Inspired by Faith Ringgold and Black History

Image by Barbara Company via Flickr

Disclaimer - I saw a lesson online awhile ago inspired by Faith Ringgold and her book, Tar Beach. The teacher had the students use magazine squares around the edges of the paper to give the border a quilted look. To highlight Martin Luther King Jr. day, I wanted to do a similar art lesson. Well, I searched and searched and searched some more for the lesson. I looked everywhere, but do I need to tell you that this "Internet place" is huge? - it reminds me of the kind of sushi I once ate, the more I chewed and tried to swallow, the bigger it got! I searched for so long that it became a competition with myself. I didn't even care about the lesson anymore, I just wanted to find that darn place that I knew it existed. Finally, after an amount of time that I'm too embarrassed to reveal, I gave up. So below is my version of the lesson, and if you know where the Tar Beach lesson is with magazine squares for the border, please send it to me:)



This lesson is simple drawing and collage. It's based on the art piece by Faith Ringgold titled "Coming to Jones Road #4 -Under a Blood Red Sky". It depicts African American slaves sneaking their way through the night, travelling north to freedom.

We used red background paper, cut out & glued on black paper tree trunks, colored the moon - trees- and people with pastels, then glued magazines pieces around the border for a quilted look.

Thank you Flamson Middle School students.