Visual Art and High School History

Marsha Burch's high school world history classes continue to benefit from her attendance at the 1991 Summer Institute. The South Carolina school serves a rural student population of just over 1,000. Generally, students have limited opportunities to experience art exhibitions and performances. Realizing the importance of the arts in preparing students to be successful in a culturally diverse world, the faculty is committed to integrating the arts in all subjects. Last year Ms. Burch worked with a team of social studies, English, art, and music teachers who wrote and received a REACH (Rural Education Alliance for Collaborative Humanities) grant for the project: Rap, Romance, Romeo: The Renaissance Revisited. As a result of the grant, students now have a wider variety of postcard reproductions, posters, videodiscs, and CDs to use as the basis for understanding other cultures. Many of her ideas are adapted from National Gallery of Art teaching packets and resources.

The REACH project engages students in research of Renaissance art, music, literature, and history, and makes comparisons to contemporary culture. At the beginning of the unit students often find it difficult to relate to the art and times of the Renaissance. Their comments range from "What's so great about the Mona Lisa? " to "All the people in these paintings are white!" As students analyze and critique paintings along with the context in which they were created, their attitudes and interest change.

Ms. Burch helps students connect the past to the present through a comparison and contrast of artists from a historical period with a contemporary artist. In this project, students compared such artists as Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo with African-American artist William Johnson. Johnson's hometown was Florence, South Carolina, which gives students a sense of local identity with his work. Through research they develop an understanding of some universal life experiences. After viewing reproductions and videos, students write imaginary letters to the artists and respond as they think the artists would have.

A typical history lesson may begin with the students sketching a reproduction and then writing a description of what they see and describing what they think the artist is trying to express. Another writing activity involves studying a portrait and developing a plausible interpretation of the sitter's character, personality, occupation, lifestyle, and social position. Students write biographical "poems" about a Renaissance artist which are added to a computer program that includes scanned portraits of each artist and examples of their paintings. Students work collaboratively to interpret one of the paintings through dance, music, drama, costume, and/or visual art.

Last year, the culminating activity of the study was the Renaissance Fair, organized and attended by the six teachers who received the REACH grant and their students. A grandparent and two teachers made the historical costumes. The town watchman announced the arrival of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I to the eagerly awaiting townspeople, who purchased food items for a few tokens and paraded their finery through the outdoor fairgrounds. Her Majesty watched wrestling matches, sword fights, and chess games, heard tributes from wandering poets, and listened to the orchestra play her favorite Renaissance music.

Browse and borrow free NGA loan materials on Renaissance art