Classroom Activities
Students will be drafting and painting a mural. The following activities were designed for an afterschool group to paint a wall inside the school, but in my experience libraries and community centers are equally amendable to this type of work. The benefits of working with an afterschool group is more control over the numbers: 30+ students cannot all work on the same panel, as well as more control over the students that join: the level of research asked of students is easier for students with grade-level reading skills, which is usually a minority of my classes.
My population in mind for this project is students who are at or above grade level but are not given as much attention during class as I scaffold for the majority of students below grade level, and so this project is an opportunity for them to dive deeper into art than they can during the day.
This project is designed for around 15 students meeting 2 hours a day once a week over 9 weeks, with work due in between meetings. I recommend an application process for students to join the afterschool group, not to limit access to interested students, but to ensure students participating are committed to the whole project.
Week 1
As a group, students will be introduced to the history of the Chicano/a arts movement (resources to do this can be found in the annotated bibliography) the broader social context, and Judy Baca. Being geographically far from the epicenters of these movements, students may have little prior knowledge except for their prior knowledge of similar struggles for civil rights by Black Americans in the South in the 1960s, and thus the teacher should bridge these understandings. After establishing the context, students should explore the Great Wall of Los Angeles both visually and historically. Students should analyze the style, and how the visual choices help tell the story. Students likely have a range of prior knowledge of the events depicted in the Great Wall. For the events that had international significance and they may know well such as World War II, they can compare how Baca portrays the event versus other portrayals they may have seen. For events they know less well, like the Mission System, they can guess on what the event was based on how it is portrayed and analyze how Baca made them think that. Students will be introduced to the overall project of creating a similar ethnic history but of Richmond and within the school over the course of 9 weeks. Students will discuss the steps they will need to take to start and finish a large group project in a reasonable timetable. Students will analyze the Indigenous California section of the Great Wall and be given resources to research about Indigenous Virginia. Students will be asked to come next week ready to begin drafting designs based on what they read, and so should be told to pay attention to plants, animals, artwork, architecture, fashion, and other visual elements of the information they read.
Week 2
As a group, students will explore the “Musical Ratio” present in Siqueiros and Baca’s work. Students will identify how visual elements such as shape and color create dynamic compositions and show depth of field. The teacher should collect student research from the prior week and demonstrate how to create a draft based on the research, and ask students for feedback, modeling a collaborative process. Before splitting from the group, students should review the steps of the mural process and establish norms for collaborative work. In my experience students often struggle painting someone else’s design or struggle with sharing the work. The first step is to allow the students to develop norms to hold them accountable for sharing the work throughout the painting process.
Students should be split into groups, switching halfway through to underscore the importance of collaborative work.
In the first group, students should prepare all mural materials on an easily stored cart, loading it with brushes, paint, drafting tools, tape, drop cloth. Students in this group should then tape off the wall, lay down drop clothes, and prime the wall. Students should then divide it into the 4 different sections of the mural. When the whitewash has dried, students will use rulers, measuring tape, and levels to divide the wall into a grid of one foot by one foot, lettered and numbered (for example, square 1A, square 2A etc.) to transfer the paper design.
In the second group, students will create different drafts of the Indigenous Virginia section based on collected student research from the previous week and provided teacher research. Students will use rulers draw a one inch by one inch grid on their draft, lettering and numbering it so that they understand square 1A on their gridded drawing will go in square 1A on the wall, despite the different size between one foot and one-inch squares.
In the last 20 minutes, all students will make sure the mural supplies are completely cleaned up and put away. Then, students will come together as a group to provide feedback on wall designs, with the teacher modeling the critique process to underscore it must be a community approved design, rather than the sole work of an individual.
However, it is still the teacher’s responsibility the wall looks good, so after students leave the teacher should prepare a final draft based off student work. Make multiple copies of it for students, with the same grid as the mural panel. Students should be assigned homework to research the Colonial period and bring their research to the next meeting.
