Downtown+Artists+Unit+Plan

=__**Downtown Artists**__=

Compare and contrast works of art from various periods, styles, and cultures and explain how those works reflect the society in which they were made.
 * Standard addressed:** 3.2 (7th Grade)


 * Grade Level:** 7th (Adaptable to grades 8-12)


 * Suggested Length/ Duration:** 10-15 class periods of about 1 hour each.

Comparing and contrasting the biographies, personal interests, styles, and periods of two different artists whose murals are found in the same geographical locations. After students examine the two master artists and their backgrounds, they will create their own proposal for a mural, some of which will actually be created.
 * Concept:**

Students will examine how personal background and interests influence an artist’s work. Students will outline their own personal histories and interests in order to consciously inform their artwork. Students will create a piece connected to their personal background and interests. //*Lesson assumes some student knowledge on applying paint to walls or other “untraditional mural surfaces.”//
 * Goal/Objective/Purpose:**

Mister Cartoon’s MySpace Page• Kent Twitchell’s MySpace Page• Mister Cartoon’s National Public Radio (NPR) article• Kent Twitchell’s Artist Biography• Mister Cartoon’s • Los Angeles Times artice Kent Twichell’s passage from Otis Biography• Mister Cartoon’s Visual Images (The Lost Angel and Tattoo images)• Kent Twitchell’s Visual Images (Steve McQueen Monument and Los Angeles • Chamber Orchestra)
 * Suggested Materials:**

Ideas: Magazines Pencil Pen Paper Cardboard Paint Marker
 * //Materials for thumbnail sketches and “pre-work” for student mural.//**

//**Materials for mural production**// Paints appropriate for sanctioned mural space Brushes Cleaning materials Ladder (depending on mural size) Computers (for extension)

Day 1 - Students examine both artists’ MySpace pages, comparing and contrasting them. Begin creating their own. Day 2 - Students read both the Twitchell articles, as well as both Cartoon articles. Students will examine the posted images of both artists’ work. In groups of 4, students will compare and contrast artists’ backgrounds, apparent motives for their work, and styles of their work. Day 3 - Based on their own backgrounds and personal interests, students will start sketching ideas for their mural proposal. Day 4-5 - Students continue to reflect on their personal interests and develop their mural proposals. Day 6 - Students present their proposal to the class for discussion and possible approval. Day 7-15(?) - Accepted proposals are turned into actual murals. (Days will vary According to size and scope of the mural proposals that are accepted.)
 * Overview of Procedures/Activities:**

//__Day 1__// 1) Have students read and examine both artists’ MySpace pages. (Pages can be printed out or if you have computers with internet access, students can look up the artist’s MySpace pages online. Kent Twitchell’s is www.myspace.com/kenttwitchell and Mr. Cartoon’s is www.myspace.com/therealmistercartoon.)
 * Procedures suggested for teachers:**

2) Students can work alone or in groups to fill out the Twitchell/Cartoon Venn Diagram (see resources). Encourage students to write down ideas or sketch images into the graphic organizer. Students should then be able to note similarities and differences between the artists.

3) Bring the whole class back together for a quick discussion to chart class ideas on the board or overhead. Make sure that students have found similarities and differences in reference to motivation for art, personal history, ethnicity, age (note that you may choose to share with students: I believe that 64 year age listed on Mister Cartoon’s page is a typo, judging from his picture in the NPR article that will be shared in a subsequent lesson), interests, style, etc. Let students know that they will add onto these graphic organizers as they learn more about the artists.

4) Have students make their own MySpace page. (If you have access to the computer this is a chance for an extension that is more directly related to the secondary standard 3.2, which includes technology. Students can actually author their own Myspace page.) If materials and/or time do not permit students can create a faux paper copy of a MySpace page. (Template is included in the resources attached to the lesson plan. It may be appropriate to have a model of the paper MySpace page included, so that students can see that both images and written language can be used on their MySpace page.)

__//Day 2//__ 5) Students will read the NPR and Los Angeles Times articles on Mister Cartoon, as well as the two artist biographies on Kent Twitchell. Depending on students reading levels, you can have then read in alone, pairs, groups, or as a whole class. Some vocabulary may need to be reviewed before reading.

6) Students will add things they have learned to their graphic organizers that were started on Day 1.

7) As a class discuss new things that the students have discovered about the artists. Add new information to the “class” Venn Diagram on the board or overhead.

8) Either in small groups or as a class, students should discuss what influences from the artists’ lives they find in the artists’ work a) Field trip to actual murals in downtown LA b)Students can view printouts of work that are attached to the lesson plans c) Students can research the artists on the Internet Cartoon helpful website:http://www.mistercartoon.como Twitchell helpful website: http://www.frescoschool.org/kent_twitchell/
 * Options for viewing artists’ works

__//Day 3//__ 9) Let students know that they will be creating a proposal for a mural that they would like to actually have painted. The murals should represent them in some way. (Note: It does not have to be a biographical mural. The mural can represent and issue that is important to them, the community they come from, etc.) It may be helpful to model what a mural proposal should include or have a former student model a presentation.

