Let's Recreate Our World To Make It Better
Artist: Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (K.O.S. stands for "Kids
of Survival," a group of students
who collaborated with Rollins on art projects.)
Art Work: Amerika - For the People of Bathgate, 1988, outdoor mural, 660" x 432"
Location: C.E.S. 4, Crotona School, 1701 Fulton Avenue
Grades: 5-6
About the Art: The work is a continuation of a series of paintings based on Franz Kafka’s novel, "Amerika," dedicated to the neighborhood people who experienced a great deal of displacement during urban renewal. The imagery is based on a passage in the last chapter in which the hero sees hundreds of women dressed as angels and blowing long golden horns. The individual horn designs that were collected at the school were adapted and combined by Rollins + KOS to create the final composition. It won the Art Commission’s Award for Excellence in Design in 1989.
Questions for Discussion: What do you see? What do you notice about the shapes and colors? Could you tell from the painting that this is about a certain piece of literature if someone didn't tell you? How can you tell that many people had a hand in designing the shapes in the painting? How would you go about making the place more beautiful and inviting? How would you change a part of your world to make it a better place to live?
Sample Art Activity: Students create models of apartment complexes to show how they could be transformed based on ideas from literature.
Purpose: To demonstrate understanding that some public art is for making the world a more beautiful and inspiring place.
Materials: sketch paper and pencils, rulers, recycled clean cereal boxes, tempera paints and brushes, markers, scissors, masking tape, glue, 20 x 40" Bristol board or recycled cardboard for bases.
Teaching Strategies:
- Read Painted Dreams by Karen Lynn Williams, to inspire students about how places can be improved through painting.
- Visit an apartment complex if necessary, and obtain architect’s plans if possible. Students are to draw how they would enhance an apartment complex without changing the structure of the buildings. They may work in groups of two or three.
- Using cereal boxes on cardboard bases, they make models of the complex being careful with where the streets and open spaces are compared to the size of the buildings.
- Paint the models to transform them. Help students choose different size brushes for detailed work.
- Give it a name, such as Name of Apartment Complex/Painted Dreams.
Closure: Stage an art reception as a school event, with postcards to notify people what, when and where. Invite family and friends and serve refreshments if you can. Present a reading of Painted Dreams. Send word to Lehman College Art Gallery education staff so we can photograph the designs for the website and publicize them.
Extensions: For math/logical learning: estimate how much space and materials would be required to paint this design on the real apartment complex. For linguistic learning: write a letter to the governing board of the apartment complex explaining that the class would like to paint such a design. Ask what channels would be required to make this possible, and as a class decide what to do next. For visual/spatial learning: Create a smaller version of the mural that can be copied on a photocopier so that everyone can include it in their learning portfolio.
National Art Education Learning Standards:
- Understanding and applying media, techniques and processes
- Using knowledge of structures and functions
- Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas
- Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
- Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
- Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines
