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Community Outreach/Hallmark Nursing Home

John V. Crowe
East Bridgewater High School, East Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Subject: Art Education
Grade: 9- 12

"The photograph allowed me to capture my subjects in their environment at one specific time so that all through the painting I could look at them and maintain the emotion." (Student)

Purpose and Description of Project

John Crowe developed a three-week project for his 23 advanced art students that combined portrait photography and portrait painting with learning about the concerns of the elderly. Small groups of students visited the Hallmark Nursing Home where they talked to and photographed the residents. These photos then became reference materials which they used in creating large acrylic paintings on unprimed canvas. The students also completed pre- and post-project surveys on aging and their attitudes toward the elderly and nursing homes. Crowe's goals were to eliminate the intimidation students generally feel when drawing or painting portraits on canvas and to encourage emotional reaction and empathy between painter and subject.

Activities

First, students completed the pre-project attitude survey as a homework assignment. Next, they participated in a lecture and demonstration given by a commercial photographer on using a camera and on lighting techniques. Then the students began visiting Hallmark Nursing Home in groups of four to take photos; each photo session was followed by a class critique of the results in terms of composition, lighting, etc. The students projected their photos on a canvas with an opaque projector, and roughed in their portraits in pencil. The pencil drawings became the foundation for the expressive color and brushwork the students used in "covering up'' the drawings and creating the portraits. The portraits, in various stages of completion, were critiqued by a portrait artist.

Completed portraits were presented to the public at two exhibition/receptions at the nursing home and at the annual exhibit of the East Bridgewater Arts Council.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Crowe's students used a Kodak camera with close-up lens, color film, clamp lights, bulbs, and a tripod during the photography sessions. For the paintings, students used 1" x 2" strips for stretcher frames, heavyweight unbleached cotton, nails, staples, and acrylic paint.

Resource people included a commercial photographer, portrait artist, and the co-chairperson of the East Bridgewater Council on Aging. The latter discussed the concerns of the elderly and told nursing home "stories" which put some student fears to rest. The high school's Home Economics teacher and her students prepared food for the reception.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Crowe and his students learned from their activities that the arts can be effective in sensitizing society to deeply human concerns. Crowe analyzed the project's outcomes in terms of five major categories:
  1. The project increased student insight into aging and the elderly.
  2. Students developed a thorough understanding of the expressive qualities of light and learned how the photographic images of physical reality can be combined with emotional reality through the painting process.
  3. Students agreed that it was inexpressive to simply duplicate photos in paint, that "the manipulation of paint, the evidence of the artist's hand, should convey the emotional reaction of the painter to the subject."
  4. The photography sessions and the exhibition/receptions generated interest and enthusiasm among the nursing home residents with continuing friendships.
  5. Students were motivated by the fact that their work would be displayed, and the enthusiastic reactions to the exhibits fostered pride in their abilities.

Crowe concludes that the instant accessibility of the photographic image was crucial to the success of the project.

Crowe suggests that this project can be especially effective in suburban areas where students have little or no contact with the elderly. All that is needed is a local nursing home, preferably within walking distance, and administration support.

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