Strategies
This unit has been planned with the intention that it will begin on the first day of school and last for approximately three to four weeks. This unit will build on simple concepts through the selection of art, literature, and materials and scaffold to more complex works as we progress. For the sake of clarity and organization, I will identify these parts as early, middle, and high.
Analyzing the Face
The face is such an extraordinarily efficient instrument of communication. But are there rules that govern the way we all interpret facial expressions? What are those rules? And are they the same for everyone? Charles LeBrun, a seventeenth century French painter engaged in the visual study of character (as well as a person's likeness). In tandem with these visual studies, LeBrun studies the writings of philosophers such as Rene Descartes, who writes extensively on emotions. 2 I will introduce my students to a series of the sketches of LeBrun's portraits and discuss the contours of the face as it changes expression, and as a review of line quality, a technique that will be addressed in each drawing exercise they will be asked to complete.
To support this seventeenth-century work in the modern context, I will be taking my students to the computer lab in order to introduce the work of Paul Ekman. In the nineteen-sixties, the psychologist became interested in the study of facial expressions in an attempt to answer some of the questions I've alluded to in the last paragraph. His studies took him around the world, talking to different people from different cultures and showing them photographs of men and women making a variety of distinctive faces. Everywhere he went, people agreed on what those expressions meant. He set up a 'lab' in San Francisco and began to study every crevice and contour of human expression. The lab set out to construct an Atlas of the face, "which would depict photographically each of these universal facial expressions of emotion 3. The studies made use of spontaneous facial expressions that naturally occur when a person does not deliberately try to show an emotion on his or her face.
Ekman's research, along with an interactive web site that explores these subtle and distinct changes will be used as part of a warm-up activity for this unit. In his book, he has broken down eight different facial expressions of emotion. These expressions are clearly defined and the resulting changes in the muscles of our face are fully explained. There is consideration for the variables that can occur in regard to the judgments people make about emotions. Ekman writes
The first focus is on what the feelings look like, in other people's faces and in your own. Photographs show the facial blueprints of the major emotions…registered by the changes in the forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, cheeks, nose, lips, and chin…You can use this information about the blueprints of facial expressing to better understand the feelings of others. Or you can use the face to become more aware of what your face is telling you about how you feel and what your face is telling you about others. 4
Analyzing the Text
Each lesson within the unit will begin with select readings. Students may be apprehensive, perhaps even a bit rebellious, when they find out that this unit actually involves reading in art class (and with the possibility of even some outside reading). Because of this, I have chosen to start with children's stories. Like some of the gesture drawing exercises I do as warm-up activities, the choice of children's books is intended to build confidence early on. My hope is that by returning to some of their favorite children's characters, they will be more confident to take on the role of literary critic. We will progress from children's stories to poetry, and then to short stories. The art materials and techniques will progress to a higher level of complexity as well. Proficiency will be demonstrated when students are able to explain their choices of material and technique as it relates to the characters they have selected. From there we will continue to work with prose and add short stories of mystery and intrigue. And again, the materials and techniques will become more complex as will the layers of reference including concepts of time and place. Students will more closely examine the often subtle techniques artists use to move back and forth cognitively from the external physical characteristics to more abstract conclusions about what is observed (strength, intelligence, insecurity); and back again to the detailed observations that yield the abstraction (strained muscles, furrowed brow, slouching posture).
I will use a number of reading strategies to engage each student in recognizing character. 1.Think about what you want to know. Before you read anything, ask yourself why you're reading it. Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after you've read it? 2. Reading actively. When you are reading, it helps if you practice 'active reading' by highlighting or underlining key information. Take notes as you read. 3. Visualization. Look for choice words that make use of sensory images such as exaggeration.
Getting Started on Portraits
As a way of introducing the concept of approaching character to my students on the first day of school, and as a way for the class to get to know each other quickly, the class will play the game, "Who are you?" This game is a classic icebreaker that relies on the student's ability to think quickly and deeply about his or her own character and the character of his or her partner. In groups of two, one student repeats the line "who are you" to their partner for a full minute. The partner answers with one word or short phrase answers. One minute for each person ends up feeling like a very long time; however, the length pushes us all to dig deeper for a response that exposes the many facets of ourselves.