Week 3
As a group, students will review their research and drafting expectations. Students will be introduced to outlining expectations, and how to use the grid method to transfer the design square by square in order to ensure proportionality. Students will then review the process of creating the design based off research, discussing what was easy and what was hard.
The students will divide into groups, the first creating a pencil sketch of the mural design for the Indigenous Virginia section while the second drafts the Colonial Virginia section. The groups will switch, and when pencil outline sections of the mural are approved they can be gone over with a dark paint marker for a higher contrast draft. Students should be reminded to only do the outline for now.
The same as last week, students will clean up, come together at the end of their time together to discuss their designs and the teacher will create a final draft to be given to students next week. Students should be given the list of historical figures from the 19th century mentioned in the research above and asked to read about them before next week so they come ready to discuss.
Week 4
As a group, students will discuss their reading, their feelings around their reading, and how to represent those figures. Where have they seen slavery and abolition represented in art before? What was it saying and how did it use art to say it? Students should review the relevant sections of the Great Wall and talk about how Baca shows the featured abolitionists and other Black leaders. Students will discuss how to use visual elements to show progress from slavery to freedom, and how to represent this thoughtfully for their peers.
Students will split into groups, one drafting the Colonial Virginia section of the mural, the second using given research about the 19th Century in Richmond to draft their designs, including typical fashion and photos of relevant landmarks. Students will come together in the last 20 minutes to go over designs and approve them before next week. Students will be asked to read about Barbara Johns and come ready to share, teacher should take care when finalizing the 19th century design.
Week 5
As a group, students will discuss their prior knowledge and emotions about Barbara Johns. Students who have families who have lived in the area for a long time likely have personal family history with the matter. Many of our students immigrated from Latin America have experienced interrupted schooling or school loss due to poverty. Almost all our students experienced being out of school for COVID-19. How will personal experience influence our artwork?
Students should split again, working some on outlining and some on drafting the 20th Century section. The Massive Resistance Oral History Project conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University from 2011-2012[108] is a wealth of primary sources for students to listen to as they consider how to represent this time. The teacher should finalize the design for next week and prepare a guide for the flat colors of the mural, represented for students like a paint-by-numbers sheet. This has been a successful student mural technique in the past for me, as it allows for corrections without painting over too much detail and allows for consistent color mixing and application given drying times.
Week 6
As a group, students should reflect on their work thus far. Students should review the community-oriented nature of their work and review some of Baca’s community involvement techniques. Students should draft their own ideas and format for receiving feedback from the school community on the mural in progress. These ideas should be implemented by the teacher over the next week, in a format that can allow the teacher to screen for inappropriate responses.
The teacher should introduce the concept of painting flat colors first before adding details to a mural. The teacher should introduce the paint-by-numbers technique mentioned above used to create a cohesive color scheme and allow a large group of different people to fill in a large area. Students should review earlier agreed upon norms of collaborative work, as in my experience any minor interpersonal fight during a mural quickly becomes a major paint fight.
Meanwhile, the students should split into groups. Some should outline the 20th century section; others should begin to paint the flat colors of the mural.
Week 7
Students should meet as a group to discuss feedback from the school community and decide where and how to change the design if needed. Students will complete the flat color of the mural and clean up.
Week 8
Students will use paint markers to draw over the flat color of the mural with details. After cleaning up, students should meet as a group reflect on their work and to discuss the ways Judy Baca and SPARC present the Great Wall to the public. How do they talk about their work? What kind of signs can we hang up to explain our work to people passing by? Students will begin to brainstorm ideas individually or in teams and come together at the end to share ideas. The teacher should collect the ideas into a shared document for next week.
Week 9
Students should reflect on their progress so far and finalize their ideas for education surrounding their artwork. Most likely this will be plaques or essays describing the visual element choices, research, personal feelings and personal experiences. Have the students sign the work and take pictures to promote school wide to promote a feeling of accomplishment and celebration within the school community.
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