1 MAKING A BASE FOR A MONUMENT Days 1 5

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1 GENERAL DEMOTION / GENERAL DEVOTION Art Curriculum and Youth Competition OVERVIEW The following document contains the curriculum for a unit to be taught in high school art classes in the Richmond Region. This 16 day unit is designed for high school students to learn about how communities commemorate heroic figures. Students will design the next monument on Monument Avenue and construct a paper mache model. Models will then be submitted to Storefront for Community Design for an exhibition at the Branch Museum. This curriculum unit adheres to the Visual Arts Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools. LEARNING OUTCOMES Learn Richmond history and heroes Learn about public and activist art Learn a design process: write, sketch, revise, execute Make an armature Make a paper mache sculpture TIMELINE 16 days Teachers and classes can apply for supplies through Storefront for Community Design by ing monument@storefrontrichmond.org 1 MAKING A BASE FOR A MONUMENT Days 1 5 What is a monument? Why do people create monuments? What do you know about the current controversies about monuments? In this unit, each student will design the next monument on Monument Ave. Activity 1 Make a base for your sculpture Choose a simple, three-dimensional shape roughly the size of your hand. Think about what makes a good base. Is it sturdy? Study your object by sketching it from 6 differents angles including, top, sides, and bottom. Begin this section by asking some of the following questions to let student know where this project is headed, to establish a knowledge base about monuments and to perhaps dispel some myths. MONUMENT PRECEDENTS Ancient artifacts from around the world i.e. Egytian Pyramids ARTIST PRECEDENTS Claes Oldenburg Rachel Whiteread Gyula Pauer, Shoes on the Danube Memorial What is an armature? An armature is like a skeleton. It provides an internal skeleton, like structure for your paper mache sculpture. Students can make armatures from rolled up newspaper and tape. Activity 2 Create an armature Your goal for class today is to make an armature that begins to look like your chosen shape. At the end of class, reflect on the process of creating an armature for a paper mache sculpture. Think about what struggles and strengths of the process you encountered

2 What is paper mache? The term papier mache is a French term means chewed paper. There are two ways to make paper mache. The first uses paper pulp soaked overnight and pouring into a mold. The second method uses cloth or paper strips, dipped in adhesive, and laid across an armature, like a mummy. Activity 3 Working with strips of paper, add some glue to your palm Spread glue over the paper Cover your armature with paper Some tips for success with paper mache in the classroom: Don t use large strips of paper. Don t dip your paper in glue. Try not to get glue on yourself or others. Don t smear glue on the table. Don t forget the small spots! 2 WHO ARE THE HEROES WE SHOULD HONOR IN RICHMOND? Days 6 16 What do monuments represent? Who do the monuments on Monument Avenue honor? What values and identities do they represent? How can we design a monument that represents our personal values and those of our city? Activity 4 Choose a hero that represents the Richmond region s past or present values. Choose a hero that represents what you value. Draw your monument. Draw the base of the monument that you made a last class. Draw the figure. What does their pose say about them? OVERARCHING CONCEPTS: Examples of monuments Monument vs. memorial Iconoclasm throughout the ages Contemporary artists discussing monuments MONUMENT PRECEDENTS IN OTHER CITIES Budapest, Memento Park London with the Fourth Plinth New Orleans monument removal Baltimore monument removal Philadelphia s Monument Lab project What makes a good hero? What is the difference between a monument and a memorial? What are 5 questions you should ask about your hero? What hero belongs next on Monument Avenue? MONUMENT VS MEMORIAL Arthur Danto, The Vietnam Veteran s Memorial. The Nation. August 31, Activity 5 Create a research presentation with 3 slides on Google Slides Title the Slide 1 with your hero s name Include 5 images of your hero from different perspectives or renderings on Slide 1 Write 3 paragraphs about your hero on Slide 2: Paragraph 1 who is your hero? write a biography of your hero Paragraph 2 Discuss their heroic traits. Why do they belong on Monument Avenue? Paragraph 3 Discuss your plan for your monument. Include an image of your sketches of your hero statue and the base for the statue on Slide 3

