All participants add their ideas, inspired by virtual events held around the world by local organizers in each city. The city with the most ideas will receive the award for the most creative city.
Students
As a teacher, during Black History Month I wanted to use art as a way to celebrate Black artists and start conversations that help situate their experiences in the larger framework of world history and the UKs history. It’s a productive way to help students grapple with complex questions and topics and to inspire them to make art that tells their own unique stories or observations. This one celebrated Kara Wlker. She used paper silhouettes in her art. This was because it was cheap, could be traced with outlines of people cast on them. The power of her work is in the shock of finding strange and sometimes violent imagery where you would expect formality and decorum. She doesn’t shy away from painful imagery and explores the brutality of antebellum slavery and issues of race and gender.
As a project one of the best things about cut-paper silhouettes is the strong impact that comes from inexpensive, accessible materials, making it a deceptively simple medium for investigating complex and even difficult topics. In the classroom, kids can explore cutting out profiles of each other, or use stencils or other objects that strike their interest. For a more involved project, ask students to identify themes that come up in the texts you’re reading together in class—good and evil, honesty and trust, courage and fear—and then brainstorm how to illustrate these themes in a classroom mural, creating a Walker-inspired contrast of complex storytelling and unexpected materials.
The research and different medium used helped the students connect with a culture they may not have. WQe celebrated a wonderful Black life.
