Tagature, or Literary Graffiti

Congratulations to all involved with Tagature & thank you for supporting this work! My classes' work won the grand prize in the 2012 Adobe Educator's Choice Awards honoring innovation in the classroom to unleash creativity.

Purchase the 2014 color edition of Tagature: Literary Graffiti soon! New books will be released soon on amazon and through hthmapublishing.org

Purchase the 2012 Hardcover color edition of Tagature: Literary Graffiti—click below.

The concept of the "Tagature" project is simple: to thoughtfully select quotes from literature and use them to create an ongoing conversation through tags, graffiti and street art in the 11th grade commons. We will use large wooden panels to collect and facilitate our artistic & literary conversation.

You will do four "rounds" of tagging. Each round, you will do the following:

• 1. Select a quote from the literature or other readings you have read in and around this class.

  2. Bring the quote within it's larger literary context to class, along with an artist's statement explaining why you selected it and what you intend to do with it artistically.

  3. Transform the quote into a graffiti-style tag.

  4. Create a stencil or poster (or use another graffiti or street art method) to tag at least one board in the 11th Grade Commons.

  5. Photograph the tag in it's new context.

  6. Post the photo with a revised artist's statement on a "Tagature" page on your digital portfolio. Your new artist's statement should explain how you view the quote in it's new environment, why you chose it, how you intend others to see it, etc.

A new piece of Literary Graffiti is due each week. Pay close attention to the due dates in class.

Materials:

You need a place to develop your ideas. This could be online and/or in a sketchbook.

I'll provide basic materials to make stencils, such as card stock, x-acto knives, and paint. You are welcome to augment these materials for the betterment of your art!

Shameless self promotion: This project won the Grand Prize in Adobe's Educators' Choice Awards.

Check out this publication from my 2012 juniors: they published a coffee-table art book of their work.

For further reading...

http://www.sandiego.gov/graffiti/whatis.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art

http://livingwallsconference.com/index.php?/about/