The goal of the activity is to identify and recognize the various internal and external characteristics of the individuals in the class. Although this particular group of students may know each other from their previous art class, they tend to know very little about each other's outside lives. Following the first round of "Who are you", partners reverse their original roles and either ask or answer the same question. As the rounds of questioning are completed, volunteers will then 'present' their new friends to the class. The twist here is that the person they are introducing must be standing behind them. They will be asked to describe three internal characteristics (what they learned from the verbal communication) and three external characteristics (remember, they can't see the person – what can they remember about the physical characteristics).
Students will be continually and consistently exposed to portraits from artists throughout history. Creating a strand of artists throughout the unit, students will be able to assimilate the idea of internal and external characteristics of an individual based on the visual clues the artist provides. For example, Diane Arbus is a photographer known for her portraits of people generally on the outside of what is considered the 'norm' (giants, dwarfs, transvestites, and circus performers were some of her best known subjects). Her subjects were looked at as deviant or marginal because of those differences, yet her photographs situate us somewhere between complicity and awe. I will begin by using Arbus's 1962 photograph, Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. The game of "who are you" will continue as we ask that question of the image projected.
Extending the framework of the game, I will lead students in a discussion that will help them to begin to consider ideas about the function of art (specifically portraits) that I discussed in the introduction of this unit. What external factors did Diane Arbus select to reveal to us something about that person? What conclusions can we make about that person in the portrait based on those selections? What conclusions can we make about the function of the work? Why?
I think it is important here to discuss to some degree the subjectivity of the responses to these questions. Inevitably, hopefully, there will be variety of responses! We can then discuss the idea of point of view, a comprehension strategy that students will be asked to manage more directly with the subsequent literary component to this activity.
Analyzing the Artists' Work
There are of course a vast number of portrait artists that can be used for this unit's different activity and discussions. I have begun to develop a power point presentation for this unit that introduces artists from a variety of historic and stylistic periods. This presentation will be constantly and continuously changing. It will be part of the (analysis) assessment of the unit that students will be able to discuss the 'strands' between these different portrait artists as we make use of the ideas we develop throughout the various stages. They will be used with the other lessons within this unit as this scaffolding approach allows us to look at the same work again and again, as we begin to understand the many layers in both art and literature.
The following three artists were selected to help guide the reader with what might be helpful in trying to navigate the enormous amount of portrait works available online. (See Appendix A for a more extensive list.) I have selected these artists with consideration for their diversity in: physical characteristics, theme, time and place, style, technique, and material. Kehinde Wiley's highly realistic portraits place contemporary, unnamed African American men in heroic poses. Through his use of appropriation, his canvases transform the way we think about the old and new, race, and masculinity. I have specifically chosen Wiley's Triple Portrait of Charles I, 2007.
Laylah Ali's cartoon style work initially charms and disarms the viewer, drawing us into a world filled with tension and mystery. Her most famous and longest-running series of paintings depicts the brown-skinned and gender-neutral 'Greenheads', run through themes of group and individual identity, politics and power, race, and social class. A wonderful and brief interview of her is available through the PBS series Art21 in which she talks about the process of creating the works. It would be beneficial to use this interview early on while discussing the ideas of why process is so important. I have selected an Untitled work from 2000 which shows three characters who have been hanged to death, while one other criminal-looking character is being forced to observe.
My final choice may seem out of place in this otherwise contemporary selection. Making use of Leonardo daVinci's sketches and paintings within this more contemporary group might actually help my students better understand the value of practice and planning (the number and kinds of sketches he did in planning his final works are plentiful) as well as his influence on artists like Kehinde Wiley. The work selected for this introduction activity is a study for a Portrait of a Man, 1482. Leonardo is of course the iconic Renaissance man, bringing us some of the most famous portraits in our history. The naive art lover may be completely unaware of the vast sketchbooks he left behind. The books reveal his passion for drawing and as he said, "The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding." 5 The curiosity of daVinci took him in many directions. Most valuable to an art instructor, trying to teach the importance of careful observation, are the remarkable volumes of his notes representing an amazing variety of topics. Always using this method of scientific inquiry-close observation, repeated testing of the observed- his portraits in particular reveal an acute sense of the subtle and extraordinary ranges of the human condition.
