Morris Museum of ArtLearn

Ties That Bind

African American Art and Artists for Grades 3–12
Before the Visit Mini-Lesson

What's a museum?
Before your visit to the museum, talk to your students about the Morris Museum of Art. For younger students ask questions like “Who can tell me what a museum is? Now that we know what a museum is, what things might we see when we visit?” This helps students create a definition in their own words. Remember to mention that the Morris Museum of Art focuses on Southern artwork. The Morris has artwork and objects from the late eighteenth century to the present day: paintings, photos, sculptures, and even furniture that were made in the South or made by Southern artists.

Older students, too, need to know where they are going and what to expect during their visit.

Museum: a place devoted to the care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; a place where artworks are shown.

What's a docent
Introduce the concept of a docent. After defining a museum, you could say, for example, “Museums have their own teachers, just like schools. They are called docents. When you visit the museum, a docent will teach you about the things that you will see.“

Docent: a person who leads guided tours through a museum; a teacher of the museum

Who else will we see at the museum?
Besides docents, they will see visitor service and security staff. Explain to younger students that they are our "museum friends." They help if you have any questions. They are also there to protect you and the artwork.>

What are “Museum Manners”
Talk to students about helping the museum protect the art by being careful when walking around the museum. For younger students, we call this special set of rules “M & M's” or Museum Manners. The M & M's include:

  • Look with your eyes, not your hands. This includes the art and the walls.
  • Do the “Museum Walk”: walk with you hands behind your back or close to your sides. This helps us remember not to touch.
  • Listen while others are talking. Talk in quiet voices so everyone can be heard.
  • No running. If you run, you might damage an artwork.

Explain to students how important these M & M's are.

The visit will go more smoothly for older students if they know ahead of time to:

  • Stay with the group.
  • Keep their hands away from the walls and the artworks.
  • Walk down the middle of the galleries.

Focusing on One Artwork


Benny Andrews, Southern Landscape, 1965.
Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia
View a larger image of this artwork.

Storytelling is a rich tradition in African American history. As is true in all cultures, these stories record their history and define their culture. From before the Civil War, during the Civil Rights movement, and continuing through the present day, African Americans have shared their past while also creating a sense of community and a culture. Storytelling affirms a personal identity. African American culture and history are an important part of America's story, and that story is one every American needs to know.

The following activity allows students to create their own story about Southern Landscape.

Creating a Narrative

  • “Can someone tell me what's going on in this painting? How many people are there, and what are they doing? What tools are they using? Where are they?”
  • “What colors, lines, and shapes can you see? Is this painting realistic or life like? Why or why not?" Talk about primary and secondary colors.”
    • Primary color (red, yellow, blue): a color that cannot be created by mixing other colors; primary colors can be mixed to create most of the other colors.
    • Secondary color (orange, green, purple): a color that is created by mixing two of the primary colors.
  • “Why do you think this painting is called Southern Landscape? What makes you think that they are in the South? What year do you think this is?”
  • “Let's create our own story. There are three main parts to a story: characters, the setting and the main events. Who do you think the people in the painting are? What were they doing before they were working? What were they doing after? What is the conclusion to the story?”

Activity: Telling Your Story

Materials

Preparation

Procedures

  1. Talk to students about the African American tradition of storytelling. Discuss Benny Andrews and how he tells stories about his family through his paintings. Even though we're not sure if the people in the painting are his parents, we are sure that the painting is autobiographical. He painted a memory and told a story through paint. Explain this to students and that they will do a similar project.
  2. Pass out the worksheets and explain the activity. Students will answer the guiding questions based on a favorite memory they had while growing up or one that someone in their family told them.
  3. Once they have completed the writing part of the activity, there is a section at the bottom where they can draw a picture of their memory with colored pencils.

Assessment
Once the drawings are competed, hang the pictures so that students can share their memories with others. Students may read their memory aloud if they want.