teaches Visual Arts at The English High School.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Immigrant Women from Colombia, Haiti, Jordan, Kurdistan, Nigeria
Massachusetts College of Art
Boston Public Schools Art Department
| Classroom Activities | |
• |
Read biographies of Georgia O’Keefe & Faith Ringgold |
| • | Research online images of their work |
| • | View videos Georgia O’ Keefe & Faith Ringgold: Paints Crown Heights |
| • | Reflect on each woman’s role in her community & in the nation |
| • | Write letters inviting immigrant women to classroom |
| • | Prepare questions for classroom visit |
| • | Record women’s stories in journals |
| • | Create art work based on students’ own stories |
| • | Select student artwork for display |
| Community Activities | |
• |
Visit class of students of special education students & share O’Keefe’s & Ringgold’s images & stories |
| • | View paintings by women at Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
| • | Present videos to school club Africans Around the World |
| • | Interview immigrant women about opportunities for women in their country of origin |
| • | Exhibit student artwork at Boston City Hall |
| • | Exhibit student artwork in school lobby during visit of Massachusetts Department of Education officials |
This project had several positive outcomes. It showed how Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings advance the role of women in art and how Faith Ringgold’s quilts encourage artists to share their stories. . . . Many of my students are newcomers to this country. The project allowed them to listen to other immigrants, compare techniques and messages of the two women artists, and then create work based on their own personal experiences. Working on this project has helped me be more creative as artist and as teacher. Now I not only teach elements of art and principles of design, but I include technology, language arts, history of art, and community perspectives.
Georgia O’Keefe and Faith Ringgold expressed their feelings and beliefs in different ways. Yet, in the end, they both connected and made changes in our society. . . . These women have helped me by showing the different ways I can create. Now I feel free to combine several media. I don’t need to use only brush and paint. I can use pencil, pen, marker, scissors, fabric, or anything I find. . . . You can see by their pictures that Ringgold is a dark complexioned lady and O’Keefe is light complexioned. But these two ladies had one passion: art. Grown in totally different places, they both expressed themselves through art. Now I see what I can do for art, and what art can do for the world.
