Art-glish Unit 3: Self & Perspective

Unit Title: Self & Perspective: Using Images to Tell a Story

Grade level: 9th grade (Integrated English & Art course)

National Core Visual Art Standards

VA:Cr3.1.Ia: Apply relevant criteria from traditional and contemporary cultural contexts to examine, reflect on, and plan revisions for works of art and design in progress.
VA:Pr6.1.Ia: Analyze and describe the impact that an exhibition or collection has on personal awareness of social, cultural, or political beliefs and understandings.
VA:Re.7.1.Ia: Hypothesize ways in which art influences perception and understanding of human experiences.
VA:Re.7.2.Ia: Analyze how one’s understanding of the world is affected by experiencing visual imagery.
VA:Re8.1.Ia: Interpret an artwork or collection of works, supported by relevant and sufficient evidence found in the work and its various contexts
VA:Cn11.1.Ia: Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art.

Big Ideas:

Artists Create work informed by their perspectives
Perspectives are shaped by Experience
When studying materials or art from a different culture or time

it is important to understand the context in order to avoid assumptions and mis-readings

Iranian art is diverse and has changed over time
Graphic Novels combine storytelling with Images and have unique artistic concerns

OVERVIEW:

The unit introduces the study of global diversity concepts and is organized around the text Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Satrapi, 2004). the book is a graphic novel memoir of Satrapi's childhood during the Iranian Revolution in 1978. Students will be guided in activities that help build an understanding of the social, political, and cultural context in Iran as well as learn strategies for interpreting artwork through a contextual understanding.

The images and text of Persepolis as as well as the work of other Iranian artists, will be used as devices for learning about Iran and thinking critically about what it means to study a culture and an experience that is different from one's own. Students will gain knowledge about Iran's history, culture, and conflict and have opportunity to study historical objects and artwork that connect to this learning. Students will also use Satrapi's work to learn about the art of graphic novels and create their own. All learning activities will seek to contextualize the images studied and help students make connections that enable them to become more astute interpreters, increasing awareness of art as a means for communicating cultural and political perspectives.

Essential Questions:

Why is contextual information important when learning about an unfamiliar topic?

What is the historical, political, and cultural context needed for understanding Persepolis, and the cultural production of Iran (from ancient to contemporary)?

How can art, literature and objects of cultural production be used as devices for learning about larger context?

What can we learn about our own assumptions, beliefs, values, and culture through a study of a different culture?

Are there limits to what we can know through this form of study?

Overarching Unit Essential Questions:

Why is contextual information important when learning about an unfamiliar topic?
What is the historical, political, and cultural context needed to understanding Persepolis, and the cultural production of Iran (from Ancient to contemporary).
How can art, literature and objects of cultural production be used as devices for learning about larger context?
What can we learn about our own assumptions, beliefs, values, and culture through a study of a different culture? Are there limits to what we can know through this form of study?
How do Storytellers and artists engage a sense of perspective?

Shared English/Art Vocabulary:

Perspective (Dual meanings: 1- drawing technique for depicting 3-D space and form, 2- point of view, outlook), Balance, Juxtaposition,

Art Vocabulary:

Islamic Art, Calligraphy, Graphic Novel, Censorship, Ambiguous, Ancient, Contemporary, Political Art, Dissent, Exile, Western Art Traditions, Cultural Production, Devotional Art, "Art" vs. "Cultural product"

Materials/Resources:

Unit Pinterest Board for Visual Resources

Projector for Slides Show and sharing video

White paper, pencils, ink, black pens and back Sharpies

Rulers

Vocabulary Books

Sketchbooks

Copies of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Copies of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Unit Lessons:

1. Building Context: Geography, History, Culture, Society,

and Revolution in Iran

Essential Discussion Questions:

What do we know, assume, or infer about Iran based on our current knowledge?
How does contextual research challenge our pre-conceptions?
Why is accurate contextual knowledge important when interpreting literature or art?
What is the difference between art and a cultural product?
How have the art and cultural products of Iran changed through time?

I. Research:

a. Students do small group research on assigned topics using the Web Quest Links to create a slideshow. Groups will then teach-out their findings on the Shah, Islam, and Culture and Society pre- and post- Revolution to the class at large. Assessed on completion of assigned topic research and participation in the group work.

b. Students view and discuss works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Heilbrunn Timeline for West Asia Website

Students discuss how the works viewed connect to their research, with particular attention to contemporary works by Shirin Neshat, Nasrollah Afjei and Afruz Amighi (viewable on the Unit Pinterest board).

