AANOTWORKINGGold subvertisements

GOLD SUBVERTISEMENTS The curriculum for this project was a collaboration between our 6th grade teacher, Jon Exall, my student teacher, Sarah Chung, and me. After a science expedition on geology, our 6th graders investigated today’s gold mining practices and their impact on natural and human resources. With their teacher, they wrote essays supporting their opinions. In studio, they made visual posters to illustrate their essays. These came in the form of subvertisements. Sarah taught basic design concepts related to graphic design and advertising. Then she had students analyze how these forms in advertising send messages to and have power over the viewer. Students deconstructed ads looking at both form and content. Then they looked at Adbusters magazine and website where “subvertisements” or “spoof ads” appropriate advertisement layouts, logos, and slogans for making messages that undermine the original intention. There are many good curriculum sources on line for media literacy. A good start is the Center for Media Literacy .  MAGAZINES AS AN ART SUPPLY  I started thinking differently about the magazines in my classroom a few years ago. I used to think of magazines as neutral sources of collage imagery and I stacked them in cabinets in no particular order. Now I think about them in terms of content and I use them for very specific kinds of collage, as cultural images to study, or as formats used by contemporary artists. How they are stored in my room reflect this change. I store them in separate categories for specific instruction throughout the year. My categories right now are: Science/Nature Popular Culture News Teen and Women’s Fashion African American Audience Adventure/Sports Domestic Home Catalogues any kind THE FINAL PRODUCT Students were told they would be illustrating their opinion paper about the gold industry through a spoof ad and placing those ads downtown in public places. Sarah showed them several street and billboard artists. At this point, issues of plagiarism and vandalism entered our conversations. We talked about permanent disfiguration of someone else’s property and whether or not placing transient objects in public places was considered littering. Students debated with one another. Sarah and I told students we weren’t advocating illegal practices, but many artists are doing this kind of work and the issues are important to think about and discuss. Here are some street artists I’ve used with elementary school and middle school students who use the streets for public art formats. They are accessible to children and though some of their work is inappropriate for kids, they are enough examples from each that are appropriate. ARTISTS WHO ADD PERMANENT OR SEMI PERMANENT ART TO PUBLIC PROPERTY Banksy (Paint) Shephard Fairey (wheat paste adhered posters) Guerilla Girls (wheat paste adhered posters) ARTISTS WHO ADD TEMPORARY, EASILY REMOVABLE ART TO PUBLIC PROPERTY Knitta (knitted and croqueted pieces) Fancy Ladies Society (croqueted pieces) Jan Vormann (lego toys) Ellis Gallagher (chalk) Shimon Attie (projected light) Graeme Sullivan (reconstructed street trash) Through photoshop, students mimicked gold advertisements mostly in creating their subvertisements. They addressed South african Gold mining topics such as the displacement of people and neighborhoods and the use of toxic chemicals in mining practices.     Jon copied their final images with their essays. Students posted these with masking tape downtown near jewelry stores.   These students noticed an antique jewelry store and immediately thought of it as recycled gold. They went inside and congratulated the owner on his jewelry business practice that avoided harm to the earth or to people. RESOURCES Center for Media Literacy http://www.medialit.org/how-teach-media-literacy

http://www.adbusters.org/gallery/spoofads http://www.medialit.org/how-teach-media-literacy http://www.banksy.co.uk/ http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/f/shepard_fairey/index.html http://www.guerrillagirls.com/ http://www.magdasayeg.com/ http://www.ladiesfancyworksociety.com/ http://www.dispatchwork.info/ http://www.ellisgallagher.com/ http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/attie_shimon.php http://www.streetworksart.com/ http://www.medialit.org/how-teach-media-literacy http://www.medialit.org/how-teach-media-literacy http://livepage.apple.com/

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