Labels, Tags & Misconceptions
ASC Grant and McColl Partnership
8th Grade
Introduction:
We are all confronted with labels, tags, and misconceptions regardless of our age, gender, race, religion or wealth. Why do we label people who are different from us? And once someone is labeled, how hard is it to actually see the person behind the label? How many times do we just stop at the label? Through this project we will examine how labels can shape and limit our understanding and perceptions about each other.
Artist, Susan Harbage Page, uses her work to examine the labels, tags and misconceptions surrounding women. She uses the stories and photographs of female textile mill workers, and reclaimed and altered embroidery pieces to explore the changing identities of women in today’s culture. Through her art she gives these women a voice.
Procedure:
The 8th grade curriculum, with a focus on American history, literature, and art, directly relates to the work of Susan Harbage Page. By studying the work of Susan Harbage Page, they will become personally connected to the women who worked in the mills; they will also recognize what it means to have a voice, how writing shapes our identity, and how identity changes over time.
Students will apply what they are learning about the people of America in Language Arts, History, Visual Arts, and Service Learning to the lives of senior citizens. Modeling their process after the work of Page, the students will:
• conduct interviews with the residents of the Brian Center in Mooresville and the clients at the Ada Jenkins Center of Davidson,
• examine how labels can shape and limit our understanding and perceptions about the elderly,
• create and select, based on recorded stories, text, photographs, and words that are often used to describe the elderly in our society,
• create an exhibition of their work that will include an oral history through documentation and photography.
• design an exhibition that demonstrates the power of labels to the community
Schedule:
11/07
1. Examine the power of labels (Brown Bag Advisory positive and negative outline activity)
11/07
2. Introduction to the work of Page and the influence of NC textile mills in her work. (BBA)
3. Introduction to photography through the work of Lewis Hine. (BBA)
12/07
4. Practice interviewing skills with peers in Language Arts (National History Day interviews)
12/07
5. Meet the artist, Susan Harbage Page, and tour her exhibition (McColl Center)
6. Reflect on her work and how she examines labels, tags, and misconceptions (VA/BBA)
12/07
7. Trip to Mint Museum of Art: Contemporary, Cool and Collected exhibition - Examine contemporary photography and portrait photography of animate and inanimate objects.
Winter Break
1/22
8. Learn about photographic compositions, photographic techniques, the difference between photographic art and snapshots, and how to create a personality photograph. (Visual Arts)
1/24
9. First visit from Susan Harbage Page to critique our photographs
10. Art making - Self-portraits.
11. Conduct interviews at the Brian Center(LA/SL)
12. Create poetry based on experiences with residents (LA/SL)
13. Compose photographs and create preliminary designs on small scale t-shirt (VA)
2/21
14. Work with Janet Lasher on images and layout (text to include, size, font, images) VA
15. Visit Brian Center to learn more about the seniors (SL)
3/6
16. Work with Susan Page on critique of final design (SL)
3/19
17. Work with Janet Lasher on finishing image transfer
18. Assessment and Reflection
4/4
19. Opening at McColl Center
Assessments: (see rubrics attached)
1. Conducting an Interview
2. Creating an Artwork
3. Participation and Reflection