3 What s the deal with Monument Avenue in Richmond? Monument Avenue was designed to reflect post-civil War values. What are post-civil War values? What are values today? What was the Civil War fought over? Slavery? State s Rights? Economic Issues? Other? Discuss each monument with your class, including when they were made, and who built them, who paid for them. Include case studies of Lee, Davis and Ashe as people. Are they heroes? How else are heroes recognized in the urban environment? Introduce evidence of Confederate monuments presence in Richmond via the urban infrastructures (i.e. Jefferson Davis Highway, JEB Stuart Middle School, Robert E. Lee Bridge over the James) What s the difference between a myth and a hero? What is the power in naming something? DIAGRAM OF MONUMENT AVE Published by Style Weekly is-monument-avenue-set-in-stone/ Content?oid= WHOSE HERITAGE whose-heritage NAMING EXAMPLES JEB Stuart Elementary School becomes Barack Obama Elementary School Activity 6 Begin creating the armature for the base of your statue. What does the base say about your hero? How does the base connect to the surrounding landscape? MONUMENT PRECEDENT Maggie Walker Square on Adams and Broad Streets in downtown Richmond, VA Why should you care about monuments? Can you think of any landmarks around you that are named after Confederates? Do they make you feel alienated or are they part of your heritage? Is this monument controversial? What are opposing viewpoints? Show 3 examples: Pocohantas State Park Bear at Maymont Bojangles Statue Columbus Statue Bateau Man Include some context for the construction of Monument Avenue by overlaying that timeline with: Jim Crow as an example of local legislation and business practices Lost Cause Narrative Brown Vs. Board as an example of judiciary practices RICHMOND MONUMENTS visit for more Richmond Monuments CONCURRENT MONUMENT EVENTS

4 What do you prefer to be done with the Monuments on Monument Avenue? Keep them Add signage Remove them Display the opinions of 3 different authors who have discussed each option. John Mitchell Jr. Michael Paul Williams Calder Loth Monument Ave Commission How do you open a discussion with someone who believes differently than you in a way that is still respectful? Why is this issue so polarizing? If someone has a different belief system than you, are they bad or evil? Activity 7 Now start to make the armature for your hero. Cut and assemble paper tubes to use as arms, torsos, legs, heads. Paper tubes can be made by rolling paper tightly around a pencil. Using rolled up paper tubes and tape, begin to shape your hero. Make sure to be able to convey that your hero is not extremely thin or flat. Once your armature is complete, you may begin applying a paper maché skin to the figure PRECEDENT Memorial Park, Budapest, Hungary JOHN MITCHELL JR sn / MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS michael-paul-williams/michael-paul-williams- on-monument-avenue/html_f593f12c-1fac- 11e5-97ec-0f68633e085b.html CALDER LOTH MONUMENT AVENUE COMMISSION pdf_98dfbab1-3a10-52d4-ab47- f4a2d html Name examples in the past year in which a minority group has been marginalized. How have other cities dealt with monuments? What changed? Consider: Baltimore, MD Charleston, SC New Orleans, LA Durham, NC Charlottesville, VA NATIONAL EXAMPLES Separating immigrant families Gas pipelines i.e. DAPL Muslim travel ban LOCAL EXAMPLES Pulse bus line RPS Facilities ICE/Sanctuary Cities What are the mechanisms that made that change? Policy change City Council meetings Monument Avenue Commission

5 Activity 8 Divide into pairs, teams of 3, or by table Critique your partner/person on your left s paper mache sculpture in writing Use an letter-sized sheet of paper to tell your fellow artist: One thing that you admire on their sculpture One suggestion for improving their paper maché technique One suggestion for how the artist can improve the concept behind their sculpture How do we critique work? What are different ways of giving feedback on artistic work? At this point, we suggest some type of viewing for the class or school of the sculptures accompanied by the short write up of who they think is a hero and why. One or two of the original monument competitions had models shown at the Library of VA. Models could be shown at your school s library. An open house could invite students/parents/teachers to the exhibition in order to respond or add further comments. FINAL DISCUSSION What are the artifacts of the Confederacy? Do we ignore Monument Avenue in lieu of other citywide issues? Ben Campbell on Richmond s Monuments: their-opinion/guest-columnists/benjaminp-campbell-remove-the-real-artifacts-ofthe-confederacy/article_01a268b b14-abaa-c7659cfd0615.html At this point, your students sculptures are invited to be submitted to an exhibition of designs for the next monument on Monument Avenue at the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design in Richmond, VA. Submission requirments include a paper mache sculture accompanied by a written description of the hero and why they should be the next monument on Monument Avenue. The exhibition will run from mid-february 2019 to mid-april Submissions to the exhibition can be dropped off at Storefront for Community Design at 205 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, For more information, monument@storefrontrichmond.org or visit A complete submission includes: 1 sculpture with maximum dimensions of 11 x8.5 x written narrative about your sculpture 1 sketch in pencil on 8.5 x11 (letter-sized) paper