Social Justice Collage Grade 9

Curriculum Outcome CP 9.10 Create visual art works to express perspectives and raise awareness about a topic of concern to youth.  This means that you will create something that expresses YOUR perspective on an issue of concern to YOU, and that will raise the awareness of other people regarding that issue.

Curriculum Outcome CP 9.11 Select and use appropriate forms, technologies, images, and art-making processes to convey ideas about a topic of concern to youth.  This means that I will be looking at how your project conveys ideas about your topic, and how your choice of materials makes a statement about the topic. For example, you might choose to use various pieces of “garbage” to make a statement about the environment.

Curriculum Outcome CP 9.12 Solve visual art problems in new and unfamiliar ways.  This means that I will be looking at how you have experimented with this new technique, and how you have solved the problems you encounter. This will be done as part of your artist statement.

Outcome: CH9.1 Investigate and discuss the role of artists in raising awareness or taking action on topics of concern.  This means that you will need to comment on how you feel your piece raises awareness, and compare it to the pieces we discussed in class.

Assignment Pick a social justice topic Use magazines and other found materials to create a collage about that issue. Write an artist statement about your piece, explaining why you chose the topic, and what your finished collage says about the topic.

How to Write an Artist Statement Make a statement about why you do what you do. The first section of your artist's statement should begin with a discussion of why you make art. Try to make it as personal as possible. Talk about what your goals are and what you hope to achieve through your art.

Describe your decision-making techniques Describe your decision-making techniques. In the second section of you statement, tell the reader about your decision-making process. How do you select a theme? How do you choose what materials to use? What techniques to utilize? Keep it simple and tell the truth.

Talk about your current work Talk about your current work. In the third section, provide some insight into your current work. How does it relate to your previous work? What life experiences informed it? What are you exploring, attempting or challenging through this work?

Keep it short, sweet, and to the point Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Your artist statement is an introduction to your work, not an in-depth analysis of it. Your artist’s statement should be one to two paragraphs and no longer than a page.

Use simple language. An effective artist's statement reaches out and welcomes people to your art, no matter how little or how much they know about art to begin with; it never excludes. Make "I" statements rather than "you" statements. Talk about what your art does for you, not what it's supposed to do for the viewers.

Artist Statement Template Why do you enjoy making art? What are you trying to communicate with your art? Why did you choose this topic? Why did you choose to represent it in this way? How did you choose your materials? What does THIS work mean to you? What life experiences influenced it? What are you exploring, attempting, or challenging through this work?