Post-modern art refers to art that uses old ideas to create new ideas. Artwork like this builds upon previous ideas from artwork to form new ideas. It is important for children to learn about post-modern methods of making art so they can learn about how to cross ideas through different mediums and the influence it has on the content of artwork.
Recycling and transforming previous ideas through different mediums help children explore the impact art can have on others. For example, “Forever Marilyn” by Seward Johnson is a 26 foot tall sculpture made of aluminum and steel portraying Marilyn Monroe during an iconic scene in the film “Seven Year Itch” by Billy Wilder. This offers a new perspective in the physical sense, and opens the door to new ideas given that some people lack the schema from the film when they view this film image sculpturally. I have linked an article below going into depth about what this sculpture means allowing the reader to compare and contrast the differences of the sculpture to the image in the film. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-06/news/ct-met-schmich-0506-20120506_1_forever-marilyn-marilyn-monroe-chicago-river
Another benefit to teaching children how to create postmodern art is their ability to be more sustainable. Environmentalism is growing more and more as the planet continues to have severe climate change causing intense, unsafe natural disasters. The ability to repurpose materials whose function has become outdated is essential to reducing our contribution to waste. One artist repurposed shipping containers to create homes on top of an old silo that no longer needed to be used for its original function. There are countless ways artists can recycle and transform art to create new purposes and content, but these are simply two examples to help create understanding.
Introducing many methods of brainstorming to your students will help them develop this way of thinking. When I view art in a gallery, I almost always look for symbolism early on when viewing a piece and develop a chain of thoughts from the words I see which describe the art I am viewing. Giving your students a piece of visual culture they are familiar with will help them start this process. For example, perhaps you can give a basketball player a basketball and ask them to list words related to it. These words will often start descriptive, such as “orange, sphere, black, round” and then evolve into the large contribution a basketball has as it affects people’s lives. Some of these more elaborate explanations may state “Makes me feel like part of a group when I play with friends” or “Makes me feel proud when I work hard and win a game”. Using the one word descriptors, students have the opportunity to make countless connections and create new meaning from old terms that may be connected to the overall content they wish to explain with a longer description which is embedded with feelings and emotions. Looking at the mind map below, a student may make the Earth with the texture and orange color of a basketball to show that basketball is something they like to do no matter where they are in the world. The crossing of ideas on the mind map helps create new ideas. The fundamental content becomes more empowering with conflicting previous categories. A student may then expand on this idea by the medium they use. They can think about other images that are orange to use for collage that are related to basketball and its influence as a global experience.
Students need to create a network of ideas through the ways they process their surroundings. Something that may not appear to be empowering at first glance, such as a basketball, may become so once it is connected to other ideas which are visually displayed differently with consideration of the medium. Having students write artist statements to support their work will help others understand and appreciate the complex ideas students arrive at that may be challenging for someone with different perspective to understand. We all have unique mind maps through the networking of our brains by differences in individual experience. Teaching students to create new meaning from old work will allow for the spread of thought provoking ideas. Students will realize that they have an impact on the ways visual culture is understood. Hesitate to discourage your students from all of the complex work they can create and encourage their contribution to a global community of new ideas.
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