Alexandra Weinholtz, Response

Alexandra Weinholtz
EDU 431

When Romare Bearden discusses The Block, he tells the viewer how he created his master piece. As he observed a particular street, he translated it into visual form it became something else. He lost the literalness and allowed his imagination to take him, creating The Block. To create The Block he used different shapes, played with scale, exaggerated details, patterns, and repetition. By creating a collage Bearden was able to introduce art images from contemporary life found in magazines and newspapers, while injecting elements of reality and current issues into his work.
I believe that in some classrooms students are not able to create their interpretations or allow their imaginations to take them, when creating art. The Block, offers students to view art in non realistic ways and to cause them to think. Images such as The Block also allow teachers to bring this art into the classroom and use it for multiple purposes, while exposing our students to artwork. We can discuss the piece, finding shapes that we see, talk in-depth about each shape, and have students create their own versions of The Block by using shapes they have cut out. We can also have our students read scenes from Wilson’s plays, asking our students to compare his writings with Bearden’s art; finding similarities and differences. The students can create their own poems using descriptive questions to begin their thinking, to fit the images in The Block. These are only some of the possible ways to bring art into our classroom, creating discussion, challenging their thinking, and making poems or writing engaging. I think it would also be fun to have the students create their own image similar to The Block, having them look closely and listen.