“This program offered an excellent way to examine how knowledge
claims are made in history and the combination of educational challenges
with the cultural activities provided a vivid and unique experience for
student participants.”
Walter Moser, History Teacher, Schenley
High School
“The writing and critique activities involved in the
interpretive art viewing and art making projects focused on Warhol’s
art and practice seemed to enable students to produce art works of an
unusually high professional quality which were well articulated. Their
work seemed more personal and imaginative, their exploration of ideas
and problem solving was more fluent and they displayed a confidence about
the value of their work that is rarely seen.”
Ron Kalla, Art Teacher,
Schenley High School
Student Reviews
“In making Elian Gonzales, artists Lafe, Steimer, Hayes and Levinson
looked closely at Andy Warhol’s Flash (1968) series. In an explanatory
statement for the work the students wrote, “as a group, we felt
that this event was a very controversial one that stuck in our memories,
both because of our age at the time, and also because of the magnitude
of the situation. Since this was such a heart-touching story, the pictures
it provided really created a sense of the dramatic feelings that were
present then. We hope that in viewing our series, the public relives
the passion they felt at that time and once again feels involved in this
Cuban/United States conflict.”
Student artists Donoughe, Brewton,
Klein, Lerch and Blackman-Mathis scoured magazines, television and the
internet to find images representing Congress’ October 2001 USA
Patriot Act. The five artists had mixed feelings about the Act, for although
it was enacted “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United
States and around the world and to enhance law enforcement investigatory
tools,” it limits or even eliminates the rights of some individuals.
Stated the artists, “to some of us, it was a matter of pride in
our nation’s struggle against terrorism, and to others it was a
symbol of national shame.”
Walt Moser, History and World Cultures Ron Kalla, Art Teacher Bob Beckman, Printer, Artist Image Resource Carrie Schneider, Photographer and Artist Educator/The Andy Warhol Museum
Summary:
The Andy Warhol Museum worked with two different groups of students
from Schenley High School. The first group explored the psychology
of memory. Approximately sixty art and psychology students used the
temporary exhibition November 22, 1963: Image,
Memory, and Myth as
a point of departure for this project. The students researched the
reliability of eyewitness testimony, the “flashbulb memory” phenomenon,
Warhol’s Flash (1968) series, and the many conspiracies of JFK’s
assassination. Out of their research students created silk-screened
prints representing pivotal events that occurred during their lifetimes
for which they had flashbulb memories – such as the death of
rapper Tupac Shakur and the shootings at Columbine High School.
The
second group was 25 philosophy students in the advanced International
Baccalaureate class Theory of Knowledge. This group looked critically
at the reliability of media – from the 5 o’clock news to
history books – and the power of images to cue emotional responses,
and collaboratively created silk-screened prints based on world events
for which they had a flashbulb memory. Students created art works from
source materials, including imagery of the Elian Gonzales incident,
and the controversial post-September 11th Patriot Act.
