“memory embellishes life. forgetfulness makes it possible.”

“Memoryembellishes

life.Forgetfulness

makes itpossible.”

Romare Bearden 1911-1988

What is the Harlem Renaissance?A Movement to establish a new portrayal of the African American as a dynamic people, to help pave the road towards equality by celebrating Artists, Poets, Authors, Dancers,

Musicians, Intellectuals. 1919-1933

I think the artist has to be something of a Whale, swimming with his mouth wide open,

absorbing everything until he has what he really needs.When he finds that, he can start to make

limitations & then he really begins to grow.

Collage allowed Romare to clip images from media and memory to build a dialogue about civil rights.

Collage: Putting Something Over Something Else

Magazine photographs, foil, and drawings were used to create his image.Often small, he reproduced them as a enlarged photographs.

As a kid, Romare was taught by his ailing friend to pay attention to surrounding details.

Later in life, his childhood is shown in bold and simplistic forms to distill the memory.

Morning

“The function of the artist is to organize the facets of life according to his imagination.”

✦ Large Hands ✦ Gardens ✦ Musicians ✦ African Sculpture

✦ Windows ✦ Hills ✦ Smoke Stacks ✦ Work & Play

✦ Sun & Moon ✦ Cats, Roosters ✦ Homes ✦ Street Scenes

Pittsburg Memories Morning of the roosters

Can you find symbols in Romares Images?

What do you think they represent?What would be symbols of your life?

✤ Trains: “You could tell not only what train it was but also who the engineer was by the sound of the whistle.”

What is visual sound?“You put down one color, and

it calls for an answer. You have to look at it like a

melody.” Wynton Marsalis,The Art of Romare Bearden

“Empress of the Blues”

“If you’re any kind of an artist you make a miraculous journey and you come back and make some statements in shapes and colors

of where you were.”

This stop animation is a “visualization” of the Mariachi band that comes to our school.The arrival of a bird and a ball, the memory of the waving skirts, and the stepping beats.

This is Mariachi Huenachi from the Wenatchee High School.

Click to view stop animation video on YouTube

Click to view train explanation on YouTube