As an independent follow-up assignment, students will be asked to select a portrait from our art history text. Based on the type of inquiry discussions we had with each of the artist work listed above, they will write a first person narrative ("who are you") about their subject. They must include a detailed description about what artistic elements they see the artist has used to help develop or influence their own ideas about character seen in the image. Using a viewfinder or cropping tool, students will draw three detailed sketches of areas they felt were most revealing of character.
Early
The following activity will be a study of character through the use of children's books. Slovenly Betsy, by Dr. Henry Hoffman was originally published in 1911. It contains a number of short stories that offer a series of tales on morality intended to teach such ideas as the values of cleanliness and the folly of pride. We will review the reading strategies listed earlier before we begin these stories. Each story will be read to the class and then students will break into groups in which they will review and discuss in detail what the characters' appearance may be and why.
In order to help students find the verbal clues in the text, I will model the kinds of questions they can begin to ask each other. What is physical and psychological description of the character? What are his or her personality and traits? The next thing we have to look for is the environment in which the character lives. What is the setting? How is the character related to the environment and other people around him or her? Is there any comparison or contrast between the character and the environment? Does the character have any motive? Find out what drives the character or if he or she has any motivations. Are there any flaws to the character? What is the psychological makeup of the character? Who is speaking – from what point of view is the story written?
What are the clues or indicators that lead you to that conclusion? How did the characters express themselves that may have lead to that conclusion? Each group will be asked to present their ideas to the class.
The illustrations in this book are examples of literalization of, for example, "crying one's eyes out", in the case of The Cry-Baby. I am going to give students copies of the text with blank spaces where the illustrations exist. It will be the task of each student to create the illustrations within that space. The studio art objectives for portraiture will be reviewed and students will consider– how did the artists we discuss achieve the difficult task of moving from the obvious physical characteristics too more abstract conclusions about what is observed?
The work with Slovenly Betsy is designed as group work/problem solving (though individual drawings are the expected outcome), as a way to introduce the kinds of questions that we will look at in out attempt to understand characters in literature. I have selected some other classic children's stories to extend this 'early' series of readings and resulting portraits. Most any character driven story will suffice here though I have chosen Aesops' Fables because they continue in the vein of simple and short tales of morality. In most fables, animals speak and are given human characteristics, though there are a number of great options that include human characters. The Bald Man and the Fly, The Milkmaid and her Pail, The Miser and his Gold, and The Young Thief and his Mother are examples of some of the stories that students might use in the first lesson described below (see Lesson One).
Middle
Ecphrastic poetry is poetry that is directed to particular works of art. Described as "…the oldest type of writing about art in the West….it was created by the Greeks." 6 The rhetorical form changed a bit during the Italian Renaissance when artists made visual works based on the written descriptions of art that had never existed. Sandro Botticelli's 1494-5, Calumny of Apelles is just such an example.
John Hollander describes the idea that to a certain degree, "the poem is always describing or addressing or speaking for, or out of, a notional work of art of its own." 7 Historically, these poems address the objects with regard to narrative. In more modern poetry, the poet ascribes some kind of responsibility to the work of art as it implies some latent or hidden narrative or agenda.
I will introduce the use of poetry with a series of warm-up activities that will help students become acquainted with the unique characteristics of writing and reading poetry (for writing, see Lesson Two below). I've created some brief and simplified reading strategies for this section of the unit. These additional strategies will show students how they can adjust their reading behavior to deal with a variety of situations, types of input, and reading purposes. 1. An interpretation of a poem (or work of art) is valid when the framework of the poem itself supports it. 2. Poetry requires a higher degree of participation (Interpretations must be rooted in textual/visual clues embedded in the work and not just pulled from thin air.) 3. An image is a word that imaginatively appeals to the senses – keeping in mind all of the senses.
There are a number of publications of ecphrastic poetry that would be appropriate for high school students. These will be listed in the appendix, but for this unit, I am going to make use of Words for Images A Gallery of Poems, edited by John Hollander and Joanna Weber. The artwork in this book is predominantly modern and most of the artists will be familiar to my students. They will be shown a series of artworks from this book when we, together, begin to analyze the poem. I will introduce this ecphrastic poetry by first showing the photograph, Lexington Avenue Subway, 1941 by Walker Evans. Together, we will read the poem written by J.D. McClatchy of the same title. Both the photograph and the poem dive deeply into heart of the character through the literary visual art devices discussed earlier (i.e. tone, place, contrast).
