current events response collage: protests in the middle east and wisconsin

I organized a teen group that meets once a month at our center. It's designed to be a gateway for teens in the surrounding communities to get more involved with our programming. Our lowest enrollment in classes is among teens, hence the creation of the "Teen Advisory Group." I am still figuring out exactly how the group should be structured, but lately I've been organizing different team-building/art-making activities that hopefully are fun and engaging. The point of the group is also to find out from teens what kinds of classes they'd like us to offer here, and to have them help design classes and plan events at the center. We hope that with their input, they will feel a sense of ownership over their community arts center, and will be more likely to sign up for classes and ask their friends to sign up, too.

I wrote this workshop plan for last month's meeting, which went well, but would have gone better if more than two kids had shown up. It's something I'd like to try again in the future with a larger group of students, maybe at the library.

current events response collage

goal

To make a collage out of images from key current events in the news, and text/images taken from magazines and newspapers that represent your own community.

objectives

To become informed about the protests in Egypt and Wisconsin; to understand the reasons why people in these places are protesting

To identify common problems between those places and one's own community

To review collage work by other artists through history

materials

Scissors

Pens

Markers and/or Colored pencils

Photos from Cairo, Tunis, and Madison

Local newspapers and magazines

Glue sticks

Blank paper

Information sheets about the events Cairo, Egypt and Madison, WI: I compiled some quotes from newspapers that summed up the reasons behind the protests in these places. I bolded key concepts in the excerpts.

introduction

First, gauge students' prior knowledge of the events in Cairo and Madison. Then pass out the information sheets you created about each place.

Have students take turns reading excerpts from the sheets. I won't post what I wrote on the sheets I made because they quote from other sources, but here are the words and phrases that I bolded on each sheet (the main concepts I wanted students to take away from the excerpts):

Egypt

the popular protest was peaceful and resilient

police brutality

lack of free elections and freedom of speech

corruption

high unemployment

food price inflation

low minimum wages

labor unions played an integral part in the protests

Wisconsin

cutting benefits for union workers

doing away with unions' ability to negotiate

$137 million budget shortfall

Discuss with students why people in both of these very different parts of the world were protesting. Here are some questions to help guide the discussion:

• Why are people unhappy in Egpyt? What about in Madison?
• Are people in those places angry about any of the same things?
• What ways, aside from public protest or direct action, are there for ordinary people to stop bad things from happening in their communities?
• Why do you think people in these places decided to protest instead?
• Have you ever seen a protest happening in Baltimore? Do you know what the protest was about? What were people doing? Were they being violent or peaceful? What do you remember thinking or wondering at the time?
• Think of the problems that people in Wisconsin and Egypt were angry about. Do you see any of these problems playing out in your own community or in Baltimore? What about any other similarities between Baltimore and those other places?

Next, introduce the collage activity. Find out what students know about collage already--ask about any previous experience they have making collage, and if there is a particular collage artist that they like. Next, show some examples of collage work. I brought in some books from the MICA library, but you can also find examples from the internet, like these:

Wangechi Mutu, Ghouls On My Back Celebrate Murder (2003). Source: Saatchi Gallery

 Wangechi Mutu, Adult Female Sexual Organs (2005). Source: Saatchi Gallery

 Ray Johnson, Mona Lisa Bunny. Source: Eggplant

Ask students to identify which parts of each piece are collaged and guess how they got on there. Ask them why they think the artists chose to put those collaged elements on there—what is the overall effect? What happens in the mind of the viewer when an artist puts two things next to each other? What do you think each piece trying to say? What did the artist do to convey that message to you?

activity

Students make a collage out of photos from the protests in Egypt and Wisconsin, and from words/images from local newspapers and magazines (Baltimore Sun, Urbanite Magazine, etc).

Ask students to start with a large photo from one of the protests

Demonstrate that they can add to the photo with pen, or cut pieces out of the photo and put them on a new sheet of paper entirely

Ask students to find elements from the local publications that highlight the similar problems that Baltimore and these other parts of the world face—words, letters, or images

Remind students that they have freedom to form their own words and images from things they find and assemble

follow-up

Lay each final piece out and ask the class to spend a minute or two looking at the different collages. Ask if anybody would like to share why they chose certain elements for their pieces.

• If we showed somebody your collage, and they didn't know anything about problems facing your community, what do you think they would guess were some problems, based on your collage?
• What happens when you juxtapose two very different things in the same piece of artwork? What effect does it have on the viewer? Does it highlight similarities, reveal contrast, or both?
• Do you think these collages are successful at showing similarities between Baltimore and these other parts of the world? Why or why not?

 Teen participants working on collages.