Remembrance

TASK: Construct an assemblage that honors a friend(s), family, or community member who has passed away. Write an artist statement explaining it .

Enduring Understandings

The process of researching and creating remembrance sculptures that reflect their personal experience, and talking and/or writing about it for others, will help students to:

• understand ancestral veneration in art around the world
• explore how art is used to express feelings
• develop communication skills to express personal experiences

Essential Questions

• Why do humans commemorate the dead?
• What are the similarities and differences in how diverse cultures honor ancestors?
• How is art a tool for creating community expression, creativity, and self-expression?
• How can art honor and memorialize?

Activities

• Introduction to the project—Kick off
• Research how cultures honor and remember the dead
• Compare and contrast
• Plan and design
• Create a personal remembrance
• Write an artist statement
• Video tape the statement
• Exhibit

The artist statement will:

• Describe the person honored
• Explain the significance of the objects and design and what they communicate
• Draw cultural influences and connections
• Reflect on the creative process
• Be printed in a museum brochure and video taped for presentation

Considerations:

• Thoughtfulness
• Craftsmanship
• Appropriate images for public display

Artist/Artforms Explored: Louise Nevelson, assemblage

Cultural Ties: Mexican Day of the Dead ofrendas, Japanese, and Chinese altars

Resources

Example of an Artist Statement: