Rhythm + Soul with The Studiowith Romare Bearden ART HIST RY KIDS
WEEK 3 Art in Action Week This week is for taking action and going back to the things you haven’t explored yet this month! Take your time this week to finish up some of the fun things from the first two weeks. This could also be used as a dedicated art making week to work on any projects from this month’s guide that you haven’t had time for yet.
Or you can go a different route! Use this week to make connections to the art. Transform your art explorations into a full unit study. Learn about some interesting things related to Romare Bearden’s art and his life as you dive deeper to explore geography, history, music, and more! The art comes alive when you learn all about the cultural context.
You don’t have to do it all... these are just ideas! Choose one or two that really excite you and your kids, and leave the rest. “ My purpose is to paint the life of my people as I know it. –Romare Bearden
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CONNECTING THE DOTS Geography Where did Romare Bearden live? Romare Bearden was born in North Carolina, he spent his early childhood in Harlem (New York), and later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Can you find these three places on this map of the United States? Learn more about how Jim Crow laws lead to the Great Migration.
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CONNECTING THE DOTS Music One of Romare Bearden’s most significant and influential inspirations was music. Bearden grew up surrounded by music- both at home and in his community. Listen to music from the Harlem Renaissance and see if you can find con- nections between the improvisational nature of jazz and the improvisational nature of Bearden’s collage paintings! (Click to hear the hit song Romare Bearden wrote!)
Listen to Duke Ellington
Literature Romare Bearden’s collage paintings appear with words by one of the greatest writers from the Harlem Renais- sance – Langston Hughes in an amazing book put together by the Metropolitan Museum of Art called The Block. Its pages reveal a visual and poetic narrative about Harlem. Some images may not be suitable for all kids, but check it out for yourself first and see if you’d like to intro- duce parts (or all) of this creative masterpiece to your kids! (There’s an out of print book that may be available at our library or at a used bookstore).
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CONNECTING THE DOTS Sports
Romare loved baseball, and he was great at it! He played in the Negro Leagues, and was offered a job in the Major Leagues... if he would agree to ‘pass’ as white. He didn’t even need to think about it. He was proud of his heritage and the answer was an immediate no. Learn more about this story here.
Art There are so many great connections between Romare Bearden’s art and art history!
He spoke about being Influenced and inspired by the great masters – like Rembrandt and Bruegel – and he spent years studying their work and reproducing them to understand exactly how they created their masterpieces.
He’s also spoken about the influence of Japanese woodcut and Egyptian art- and you can see themes and techniques echoed in his work.
In 1940, at the suggestion of artist Jacob Lawrence, Bearden leased a studio space in the same building where Lawrence worked on 125th street in Harlem.
In 1950, he traveled to Paris and met Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
Learn more about the art of quilting with Faith Ringgold.
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NOW IT’S YOUR TURN... Week 3 Project Create a collage that shows your community.
Romare Bearden created collages that featured the places he lived (North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Harlem), as well as places he visited. This week, consider your community where you live, or a community where you’ve spent time. What images stand out? What does it sound like, smell like, feel like? Create a collage that features the community so that someone who’s never been there can get a real sense of the place. Look at how Bearden used painting layered in with his collages. Play with paint this week!
Black Manhattan, 1969
Pittsburgh Memories, 1984 New Orleans: Ragging Home, 1974
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