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Documentation: A Portrait and a Place

Margaret Chancellor Caldwell and John Cannon
Mingo Community Schools, Mingo, Iowa

Subject: Art Education/Social Studies
Grade: 7

"I wanted my seventh grade to remember it isn't difficult to get good photographs. I wanted them to remember what great success and fun they had with photography."

Purpose and Description

This project combined art activities with related social studies writing assignments for nine seventh-grade art students. Each student first created a tempera batik self-portrait with an aged local building in the background. Then each one completed two writing worksheets: one addressing the question of "Who am I?" with the help of information gathered from family resources, and one exploring the social and economic impact of the building selected.

Margaret Caldwell, a high school art instructor, intended to present in a cohesive manner a wide variety of essential art skills-drawing and painting skills, basic camera and darkroom skills, and problem-solving and creative-thinking skills.

Activities

Caldwell carried out the project during 33 class periods. Students, under the guidance of their art instructor, spent two classes discussing the structure of the face and drawing it. For the next two classes, students used mirrors to prepare self portraits. Students then selected local landmarks to photograph. Students sketched in the landmarks on the self portraits using the photos for guidance, and the enlarging grids were prepared. Students devoted five sessions to enlarging their drawings in pencil and darkening them with magic marker. They spent the next seven classes in creating the actual batiks.

Color slides were taken of the students with their landmarks and of each completed batik. The slides were then developed and converted into a filmstrip which was shown to the class as a culminating activity. Students spent five sessions completing their writing assignments: the family history worksheet asked them questions about themselves and their families, and the community history worksheet required them to draw conclusions about their landmarks' social and economic functions presently, 50 years ago, and 100 years ago.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

The student photography activities required a 35 mm camera, one roll of TRI-X film, KODACHROME Slide Film, darkroom chemicals and equipment, developing trays, focusing scope, and printing easel. Supplies for creating the tempera batiks included 8 1/2" x 11" and 18" x 24" paper, prewashed cotton material (old sheets were donated), tempera paint, India ink, matboard for mounting, large mirrors, yardsticks, paintbrushes, and a drawing board.

Local school staff contributed to the success of the project including the school's two art instructors, the social studies teacher, John Cannon, who provided a lesson on local history and conducted the writing activities, the school principal, and the district superintendent. A professor of art at Central College served as consultant as did the art consultant from the Iowa Department of Public Instruction. In addition, family members and community residents provided invaluable insights into family and local history.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Caldwell used a "Family Feud" type of contest involving two teams of students answering questions to evaluate their knowledge of camera terms and darkroom procedures. She found this approach preferable to a written quiz because she wanted students to concentrate more on the fun of taking good photographs.

After evaluating the students' three art exercises-drawing from the mirror, drawing from the photograph, and enlarging the drawing-Caldwell found the students' ability to draw what they saw had improved greatly. The sharpness of the final photos indicated they had learned to operate the camera and to develop film correctly.

Caldwell suggests that her cooperative-type project could combine the visual arts with either social studies or language arts. She thinks the project would be suitable for sixth through eighth graders.

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