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History and Memory Lesson 7: Interpretation

Interpret through Writing or Visual Art

Student Silkscreen Print

By combining the knowledge they’ve gained through History and Memory Lessons one through six, students act as historians to interpret JFK’s legacy using a variety of research skills to write a critical essay interpreting what Americans do and should remember about JFK. They then act as artists to visually interpret JFK’s impact on American society.

Suggested Time Frame:

Class Discussion: 15 minutes
Final Essay: Homework
Final Art Project: 3-5 class periods

Total Time: 1 week

Objectives:

Students will recall historical events
Students will form opinions about historical events and their impact on current culture
Students will create artworks representing interpretations of historical events using source imagery
Students will respond intuitively to works of art
Students will present and critique interpretations
Students will compare and contrast images as they relate to historical events

Procedure

Studio Project in Reaction to the Assasination of JFK

Interpret as a Historian:

Interpreting as a historian means using all of the information students have researched and gathered in this unit to answer the questions:

What is essential to remember about John F. Kennedy and the assassination?
What can be forgotten?
What is the image of JFK bequeathed to posterity? How is this image the same or different from the “essential” information of history?
Ask the students their opinions about the impact of Kennedy’s presidency and assassination on present-day political situations and current events. Points of View can be used to aid in this discussion

Final Student Essay: Based upon the research, interviews with older generations, gathered facts, images, theories, and class discussion, each student should write an essay that conveys his or her own interpretation of what Americans do and should remember about John F. Kennedy, his assassination, and his legacy.

Studio project in reaction to the Assasination of JFK

Interpret as an Artist:

Students should use the collected class images to create an artwork representing their own interpretation of Kennedy’s presidency, the assassination, and/or legacy. Students should present their artworks to the class. Encourage classmates to respond intuitively to each artwork before the artist discusses his or her intentions.

Possible projects:

Image Collage: Students chose two to five source images to make a collage. Source materials can be copied using a copy machine. Students should crop their sources and make decisions concerning repetition and scale (documents can be enlarged or reduced using the copy machine). Color may be added using opaque water based paint (acrylic or gouache) and colored pencils. If computer technology is available students may use Photoshop to manipulate images for this project.

Silkscreen Print: As a class, students choose four to six images to transfer onto silkscreens. Students create prints using just a few or all of the images, keeping in mind color choices, repetition of images, and scale.

Painting Using a Projector: Students choose two to four source images to use in their painting. They transfer these images to the painting surface using an overhead or opaque projector. Students should make decisions concerning color, repetition of images, and scale.

Assessment

Warhol Education Rubrics

Click the Warhol Rubric headers below to reveal associated rubrics to which this lesson applies.

Critical Thinking

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CT.2	Contextual Thinking: Conducts analysis of contextual information to determine relevant and logical reasoning that supports their decision process and opinions.	Has a hard time identifying relevant contextual data.	Understands data and make decisions in varying contexts with greater accuracy.	Utilizes contextual data skillfully to form logical arguments and relevant explanations.	Understands data and make decisions in varying contexts with greater accuracy.	Utilizes contextual data skillfully to form logical arguments and relevant explanations.
CT.3	Connective Thinking: Able to think critically across professions/practices	Sees little or no connection between art making and other professions and or subject areas.	Identifies some practices that are shared in artmaking and other professions/subject areas.	Makes important connections between art making and other professions/subject areas.	Compares and constrasts artmaking processes with processes in other disciplines.	Applies knowledge of cross-disciplinary practice to create innovative work.

Communication

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CO.1	Reading: Comprehension of textual information	Comprehends the literal meaning from a range of texts about a work of art, an artist or concept but is still working to grasp big ideas and varying points of view.	Identifies some big ideas in various texts and is beginning to distinguish between fact and opinions within the text.	Identifies significant big ideas and is able to makes connections between the themes of texts and more complex cultural issues related to a work of art.	Taps into prior knowledge and supports thinking beyond the text with specific evidence from the text or personal knowledge about a work of art.	Displays original thinking about ideas in texts and makes these ideas relevant to the work of art or concept at hand.

Creative Process

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CP.2	Engagement: Actively listening, watching, responding, exploring, creating and reflecting on experiences.	Interest is limited and personal connection with subject matter or process is low.	Demonstrates curiosity in the project by asking questions and using answers to move forward in the creation of a work of art.	Seeks opportunities to enhance art work by applying more time, extra materials, help from others, etc.	Demonstrates acute focus in the act of creating and works without distractions. Is in the flow (Csikszentmihalyi).	Shares their experience, excitement and new ideas for a project in a way that inspires others.

Historical Context

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
HC.1	SocioCultural and Political: Understands how art relates to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Interprets works of art as having limited influence or relationships to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Increasingly recognizes that artworks can be shaped by or can express social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Explains how culture impacts artists and/or art through political events, historical figures and cultural contexts of an artwork.	Interprets, constructs opinions, and draws conclusions about an artwork based upon analysis of historical, political and cultural contexts.	Combines all previous knowledge about socio-political contexts to create new predictions, questions or insights about the relationship between art and history.
HC.4	Interpretative: Able to synthesize facts and opinions in own interpretation of historical/cultural significance.	Possesses a limited ability to develop an opinion about how an artwork relates to historical events and/or current events.	Recognizes multiple points of view about a historical event.	Forms opinions on the importance of events in history in relation to a work of art or to an artist’s process.	Synthesizes facts and opinions in own interpretation of the historical/cultural significance of a work of art.	Integrates historical/cultural evidence in unique interpretation of artwork and future implications (impact, effect, role) in society.

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