Blanton  Museum  of  Art  

Witness: Art and Civi l Rights in the Sixt ies

Lesson Tit le Personal Topics Garment Design

Duration 30 minutes

Grade Level/s 4th-8th

Essential Question How can we communicate an important topic or issues through garments that we wear?

Subject Area/s Visual Art English Language Arts

Focus Work of Art Jae Jarrell Urban Wall Suit 1969

TEKS Correlat ion Art (3.b.1, 4.b.1, 5.b.1, 6.c.1, 7.c.1, 8.c.1) The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. (3.b.2, 4.b.4, 5.b.4, 6.c.4, 7.c.4, 8.c.4) The student makes informed judgments about personal artworks and the artworks of others. English Language Arts (3.b.29, 4.b.27, 5.b.27) The student listens and speaks both to gain and share knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements of cultures. (3.b.23, 4.b.23, 5.b.23, 6.b.22) The student understands and interprets visual images, messages, and meanings. (3.b.24, 4.b.24, 5.b.24, 6.b.23) The student analyzes and critiques the significance of visual images, messages, and meanings.

Learning Outcome The student will be able to… 1. Choose a topic or issue that is important to them to translate into clothing design. 2. Learn about artist Jae Jarrell and her work with painting, clothing design, graffiti and the urban

landscape. 3. Create a garment design that reflects current topics or issues of personal importance.

Materia ls Canvas cloth or other fabric, prepped into 8”x10” rectangles (1 per student) Pencils Sharpies, assorted colors Glue sticks Scissors Black 8 ½” x 11” cardstock (1 per student) Letter stamps and stamp pads Crayons Optional: tape in various colors

About the Art ist Jae Jarrell combines painting with the contemporary mural movement, graffiti, and a sense of the urban landscape. The traditional canvas is understood here through pigments and cloth, and it convergence with other uses, as quilt, as clothing. Jarrell was at the forefront in uses of fabric and soft sculpture in conjunction with the Civil Rights and Feminist art movements. She was a forerunner for the combination of fashion and fine art that is so prevalent today. These “pieces” were not content on the wall but travelled around the city, worn by the artist herself.

Blanton  Museum  of  Art  

Lesson Components Introduction to artwork (10 minutes) Using the same strategy that students learn at the Blanton, invite them to silently LOOK at Urban Wall Suit. Next, ask students to DESCRIBE what they see. After taking full inventory, students should move on to ANALYZING the artwork. [As facilitator, the teacher should link observations and descriptions to assist student analysis.] How was it made? What types of influences do you think Jarrell had? Finally, students should be asked to RELATE their discussion to their own lives. Have they seen anything like this before? Is so, where and in what context? What topics or issues would you want to put on clothing? Warm up (5 minutes) Invite students to think about topics and issues that they would like to address. Possible topics could include bullying, healthy food, more time for particular subjects, safe public spaces in their neighborhood, access to public transportation, or recycling. Take 5 minute’s for students to brainstorm ideas in small groups and ask them to create a list of these ideas. Activ ity (25 minutes) Set supplies out on each table prior to beginning.

1. Students will pick one idea from their brainstormed list and choose a design for a garment that would reflect their topic.

2. The design for their garments should be drawn in pencil onto the canvas cloth, then cut out and glued onto the black card stock.

3. Like Jarrell, encourage students to incorporate words using the sharpies or stamps. 4. Add other decorations with crayons and colored tape.

Wrap Up (10 Minutes) Take a few minutes to do a gallery walk through with everyone’s images. What did students choose to represent? Are there any trends you notice? Are there any topics or issues that are popular? How could you imagine these pieces if they were made?

Assessment

Asses student understanding of assignment through their participation in discussions. Circulate while students are working ad ask clarifying questions and checking for understanding

In Class Extensions 1. Take this to the next stage by asking students to incorporate collage into their designs. Use tissue paper and different fabrics to create a quilt-like quality similar to Jarrell’s work.

2. Introduce the idea of soft sculpture, which was an influence to Jarrell. Using paper, cardboard, tissue paper, scraps of cloth, or other materials creating their clothing using only tape, scissors, staplers, or other simple construction. Soft Sculpture- a type of sculpture made using cloth, foam rubber, plastic, paper, fibers and similar materials that are supple and not rigid.

   

Blanton  Museum  of  Art  

 

Jae Jarrell (American, born 1935). Urban Wall Suit, ca. 1969. Sewn and painted cotton and silk, two-piece suit, 37 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 1/2 in. (95.3 x 69.9 x 1.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of R.M. Atwater, Anna Wolfrom Dove, Alice Fiebiger, Joseph Fiebiger, Belle Campbell Harriss, and Emma L. Hyde, by exchange; Designated Purchase Fund, Mary Smith Dorward Fund, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 2012.80.16. © Jae Jarrell