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Art and Life in Africa Project

Lesson Plan Databank


Plan Number: 013

Title/Lesson/Theme:

Personal metaphors/symbols

Designed by: Tina Scandrett

Grade level/Discipline: 9-12/Art

Estimated Time: 10-45 minute blocks

Objectives (what will be assessed?):

That students will see that other people use art as a form of personal expression and a way of dealing with personal challenges or afflictions. Transferring their own needs and challenges into a conceptual piece of 3-D art.

Description/Background:

The student will create personal visual metaphors or symbols and incorporate them into a mask or another 3-D format. The student will first look at examples of the ways Africans use rituals to help them through troubled times. Then they will apply this concept to themselves to develop the concept for their own piece.

Step by Step Procedure:

1. Read text from "Art and Life in Africa" CD and create a list of examples of how Africans use rituals and visual metaphors to help them through troubled times.

2. Discuss in small groups the results from students research.

3. Discuss and record examples of how Americans incorporate ritual and visual metaphors in our lives in your sketchbook.

4. Create a list of personal "problems" or personal issues that you are dealing with (e.g. process of becoming an adult, dealing with loss of a friend, etc...).

5. Fill out personal symbol worksheet.

6. Brainstorm and sketch possible ways which you use your own symbols or metaphors in a 3-D work of art. (E.g. masks, sculpture, etc...)

7. Create the final artwork.

Assignment in CD (essays, chapters):

Christopher Roy Essay - "Nature, Spirits, and Arts in Burkina Faso"

Margaret Thompson Drewal Essay - "Yoruba Performance"

Chapters: Sacred Spaces, Arts of Healing,& Divination

Studio Materials Needed:

Sketchbook, clay and miscellaneous materials

Vocabulary:

Keyed in content

Evaluation/Assessment tool (how will objectives be assessed?:

Completion of step by step procedure, worksheet, and final project. Effectiveness of design, craftsmanship, and creativity. Will also include a self-evaluation of final project by the student.

Bibliography/Alternative resources:

Websites:




Submitted 7/21/98