Redirecting the Spotlight
An artist is inspired by many things. Viewing, analyzing, and interpreting another artists’ work may generate a whole new creative idea or may generate an idea very similar to the original one, but reinventing the context of another artists' work can also bring about a whole new perspective. Appropriation art can reinvent an original work or the meaning of an original work in a way that generates parody or questions about it or about the new context in which it is reinventing. Collaborating with peers to plan, develop, and create such reinventions changes the process even more.
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Key Content |
Enduring Understandings
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Essential Questions
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Activity 4: Lesson Objectives
Reinventing an Illustrated Children's Story
The children's book, Battle Bunny (2013), is the inspiration for this activity. This adorable illustrated children's book shows how a child named Alex has rewritten the original Birthday Bunny story, turning Birthday Bunny into Battle Bunny and creating an adventurous mission for him. The webpage, My Birthday Bunny (2015), provides reproducible pages for children to reinvent the Birthday Bunny into a new character and with a personality of their choice. Students will discover how their creativity is affected by collaboration as they work in pairs to reinvent their Birthday Bunny character and story. Students will explore their perceptions of themselves as teammates and the concept of being good partners in a collaborative art making situation. They will also experience the connection between visual arts and literary arts.
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Day 1 - 2Students generate an assessment tool to assess quality illustrated children’s stories. Students use this assessment tool to evaluate and reflect upon illustration art: Sarah Green, Jillian Tamaki, and Norman Rockwell. Then students use the assessment tool to evaluate and reflect upon Birthday Bunny.
Resources
Norman Rockwell (The Girl with the Black Eye, 1953) Sarah Green (Illustrations, 2015) Jillian Tamaki (Illustrations, 2015) other popular illustrated children's books |
Day 3 - 5Play the role of Alex in the Battle Bunny story and reinvent the characters and story in your own way like Alex did. The role of Alex is further explained in the video about this book. The author and illustrator’s roles are also further explained.
With your partner plan and create your reinvented story. Use what you learned in your group assessment activity to keep your work on track. Use a pencil first then add other media as needed to achieve the new meaning you planned. Resources
Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, Battle Bunny, 2013 Battle Bunny Book Trailer, YouTube Make your own Birthday Bunny story |
Day 6 - 8Share reinvented illustrated books with classmates, give and receive constructive criticism, reflect on peer feedback and consider refining your work accordingly.
Choose a meaningful display location in the school and create a display that showcases your work and invites others to view it. Students will inform viewers at the art display of the podcast reflections and their digital location. |
Vocabularytier 1 words
details, display, original, present tier 2 words background, character, character traits, constructive criticism, illustration, influence tier 3 words appropriation, context, intention, perspective, reinvent |
Tools & Materialsdrawing supplies
computers podcast or audio recording tools Battle Bunny book My Birthday Bunny printed materials samples of illustration art samples of illustrated children's literature books |
Activity 5: Lesson Objectives
Appropriation Collage - What Happens When We Use Another's Art Without Physically Changing It Much?
This activity introduces students to appropriation art and collage. Students will develop an understanding of what appropriation art is, does, and achieves not only from the artist's perspective but also from the viewer's perspective. With these perspectives in mind, they discuss how appropriation art affects their concept of being a producer of a product. They will explore these understandings through the art form of collage. Students will be asked to consider 2-D and 3-D options of this art making technique. They will choose from an array of media to create an artwork that explores the concept of reinventing the context of an artwork or a common culture object. Without changing the object itself, they will attempt to produce a whole new perspective of this object in a manner that also reveals something significant about the object's relationship to the artists themselves. They will begin by questioning if their original object to be reinvented is actually an example of art or design, what it already does say or mean, and what it could become in a different context.
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Day 1Students will view and discuss art, objects, and design that help explain appropriation art. Through discussion students will develop an understanding of what appropriation is, how other artists have approached it, and what it achieves through art.
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Day 2 - 4Students will create a personally meaningful collage that incorporates a common culture object but notably changes the object’s original meaning and context to something completely different and new.
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Day 5 - 6Students will further their understanding of appropriation and how one’s perception of an object can be challenged by interacting with peer's art. By affecting an object’s meaning through notable changes in the object’s context, students will demonstrate an awareness of how culture influences people through objects.
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Resources
Salvador Dali (Lobster Telephone, 1936) Marcel Duchamp (Fountain, 1917) Barbara Kruger (Untitled: We don't need another hero, 1987) Sherrie Levine (After Walker Evans: 4, 1981) Sarah Sze (Art21: Instillation about Improvisation, 2012) Robert Rauschenberg (Collection, 1954/1955) Andy Warhol (Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962) |
Students will share their work with others in a meaningful way.
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Vocabularytier 1 words
background, details, display, layer, original tier 2 words constructive criticism, collage, mixed media, plagiarism tier 3 words appropriation, context, intention, perspective, reinvent |
Tools & Materialscollage materials
sturdy ground (card stock, cardboard, poster board) images or selection of common culture objects adhesive options drawing, painting, and small sculpture media assortment of decorative media to embellish artwork |
Art & Artists
Illustration Artists
Sarah Green (Illustrations, 2015) Norman Rockwell (The Girl with the Black Eye, 1953) Jillian Tamaki (Illustrations, 2015) Lascaux Cave Paintings Illustrated Children's Literature Battle Bunny Book Trailer, YouTube Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, Battle Bunny, 2013 Make your own Birthday Bunny story |
Appropriation Artists
Salvador Dali (Lobster Telephone, 1936) Marcel Duchamp (Fountain, 1917) Barbara Kruger (Untitled: We don't need another hero, 1987) Sherrie Levine (After Walker Evans: 4, 1981) Robert Rauschenberg (Collection, 1954/1955) Sarah Sze (Art21: Instillation about Improvisation, 2012) Andy Warhol (Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962) |