February and Black History Month hold profound significance in education, providing educators with myriad opportunities for interdisciplinary lessons across various subjects. As art teachers, we are presented with a many approaches to explore. This year, our dean of students approached our department to contribute artwork for the upcoming Black History Month program. I set to research and developed this Black History Month Poster Design Lesson and Worksheet Art as Activism.
Immediately, I envisioned an initiative where students could create work that is not only unique to them but also deeply resonates with their classmates’ individuality. Having just met these students in the new semester, I was still assessing their abilities as I planned this project. Considering the accessibility and familiarity of posters—utilizing typography and common words—I saw an opportunity to guide students through the creative process effectively.
What does it mean to be an Activist?
To infuse a meaningful theme into the project, I delved into research and decided to embrace art as activism. The idea was to empower students to become activists themselves, designing posters that express their passions and ideals to the world. In doing so, we draw inspiration from the essence of Black History Month, fostering a connection that extends beyond February, throughout the entire year.
History Lesson
As a class, we delved into history, exploring iconic artworks and posters from historical movements such as Apartheid, the Civil Rights Movement, Obama’s Presidency, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Navigating through this rich history, we discussed the stories and messages that artists conveyed through their creations—an opportunity for students to understand the potency of visual language in igniting change and sparking conversations about their own experiences.
We focused on specific masterpieces, like Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama Hope Poster and Barbara Jones-Hogu’s ‘Unite.’ These exemplary works served as touchstones for the students, demonstrating how art can be a dynamic force in advocating for social justice and equality. Analyzing the elements that make these pieces impactful—whether it’s the use of color, symbolism, or the evocative power of a simple yet profound message—we aimed to distill these lessons into our own creations.
Now, Let’s Plan
With newfound inspiration, our students embarked on the creative process of developing their visually compelling posters. Through the help of the Guided Brainstorming worksheet, students broke down this colossal idea into manageable pieces. Diving into personal struggles and global issues, students identified with, they listed and discussed these concerns with their classmates. Moving around the room, I worked to narrow down their ideas and then helped them decide on their inspiration for what they wanted to be activists for.
From this concept, the rest of the worksheet guided students through the art-making process. We discussed typography and the use of a thesaurus to find a word that speaks to their personal story, steering clear of overly general terms like “equality.” Then, we moved on to symbols, subject matter, and color to tell the story. I consistently reminded them that they are activists, urging them to consider what people need to see and understand when holding their posters in their hands.
Art Making
In my classroom, I have decided to present this project as a mixed media piece. Students are taking the typography element and creating patterned backgrounds traced in Sharpie and watercolor painted or marker. They then work with silhouette symbol cutout shapes in a variety of sizes and placements throughout the composition. Finally, they work with image transfer photographs of their chosen subjects as focal points. This project is one of those where we are experimenting along the way.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Some students have found inspiration in other ways, and I have let them go in that direction as well. They have all the elements and have manifested in another way, and I love it! Since these students are new to me, and this is our first project together, I knew I needed to include room for risk and experimentation, and I am so excited to see where they end up.
I can foresee the elements of this project being created in various media. It can be as simple as classic marker and poster board or as intricate as digital design. The versatility of this project allows for a spectrum of artistic expressions, and I am eager to witness the diverse outcomes from these budding artists.
Finished!
Wow, I am truly impressed with these students. For our first project to kick off a new semester together, they really delved into a profound project with many moving parts. They were willing to be vulnerable and take risks, and it has paid off! Although I have a couple of kids who are still finishing up, I couldn’t wait to share the work of those who have completed their projects this week.
Final Reflection
I realized that there were many aspects I loved about how these works turned out and many things I would like to try for next time. Additionally, I recognized that these pieces didn’t speak for themselves and needed the students’ written reflections to convey their messages effectively. Ideally, they would be marching with the works, shouting their messages, but for now, a short piece of writing will have to suffice. Here are some outstanding messages from some of my students.
To me being an activist means trying to change how something works. Many of the people I know are usually people who are from other countries trying to start a new life but they end up being in more trouble. People from other countries are also judged because they look different from others. I chose this idea because I want to change how the way of deportation works. I feel as if people shouldn’t be deported because they are from other countries and because they are different. I also want everyone trying to start a new life to be able to be free.
I chose deportation as my work because I want to change the way it works. I did not use any symbols on my poster. I chose the picture I chose because it shows what deportation does to people. I chose neutral colors because colorful colors would not go well with the topic and it would make it look like it’s a good thing.
If I were to do this project again I wouldn’t change anything about it because I like the poster. My favorite part of the poster was coloring the background. I feel good about this project.
A.C.C
What does it mean to be an activist to me? To me, to be an activist is to fight for something you believe in by doing everything you can to change it. My artwork was based on women’s rights and gender equality. My personal connection to it was the fact that I’m a female. A lot of people believe that I can’t do stuff that men can do but I can, I’m just as capable as a man. I chose this idea because I want people to know that girls all around deserve equality ,justice and respect, and the woman in the picture yelling for me symbolizes that we’re tired of just speaking out about it, IT’S TIME TO GET LOUD!
I picked the word “Equality!” for my project because like I said it symbolizes for me that we want it and we want it now so we’re gonna get loud about it and that’s why the word is so big I want people to really get attached to that word so that they can understand what the piece is about. The picture I chose really captures all of the emotions that women have when it comes to talking about equality because it makes no sense as to why we get treated unequal because of our gender. The reason I used the colors I did was because I wanted to go for colors that fit the feminine theme but also have a sense of boldness to it.
I would definitely change the bold colors because it wasn’t as bold as I want it to be, but also I want to change the way I used color cordination. I didn’t really have an idea of what colors I wanted to add and I just went with it. I honestly can say that my favorite part was seeing the finish process and seeing all of the work that I accomplished. This project was honestly really fun and really helped me reach a better level of expressing myself.
C.R.
Being an activist means you act out against something or someone doing something unfair or wrong. My personal experience is seeing my mom do things on her own. It shows that she can do things on her own without anyone monitoring her. I used resilience because it means doing things on your own and going against what people think is normal.
I was going to use a seesaw for equality and yin yang for equality but I took them out because it took away from the original picture. I took a picture of myself doing the Rosy the Riveter because she says ‘we can do it’, symbolizing women can do things men can too. I used purple, orange, red, green, and blue. They all really stuck out and made it pop. I would change the colors I used. They made the picture pop but they didn’t really blend.
My favorite part was using water colors. This project was really inspirational for myself and others. I enjoyed doing it.
R.K.
Download the lesson and guided brainstorming worksheet here.
If you decide to do this in your classroom, please let me know! I would love to brainstorm with you and see your students work.
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