? What about the image is similar to an actual product, what about the image has been transformed or recontextualized to make a statement? Why did the artist make those changes- what was their message?
The specific product this artist is parodying is created by a white-owned company. Does this change your thoughts about the artwork? Have you seen other instances of companies using BIPOC characters to sell products?
Art-Making Prompts:
Study more visual examples of "Culture Jamming" in contemporary art, and create our own redesign of product packaging to make a statement.
Students search for other examples of cultural appropriation in mascots, logos, and media and create an artwork that highlights the misuse of imagery.
Reflect on how your own heritage or identity is reflected in the media. Create a parody advertisement that reflects the 'real you.'
Glenn Ligon, Malcolm x, Sun, Frederick Douglas, Boy with Bubbles
Grade Level:
3-12, Higher Ed
Historical/Cultural Context:
Ligon stumbled across vintage coloring book sheets of the 1970s...He distributed coloring sheets to children of various backgrounds at day care centers and used their drawings as a source material for his art. Unaware of the historical context for the figure on the pages or their race, the children crayoned the line drawings in colors that simply pleased them, sometimes erasing their black identity.
The obvious dissonance between the coloring and the established meaning behind the iconic images directs the viewer’s attention to the role of culture and education in the construction of identities.
DenverArtMuseum.org
Guided Inquiry:
What does this art piece look like / remind you of? Who or what do we typically see represented in coloring books? How is this one different?
Why do you think the artist chose to make an artwork that looks like a coloring book? What might the ‘coloring book’ style represent or mean? Who typically uses coloring books?
Do you recognize any of the persons depicted? Why or why not? Are these figures colored in realistically or accurately? How are they different?
Ligon was inspired to create this series of artworks after seeing children coloring in actual outlines of Black heroes to have blue eyes, blond hair, and white skin. Why do you think that happened? Why would young children make that mistake?
Art-Making Prompts:
K-5th: Recreate Ligon’s experiment by giving young children actual copies of coloring book pages depicting Black American heroes. After coloring, show students actual photographs of those heroes, and ask them to identify similarities and differences between their drawings and the actual photographs. Ask students why so many children “default” to coloring in with peach skin and blue eyes.
K-5th: Do a 'diversity inventory' of the classroom library, and create a data visualization of what we find.
6-12th: Discuss the influence of children's media on colorism, and then create a critical media intervention (media satire/parody artwork) of one problematic artifact of children's media.
9-12th, Higher Ed: Create our own coloring book pages of Upstanders and people of the global majority. Create classroom packs of these coloring pages w/ intentional selections of crayons. (i.e. browns, blacks, red, green, blue, purple)
Rachel Lachowisz, One Month Late, 1992
Grade Level:
9-12th, Higher Ed
Historical/Cultural Context:
In the 1970s, as minimalism began to enter the mainstream of art, feminism began to enter the mainstream of society. Rachel Lachowicz addresses both of these issues in her art. In One Month Late, she coated with lipstick a number of men’s ties, one pair of women’s shoes, and a coat hanger, and created a tableau that alludes to the issue of unwanted pregnancy. The devastating wit of One Month Late is a more effective critique of illegal abortion than all the vocal and visual vituperation in the media.
DenverArtMuseum.org
Guided Inquiry:
What do you notice in the center of this image? What might the high heels and wire hanger represent? What connections can you make between these items and other things you’ve read or studied?
What might all the suit ties represent? Why are there so many? Why is there only a single pair of heels? Why are they arranged all around the high heels?
Why did the artist use the color red? What untraditional material do you notice in the image? Why did the artist choose this material?
Art-Making Prompts:
As a class, brainstorm laws and policies which affect your life, but which you have no real voice in shaping. Design a protest art campaign to raise awareness about this issue, and communicate your opinions.
Study other examples of performance and installation artwork. Work in small groups to design a piece of "Installation Art" on your campus which communicates your opinion about one social justice issue.
Kerry James Marshall, Diptych Color Blind Test, 2003
Grade Level:
9-12th, Higher Ed
Historical/Cultural Context:
Kerry James Marshall American, born 1955, Birmingham, Alabama.
In Diptych Color Blind Test, dots that mimic the Ishihara Test, used to determine color blindness, obscure the facial features of an African-American man and woman.
The reference to color blindness, contrasted with the figures’ fists raised in the Black Power salute, prompts questions about racial stereotypes and whether it is possible to view art color-blind.
DenverArtMuseum.org
Guided Inquiry:
Describe the figures. Describe their pose. What do these figures represent?
What does the artwork look like or remind you of? Why would the artist choose to combine these figures with a color blindness test? What could that represent?
Have you heard the phrase “color blind ideology?” (define for students). What do you think the artists opinions are about so many people insisting they are “color blind”?
Art-Making Prompts:
Brainstorm other topics that are important to learn about, but that many folks do not want to see, recognize, or discuss. Create your own artwork in the style of an Ishihara Test about this topic.
Research a specific figure from a racial justice, social justice, or environmental justice movement, and create an artwork honoring that person's legacy.
Reflective Praxis
As always, if you pilot any of these resources in your classroom, I would LOVE to hear about your experience! Reflective praxis requires collaboration, communication, and community. Comment below with any questions, ideas, or SUGGESTIONS you have!