Performance Art unit lesson plan...more than I thought...

So we come back from Christmas break and as teachers, you KNOW those kids are just not going to be ready to be back and get fully into the swing of things. I decided to create a tiny unit lesson on performance art to help them get back on track. I did not even imagine the capacity as to the depths they would go to experience this unit of study. It became very personal for a  lot of them and for that I am extremely grateful

I decided to share with them a few videos on the works of Marina Abramovic, the grandmother of performance art. For those of you who don't know what performance art is...it is a theatrical performance centered around a theme or a concept or an idea. Not always clear to the viewers, but powerful none the less. Viewers are more apt to leave a performance scratching their heads and wondering what the heck they had just seen and be thinking about it for weeks sometimes months to come.

Ms. Abramovic has done some very thought provoking, deeply spiritual, very human, very powerful installations of her art in her 40 years of performing, ranging from creating 12 years of artistic performances with her then lover Ulay, one was taking hold of a bow and arrow and leaning away from him, while the arrow aims right at her heart...

to sitting in front of a table filled with 76 items, that could be used to bring pleasure or to bring pain....ranging from a glass of water, a rose, a razor blade, a gun with one bullet in it. She speaks of this one in the interview above and it absolutely blew my kids' minds...the strong example of trust she had to exemplify during those six long hours...trusting that folks you did not even know would do the right thing...

One of her most recent exhibits at the MOMA in New York City was in 2010 where she sat at an empty table and an empty chair and guests were encouraged to sit across from her and she would look into their eyes and share a silent moment...it was called "The Artist is Present"

POWERFUL!

I set up a workshop just on this performance alone and asked the students to just sit across form each other in a double circle formation and look into the other's eyes for a longish period of time with music playing...don't speak...just take in what you see and experience...the amount of awkwardness and terrific depth they experienced was really a neat experience...

We then spent time creating art pieces that exemplified who we truly were...the art had to have 6 aspects to its conception...

#1: Your name, creatively displayed

#2: Your favorite type of art

#3: One word that described you

#4: One word that was your goal for 2016

#5: Your life's motto

#6 Something that you considered SACRED displayed on the art piece. Something you would be devastated to lose.

It is the last one that really gets the kids invested into the creation of the art piece and allows it to become extremely personal. We then have our circle time in class and everyone shares...mind you...these kids feel VERY comfortable with each other and know they can trust each other with their secrets...a great amount of time is spent in discussion about this and building trust throughout the year...

We then watched more Abramovic interviews and discuss what it means to trust someone or something so explicitly...her performance exemplify such a great amount of trust.

I then turned to the kids and said..."OK, we are now going to draw names. The name you draw is the art piece you will take home over the weekend and you will put your own spin on it and bring it back to share on Monday with the artist and the class. The artist has to TRUST that the other soul will not deface their prized possession."

I was not prepared for the amount of thoughtfulness, the tender tears, the sweet smiles and the wonderful outpouring of awesomeness that came back after the weekend...here were a few examples:

• One girl had mentioned her most prized possession was her first surf board, but she no longer owned it any more. So the new artist went home and created a new surf board out of plaster-of- paris and tore up the art work and glued it all to the new board...the girl LOVED IT.
• One student mentioned that her prized possession was her grandmother's book of "I Hope You Dance" she gave to her when she was little...the student took her art work and refolded it into the form of a flip top box and when you opened the top, out popped a ballerina...for you see if was created into one of those old music boxes...
• One student had mentioned that she was battling depression and sadness...the other student took her art and created a beautiful crown for her to wear, with all of the special elements coming out of the top of the crown and told her how powerful and beautiful she was.
• One student's art had lots of negative comments on it and the other artist crossed out the words and wrote "Beauty", "Special", "Perfect" over the negative connotations. She then highlighted the positive aspects with lots of color to make the positive aspects POP off the page.
• One student shared that she had had a locket with her father's ashes in it that was stolen from their house. She had drawn the locket on the art project. The other artist took her color and made the locket POP more off the page and wrote the words she thought her Daddy would be saying to her right now on the art piece..."I am so proud of you!" "I am so proud of the young woman you have become" Not a dry eye in the classroom...

SUCH A POWERFUL  DEEPLY MOVING EXPERIENCE!!!!

Here are photos of the student's art pieces!! I thought you would all enjoy!