II. Juxtaposition:

a. Students will view the "Juxtaposition" Powerpoint and add the definition and drawn examples of the word into their sketchbooks. Why is juxtaposition a powerful artistic concept? Students will discuss the work shown and apply the term "juxtaposition" as a way for mining the meaning of visual works, in particular the way traditions of the past are referenced by contemporary Iranian artists (calligraphy, geometric patterns, textile patterns etc..) and take on new meanings.

b. Spotlight on Shirin Neshat: How does Shirin neshat tell stories with her images? What might it be like to create work in exile?

How does she use Juxtaposition in her work? Students will look at this website by Deirdre Rynn and watch Shirin Neshat's TED talk, Art in Exile (2010). We will also view a TED talk by French-Tunisian artist EL Seed, Street Art with a Message of Hope and Peace (2015), another contemporary artist who uses Islamic calligraphic traditions in a contemporary way.

d. Assessment: Can students will be be able to explain how contextual information enhances our understanding of cultural production? Can students explain how Neshat uses juxtaposition?

Lesson 2: The Graphic Novel

Essential Questions:

How do you read a graphic Novel?
What artistic considerations are most important when creating a graphic novel?
How can design strategies be used to build visually impactful panels and pages?

I. How to Read/ Create Graphic Novels

a. Students study the art form of the graphic novel using excerpts from the text Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (McCloud, 1994).

b. Students will discuss and use the Graphic Novel terms and concepts form

c. Students will discuss the Design Principle of Balance and practice creating Informal and formally balanced collage compositions from black and white paper. Students will think through and practice how to balance positive and negative space and light and dark space. How does Satrapi find balance in her panel illustrations?

d. Students will discuss the double meaning/use of Perspective. 1- A point of view or outlook: Whose perspective are we seeing from in Persepolis? How does our perspective limit what we can understand and know? In composing the layout of the graphic novel, how does the artist use unusual or unexpected perspectives ? How does the child's perspective on war change the way it is presented in Persepolis? 2- Perspective Drawing as a way to show 3-D space or forms. Students will review one-point and two-point perspective drawing techniques.

e. Drawing practice: Students will experiment with using balance, perspective and framing devices by re-creating a familiar drawing from a new perspective. We will discuss how one event can seem very different depending on your perspective. This is a sketchbook assignment meant to done in one class. Have students recall the typical landscape they drew as 2nd or 3rd graders. It likely was a repeated image containing a house, a tree, a mountain, a sun etc....Have student sre-imagine this scene from multiple other viewpoints: from in the tree, or inside the house, laying in the grass, flying over the mountain etc...This is meant to get them thinking about framing and variety in the way they move from frame to frame.

II. Students will read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2004)

a. Students will discuss and use the Persepolis Chapter Vocabulary guide

b. Students will watch an Interview with Marjane Satrapi to get a sense of her as a real person

c. Students will practice using balance, formal perspective drawing, drawing from unusual perspectives, and framing techniques in their sketchbooks and through a practice comic strip that shows the passage of time and an event with a form of closure at the end. Students will receive teacher feedback about their design choices and application of the concepts covered.

3. Whose Perspective?

Essential Questions:

How does a story change when we see it through another person's perspective?
What is a dominant narrative and a counter narrative?
How do artists help us consider other perspectives?
How can be careful to remember "The Danger of a Single Story"

a. Students will synthesize their learning through a text-based art project. They will design and create a 3-7 panel comic that explores an event from Persepolis from the imagined perspective of a character whose narrative we do not get to see. Change in Perspective Assignment Hand-Out

b. While planning this project students will watch and discuss Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's TED Talk, The Danger of the Single Story

4. Summative Assessment: Presentation and Questions

Essential Questions:

What is the most important thing you learned about Iran in this Unit?
What is something you think others should know but probably don't?
Are there limits to what we can know about Iran and it's People through this type of lesson?
What perspective do you want others to gain, and about what topics, through your artwork in the future?

Students will present their artwork to the class and get feedback about their design and imagery.

Students will answer the above questions as a circle discussion

Students will Self- reflect on their artwork design and vocabulary using the Persepolis Assessment Hand-Out

References:

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Harper Perennial
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. (nd). [searchable, graphic organization of the museum's collection catalogued by region and date and annotated with images and didactic information about each work]. West Asia collection. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works/#?geo=wa
Starapi, M. (2004). Persepolis: The story of a childhood. New York: Pantheon Graphic Novels