Once I believe students have a clear understanding of the framework of ecphrastic poetry, I will pair them in groups, as they will be asked to analyze the Langston Hughes poem, "Mother to Son". The visual inferences are plentiful and there is a strong sense of voice within the poem. Using the same format as I have set-up in the 'early' section of this unit, groups of students will discuss in detail the imagery that is revealed to them in this work. What are the physical and psychological descriptions of the character? What are his or her personality and traits? The next thing we have to look for is the environment in which the character lives. What is the setting? How is the character related to the environment and other people around him or her? Is there any comparison or contrast between the character and the environment? Does the character have any motive? Find out what drives the character or if he or she has any motivations. Are there any flaws to the character? What is the psychological makeup of the character? Who is speaking – from what point of view is the story written? What are the clues or indicators that led you to that conclusion? How did the characters express themselves that may have led to that conclusion? Each group will be asked to present their ideas to the class.
Students will be asked to create a portrait of one of the characters in this poem. They will be given their choice of material based on what they feels will best suit the vision they have for the image. Materials such as collage, charcoal, chalk, pastels, and color pencil will allow for enough variety of interpretation without the final products looking so much like a teacher driven assignment.
High
The mystery of trying to understand characters in literature is in part solved by our ability to relate to human emotions that are revealed in the works. Stories that have us on the edge of our seat and deal with strong psychological drama are especially compelling to high school students. "Adolescence can be a time of tremendous emotional swings…Emotions are strong and seemingly close to the surface…so how can we help our students deal with their own emotions?" 8 What we can do as teachers is help our students who are struggling by allowing stories to serve as portals to help them see others' struggles. "Students prefer books with heightened suspense and excitement…Mystery is one genre that has cross-gender appeal." 9Many of the psychological thrillers that Edgar Allen Poe has written tie in with those common human emotions of fear, sadness, regret, loneliness, anticipation and helplessness.
"…And the man was tall and stately in form, and was wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old Rome. And the outlines of his figure were indistinct — but his features were the features of a deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his face. And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care; and, in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with mankind, and a longing after solitude." 10
I have selected a few of Poe's short stories for this last portion of this unit. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Raven are mysterious and suspenseful stories that have characters rich in both visual references and psychological drama. Because the language Poe uses may be more difficult to understand, students will follow each of the stories as they are read aloud by a variety of actors. I found many options for these oral narratives with just an open Internet search. They will not be provided any visual references (illustrations) but will be given the similar handout for 'understanding the character' as provided in the early and middle sections of this unit. Character study questions such as, 'Who am I?' What is physical and psychological description of the character? What are his or her personality and traits? The next thing we have to look for is the environment in which the character lives. What is the setting? How is the character related to the environment and other people around him or her. Is there any comparison or contrast between the character and the environment? Does the character have any motive? Find out what drives the character or if he or she has any motivations. Are there any flaws to the character? What is the psychological makeup of the character? Who is speaking – from what point of view is the story written? What are the clues or indicators that lead you to that conclusion? How did the characters express themselves that may have lead to that conclusion?
With a partner, students will analyze a selected character by reading the work (popcorn style) and briefly summarizing the following elements: Plot – a brief summary of the piece. Setting – describe the setting. What words or phrases help paint the picture? Character – see notes from reading. Perspective – Who is the narrator? How does this affect the piece?
Based on their findings, students will independently create a series of sketches that will be the planning source for their final painting. As the tiered readings have become more complex throughout this unit, the materials and techniques will become more complex as will the layers of reference including concepts of time and place. Students will more closely examine the often subtle techniques artists use to move back and forth cognitively from the external physical characteristics to more abstract conclusions about what is observed (strength, intelligence, insecurity); and back again to the detailed observations that yield the abstraction (strained muscles, furrowed brow, slouching posture). We will continue to look at our strand(s)of artists when referencing such subtleties.
Unlike the other portraits, the work here will include a more detailed analysis of color, tone, contrast and technique. The portraits will be reflective of the culmination of ideas studied throughout the unit and will be completed using acrylic paint on canvas. The planning sketches will serve as techniques sheets as students will be introduced to and practice a number of painting techniques including under painting, color blending, and palette knife painting. Students will present their portrait in a gallery setting. The character analysis will accompany the final painting and also serve as a formative assessment piece.
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