Students did the following visual arts creating task after analyzing and interpreting a collage by the artist Romare Bearden.
Take time to look again at your print of Pittsburgh Memories. The collage you see visually expresses a memory of Bearden's own past, as well as his deep appreciation for aspects of everyday life. (A collage is a work of art in which different pieces of different kinds of materials are assembled and fastened onto a flat surface.)
Study the Bearden work, and think about how the collage shows the artist's memory of what life in Pittsburgh was like. Notice how Bearden combines and organizes objects and places in unusual and unexpected ways to express what it is like to remember. Look for the ways in which interesting contrasts between inside and outside areas and the use of details and colors communicate a memory.
Now think of a memory of a place where you once lived, where you live now, a friend's house, or another place important to you in your community. What kinds of pictures do you see in your mind when you remember what it was like to be there?
Being as creative as you can, create a memory collage of the place you choose. In your collage, communicate what you remember about what it was like both inside of this place and outside in the neighborhood.
To make your collage:
- Take out all of the materials from your packet. You may use your scissors and/or tear materials you choose for your collage.
- Assemble on your sheet of white drawing paper pieces of any of the materials provided to show both the inside of the place you
choose and what it was like outside.
- Once you have pasted down these areas, you can add details with markers and oil pastels.
