Matric Art Lesson

 

The Grade 12s had to research resistance art - each were given an image of an art work and they had to present their work to their fellow students.

They had to research their artwork and artist, and place it in the context of the socio-political issues of the time, e.g. one student researched The Butcher Boys by Jane Alexander - resistance art (picture above)

Students were given an outline to anchor them:

• Description: Describe what you see?
• Analysis: How is the work organised?
• Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate?
• Judgment:  Is this a successful work of art?

Concern:

• Students were not well prepared - they did not research their individual art works well. They made excuses that they could not find any information or did not make the effort to analyse their artwork in depth at home.
• The student who was assigned the The Butcher Boys described it in terms of  the Apartheid Era.
• But her interpretation of the artwork was in total contrast to the intention and point of view of the sculptor. The images, according to her, represented black people who were treated as animals.

Yet:

• This sparked a lively conversation, as another student commented that the artist of Butcher Boys meant the sculptures to present the oppressors, thus anti-Apartheid art. The title refers to the people who were sympathetic to the cause of apartheid. The casual stance of the figures in the statues show that they don't care. They don't have ears, as they are not sensitised to what is happening to the oppressed people. Hence the title  Butcher Boys - they are acting in an inhumane way, condoning the butchery, by doing nothing. Their demonic heads add to this meaning.

The Teacher:

• Challenged students to study their sources critically to ensure that the intention of the artist is well understood before presenting a point of view to the class.
• Asked good guiding questions, e.g. by leading a student to an understanding of the connotations of the title of the artwork Bulldoze the Black Spot.

 Strategies to help students:

• Teachers who observed the lesson felt that strategies could be put in place to help students cope with exam questions such as these which require knowledge of an entire artistic movement
• Knowledge: students should draw mind maps and summarise the characteristics of the different movements and eras in art and their representative artists
• Skills: analysing art works should be practised and reinforced until students get it.

 Planning the next lesson:

• Students were asked to do in-depth research about the same artist.
• They have to bring their research to class.
• Each student must set a lower order and higher order question on their art work - with a memo
• Students must be well prepared in order to ask questions and to field questions from other students.