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Find this book & more activites at: www.eternalseeds.com
s a h art r. powe
BRANDANODUMS.COM | @BMIKE2C
“Home is where the Art Is” “Home is where the Art Is” by StudioBE is a coloring book and activity guide that was produced to engage young artists (of all ages!) in historically relevant and thought provoking imagery. The content of this book is produced with contributions from the StudioBE team including lead artist Brandan bmike Odums and the youth-led collective of StudioBE: BELite. All pages depicted with the “BELite” logo in the corner represent artwork completed by the high school artists who make up the BELite collective. We encourage you to follow their journey as well! (@BELite_504) We hope this book inspires you to express your creative self and encourages you to learn more about the content found inside. With activities ranging from self-portraits, to research explorations, to crossword puzzles, this book is an opportunity to tap into the multiple ways in which art holds power. Additionally, we invite you to visit us online at www.eternalseeds.com, where you will find various workshops, historical facts, tutorials, and more relating to the profiles in this book. We encourage you to express your creativity, ask questions, and share your gifts with the world. As you complete the different activities, please feel free to share your masterpieces and what you’ve learned! We encourage any completed pages or activities to be emailed to studiobenola@gmail.com or uploaded to social media with the following tags: #HomeIsWhereTheArtIs #BeAtHome #StudioBE Peace and Strength, StudioBE Team
Activities by Grade Level All grades
Kindergarten - 12th Grade
LOWER
Kindergarten - 2nd Grade
upper
3rd Grade - 5th Grade
upper - hs
6th Grade - 12th Grade
draw your sElf Portrait! “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”– Audre Lorde
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As you prepare to think like artists and activists while you explore this activity book, we encourage you to first identify and expand your ideas about who makes art and what they make art about. Write your responses below!
All grades 1. Who is an artist? 2. Who is in art? 3. What does an artist look like? 4. How do they dress, wear their hair? 5. In what kind of neighborhood do they live? 6. How do they spend their time when not making art?
upper - hs Most of the portraits in this book are of artists, writers, and leaders who are most known for the work they did during the Civil Rights Era. The image to the right is of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Research Dr. King and the social and political issues of the in the 1960s and 1970s. (a) Listen to Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. What have you been taught about him? Does this speech reinforce or differ from what you’ve been taught? (b) Research the 1950’s-1970’s in South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, the three non-American cities mentioned in this quote: What was happening in those cities at the time when Dr. King delivered this speech? How does it relate to the work that Dr. King was doing in Memphis? “Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’” (c) At the time of his death, Dr. King had all but lost his popularity. Why were labor rights less agreeable than the fight for equality through non-violence?
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BE A GUARDIAN OF THE CULTURE .
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crossword puzzle!
D B W U L I G H T K P M U R A L F A P P R E S I l i E N C E O F G P K L P D Q S W O T O J D V E T D E O O O W E B Y A T R F F I G L O V E C F u N X S U P R E M E U PAINTD JB R L DHRTIM E J A D
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light Mural pEace suprEmE REsilience
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lovE paint powErful TimE
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Angela Davis (1944) is a radical activist, philosopher, writer, speaker, and educator. In the 1960s and 1970s, she was well known for her association with the Black Panthers. Learn more about Angela Davis at www.eternalseeds.com
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“Baptized When the Levees Broke” (2016) is a 9 ft. by 12 ft. painting that features a young, hoodie-wearing Black man who represents the people of New Orleans rising from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. The subject, who is depicted as the “New Orleans Noah” is surrounded by various symbols that allude to Judeo-Christian and African spiritual cosmologies; the rainbow that references Noah’s Arc, the Sankofa bird, and the flood waters. This piece was created using spraypaint on canvas.
upper - hs (a) Consider the differences between portraits and self-portraits.
Can portraits of other people reveal information about the artist? What has the artist included in “Baptized When the Levees Broke”? What is real and what isn’t? What is hinted at?
(B) If you constructed a self-portrait in words, how would you describe yourself? Make a list of the things about yourself that people can see.
How do others describe you? Make a list of the things about yourself that are invisible to the eye. Discuss how visual artists might reveal those invisible things, or example, using a background, objects, or accessories.
(C) Define the word stereotype and discuss how you feel when people
label or stereotype you. How did you respond and deal with being stereotyped? What would you want the person who stereotyped them to know about you? What would you want that person to see and understand differently?
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Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first African American woman in Congress and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties. Of her legacy, Chisholm said,
“I want to be remembered as a woman … who dared to be a catalyst of change.” Learn more about Shirley Chisholm at www.eternalseeds.com
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To find out more about Audre Lorde and everyone else depicted in this book, log on to eternalseeds.com
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In “My Lil Generation (White Only)” (2015) a shirtless, heavilytattooed young Black man looks directly at the viewer as he sips from a whites only marked water fountain. Based on a self-portrait taken by photographer Cecil Williams in 1959 in South Carolina, this painting juxtaposes the iconography of the segregation-era south with the contemporary aesthetic of Black vernacular culture to ask: how bold would the most fearless among us be in a time like that?
All grades (a) What thoughts come to your mind when you see the “White Only”
sign? How do you think you would have reacted to segregation had you been alive?
(b) Why do you think the artist chose to paint the subject looking directly toward the viewer?
upper - hs (a) “My Lil Generation (White Only)” is based on a photograph by Cecil Williams entitled “Out-of-the-Box in Dixie, 1959.” What preparation do you think was necessary for Odums to recreate this photograph and update the setting to 2018?
In 20th and 21st century America, consider what people have protested for and against, and the forms that their protests have taken. For example, marches, rallies, demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, letterwriting, petitions, posters, sit-ins, occupying spaces, and social media.
(b) What current political, social, or cultural issues do you connect
with protest? Reflect on and write briefly about an issue that you have protested or wanted to get more involved with. Describe how you would want to get involved.
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B r a n d a n “ B M i k e ” O d u m s ( b . 19 8 5 ) i s a New Orleans-based visual ar tist who, through exhibitions, public programs, and public ar t works, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersec tion of ar t and resistance . Ephemeral Eternal features Odums ’ signature larger -than-life murals and room-sized installations that expand our understanding of ar t and social justice in New Orleans and beyond. BELite is a crew of high school ar tists that BMike mentors. We ’r e h a p p y y o u ’v e e n j o y e d t h i s coloring and activity book.
V i s i t w w w. e t e r n a l s e e d s . c o m f o r e v e n m o r e ! B M i k e a n d t h e S t u d i o B e Te a m #EternalSeeds # H o m e I s Wh e r e Th e A r t I s #StudioBE
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Find this b &m ook o www re activ ites a .eter t nals eeds : .com
2020