Terezin Artists Lesson

Art encompasses the entire human experience. It can be about and affected by anything. We pretend that economics, philosophy, technology, race, weather, politics, environment, religion, personal relationships are all separate things, but in fact, they are intimately related and intertwined. This month I have tried to show my students that Art created the 1930's, 40's, and 50's were influenced by world events and world events were influenced by art. In the last couple of months we have talked about The Great Migration & Harlem Renaissance (1920's and 30's),  The Great Depression and WPA as well as the Bauhaus School of Art during the 30's, World War II's influence on the Art of Europe and how it legitimized the Abstract Expressionism and New York School of the 1950's

A painting by Hitler proved too safe for Germany,  a Modern Art center for the world in the early 1900's

How would the world be different today if Hitler had gotten into art school as an 18 year old? How did Germany go from being a capitol of Modern Art to a propaganda machine? Why would the Nazi's plan their invasions based on the location of the world's masterpieces?  Why did president Eisenhower order soldiers to use precision and avoid monuments while bombing Europe?

I asked questions like these before showing my students the enlightening documentary "The Rape of Europa." This film shows how painstaking it was to evacuate the art from 8 miles of corridors of the Louvre museum in order to protect it from the Nazis. It shows how the museum in Leningrad, (which had four times the number of pieces than the Louvre), had half of its work stolen, while the other half was being stored and guarded by thousands of people under the museum. There was no heat. There was little food. Some burned candles while others ate them. Dozens died, and their corpses remained frozen throughout the winter. But protecting art was a priority and gave a reason to live.

Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Art teacher

My trip a year ago to The Czech Republic included a sacred day in the Terezin Concentration Camp and Jewish Ghetto. There, during World War II, 18,000 people died from sickness and malnourishment, while many others were held until they were shipped off to death camps like Auschwitz. Art was an escape for many of the Jewish prisoners living in Terezin. I was touched by the music, costumes, drawings and paintings created by the people who took instruments and art supplies in the small amount of luggage they were allowed to bring to Terezin. The urge to create increases in times of destruction. One twelve year old girl, painted a picture of a snowman and had it secretly delivered to her father, since families were separated. He responded that she should, "draw what she sees."  At the end of the week, I had my students draw, not from their imagination, but from their experiences.
Art teacher, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, also helped children document their surroundings and process their emotions through art-making. Many of the images of the children, and adult artists are on display today.

In The Living Quarters of Terezin's Jewish ghetto, illustrate the horrible and cramped living conditions during World War II.

My students drew things like their bedroom, classroom, or lunch tray. Nothing was as well executed or horrific as the art made in Terezin, but their every day life is still worth documenting and I hope they recognize that other people documenting their personal lives, through good and bad times, also have value and are all are part of the human experience.

POSB and APH awards

'Tis the season to attend conferences!  Yesterday,

I finished my third conference in two weeks. Because the job of a Teacher for the Visually Impaired (TVI) can be a lonely job, it is important to come together and share ideas with your colleagues from around the country or state, and to recognize achievements of those who often go unnoticed.

I had the humbling experience last week of receiving such a recognition when I became the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Teacher of Students who are Blind and Visually Impaired. I flew to Louisville for a banquet during the  Principals of Schools for the Blind (POSB) and Council of Schools of the Blind (COSB) conference, and spoke on the importance of education in helping our students live as independently as possible.

The next evening a couple of my colleagues/ friends brought some students out to meet me and receive their awards from the American Printing House for the Blind. We took them to see thousands of jack-o-lanterns that night.

You tell him Helen!

The upper gallery at the KY Museum of Art and Craft

The next day we all toured the American Printing House for the Blind where my students tried out the latest in assisted technology, saw the room where their Braille books are made, the recording studio where their audio books are recorded, and the museum that contained treasures such as Louis Braille's book, Stevie Wonder's school piano, and Helen Keller's desk and letters, such as this one she wrote to Hitler, in which she essentially told him that you can't kill ideas by burning our books. Dummy. (She was more articulate than me).  Then we went to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft for a descriptive tour of the their show of contemporary artists, before playing at the science museum next door.

Students had the chance, on this trip to practice their Orientation & Mobility skills, by walking through the city,  riding on a plane, airport trains, van, school bus, charter bus, escalators and elevators!

elevator and escalator practice all day long!

Time to teach students which of their four fork to use.

That night, was the big event of the APH Insights Art Exhibition and awards banquet.  We had seven students get work into the show, all of whom sold their work and five of whom came. (There were also 3 friends, 3 sets of grandparents, and a couple parents to support our artists). This moments of students feeling like what we do in the classroom matters in the real world, are real perks in my career.

This week was the Georgia Vision Educators State-wide Training. I gave a presentation on how to use art to teach core subject matter (science, math, language arts, and social studies). I brought examples of tactile artwork my students have made, and hope that the attendees were able to generate ideas on how to apply these tools to their students.  Learning is a fun, life-long journey and we each have something to gain from the ideas of our colleagues.

Art is for everyone, including students with visual impairments!

Harlem Renaissance Lesson

The Great Migration of African Americans to the northern cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, and New York happened from about 1918 to the early 1930s. These were the days of Jim Crow laws. These were also the roaring 20's when Harlem became a hot spot for some of the best art, literature and music in the world. Can you imagine a community of talents such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday, Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas, Lois Mailou Day, and Romare Bearden? When I look back on the creative movements in history, I am impressed at the power of friendships between creative people. It is not the hermit who becomes part of a major art movement, but groups of people who inspire each other, learn from each other and bounce ideas off one another.

 My students each picked a Harlem Renaissance artist to study and write about. Then they created an image using the style and medium of their artist.   All of my 5th period students happened to choose Romare Bearden as their artist. He was a philosopher, art historian, author, painter, collage artist and jazz musician: a true Renaissance man! The great problem he set out to solve was how to tell the story of his people from the rural south to the urban north, and still adhere to the formal issues of modern art. His work was wonky and relevant and had all the good stuff like symbolism, scale, and strong color relationships.  More than one time, while my students were gluing parts of magazine images onto a background, I found myself saying, "It's not weird enough, yet!"

I highly suggest putting on some big band jazz, cutting up old magazines, and making some funky, Bearden-inspired collages as a pick-up on a rainy day afternoon. It's good for the soul!

Bus Safety Poster Assignment

October is Bus Safety month. There are too many contests and exhibition opportunities to do them all, but since my students have to learn bus safety anyway, a bus safety contest seemed like a good time to talk about how graphic designers use images to communicate a message. I wish I had been able to spend a day discussing typography and composition, but we did have a good discussion about the importance of making your idea stand out from the rest. Sometimes,  more limitations require more creativity. 

And for students who are just trying to figure out what a bus looks like, given their lack of vision, there is room for learning that as well. Be safe everyone, and remember that the red lights mean STOP! Just because you can see a student, it doesn't mean they can see you.