Learn | Keith Haring

Description

Students create posters for their school that express their personal feelings on politics, health issues, or personal rights.

Objective

Students will analyze and interpret the social concerns of Keith Haring through his art.

Students will brainstorm on issues faced by high school students.

Students will make connections between how Haring exposed problems and how they can address their own concerns.

Resources

VOCABULARY
Symbolism

Materials

Pencils
Paper
Paint

Procedure

MOTIVATION
Examine the work of Keith Haring and discuss the work and the issues presented in the work.

KEY QUESTIONS
What are the issues that Keith Haring is dealing with it? How effective to you think he was at addressing these topics? What are some issues students in this school face? What would be some social issues? Personal issues? Etc. How can we as artists address these issues or bring attention to them?

PRESENTATION
Begin by discussing the content of Haring's work by having students identify his issues and his messages. Talk about his use of symbolism to create a visual message. Have the students identify some problems and issues facing students at their school. Have them create a visual way of dealing with these issues as a way of helping or educating the students at their school.

EXPLORATION
Have student begin on poster for the school hallways that is based on a problem that teenagers face. Have them begin by drawing some thumbnail sketches before they begin to help them to plan the layout of their poster. Encourage the students to include some sort of resource in their posters that can provide more information about they topic or a place where students can go for help.

CLOSURE
Have the students share what their posters. Have them explain why this issue is important to them, and what is their intention of their poster for the viewer.

ASSESSMENT
The students are thinking critically about their school environment and the world they live in. This project will help the students understand that art has power and can influence those who see it. The assessment for this project will be based on how the viewer interprets the work. Therefore, assessment is based on the class critic.

REFLECTION
It is really important that students understand that they not only have a voice, but they also have the power to change things. In this project the students are asked to think about problems and use their art as a means of dealing with these issues. As high school students, some are ready to vote or serve this country. It is really important that we get them thinking critically about our society so that they are able as adults to be proactive citizen able to shape the future of our society.

Extensions

The author of this lesson, Deidre Kenna, a Masters in Art Education student of the School of Visual Arts in NYC, is the 2003-2004 scholarship recipient of the Keith Haring Scholarship award. This project is a collaboration with The School of Visual Arts & a local NYC public high school.

To find out more about The Keith Haring Foundation Scholarship offered through the School of Visual Arts, please contact: Director, School of Visual Arts/Visual Arts Foundation, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC 10003 or SVA's web site.