10) Various materials are made available to the students in order to start putting ideas on paper for their murals. Students begin to put together their proposals. The Twitchell website also shows sketches and some of the “pre-work” completed by the artist before he completed his murals. It may be helpful to share these murals with the students.

//__Day 4-5__// 11) Circulate among students as they continue to work on their proposals.

//__Day 6__// 12) Students make their presentations to the class.

//__Day 7__// 13) The accepted proposals are announced. Proposals can be “accepted” by a process that is appropriate to your school (e.g. student vote, student panels, principal approval, etc.) The number or proposals that can feasibly by “accepted” may vary upon the materials that you have available at your school. You may be working at a school where there is actually a wall where you can paint. If this is the case then by the end of the lesson students will have worked to complete a mural in its most traditional sense. However, this may not be the case and there are “less traditional” options (“removable murals) like painting on refrigerator boxes or oversized paper (photography stores sell rolls of backdrop paper in extremely large sizes for reasonable prices).

14) Students are broken up into groups, led by the student-artist whose proposal was accepted.

15) Students can visit the site where their mural will be painted and begin preparations like cleaning and sketching the basic layout of the mural.

//__Day 8-15 (?)__// 16) Students continue to work on their murals until completion.

Organize an “opening” for the murals and invite community members, family, students, school officials, etc.
 * Fun Extension**

Rubric Based on Standard 3.2 (Many other standards are addressed throughout this lesson. Additional rubrics may be created according to the teachers needs and what standards they are responsible for assessing.)
 * Assessment/Evaluation**


 * 4**- Student’s mural proposal is clearly linked to their personal history, identity, and interests (teacher may reference their MySpace page).


 * 3**- Student’s mural proposal is linked to their personal history, identity, and interests (teacher may reference their MySpace page).


 * 2**- Student’s mural proposal is loosely linked to their personal history, identity, and interests (teacher may reference their MySpace page).


 * 1**- Student attempts to connect their mural proposal to their personal history, identity, and interests (teacher may reference their MySpace page).

http://wikis.otis.edu/otishistory/index.php/Twitchell_Biography
 * Resources**

__Twitchell Biography__ Kent Twitchell is an American hero, devoting years of his life to restore beauty in the communities all over the US. Kent Twitchell has always wanted his art to change the world. A great example of the effects of Twitchell’s work is his Dr. J memorial. In 1989, Twitchell was offered a job to do a mural in Philadelphia. He looked through the past great Philadelphians and chose Julius Erving (Dr. J) a basketball player whom Twitchell had been a fan. Twitchell chose Dr. J because he considered him to be an “artist in sports”, “the first one to really come along that looked like a dancer, he was like Kobe Bryant before Bryant was probably born”. After he chose his subject he wanted to find an area that this mural would fit and have an effect on the environment. He found a rundown community that was in need of some help. “It was in a blighted area where I where there are a lot of people that were trying to raise children and other people one block away selling drugs. I had hoped that maybe this would have an impact on them.” For weeks on end he painted strips of this mural in a studio in Philadelphia. Once he finished the different sections, the rest was easy. For six weeks the wall he chose had been blank and then in two days Julius Erving was standing against it three stories tall. People driving by would stop and stare not knowing how the piece was made and who had done it. Occasionally people would walk up to Twitchell asking him all sorts of questions about the mural. “The area would smell; there was so much garbage I don’t know years and year and years of garbage piled up in front of it, and I went back about 6 months later to do some documentation on it and that(the area) had all been cleaned up and there was a small white sort of a picket fence next to it there were flowers there was sort of a plaza put in front of it beautifully landscaped and that was one of those things that I have always wanted to happen never seemed like it did to that extreme but it really did clean up that area and people began to take pride in that area, and it began to be altered. You know from what I had been able to do, my ultimate fantasy.”

http://www.frescoschool.org/kent_twitchell/who.html Kent Twitchell Biography

Born: Lansing, Michigan, 1942

Military: US Air Force 1960-65 (Illustrator)

Education: MFA Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles, 1977 BA California State University, Los Angeles, 1972 AA East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA 1968

Biography: After working during the early ‘60s as an Air Force artist in London, Kent Twitchell moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and began doing what he refers to as “Street Art.” His ambitious series of murals, “Monuments to American Cultural Heroes,” started in 1971 with “Steve McQueen Monument” near downtown LA and “Strother Martin Monument” in Hollywood. In 1973, Kent painted a five-story “Bride & Groom” followed by “Old Woman of the Hollywood Freeway.” He has painted over 100 portraits within some 30 exterior murals including the “Julius Erving Monument” in Philadelphia; monuments to visual artists Edward Ruscha, Jim Morphesis, Lita Albuquerque and Gary Lloyd; and the LA Chamber Orchestra on three nine-story walls overlooking the downtown freeway. Kent recently painted a dual public monument to Will Rogers in San Bernardino and is planning monuments to Charlton Heston in Hollywood, Johnny Cash in Nashville, John F. Kennedy in Berlin and a few surprises. His murals, studio paintings and drawings most often depict a lone figure standing and looking straight out at the viewer.

//BY: Katy Hugo//