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Creative Thinking & Making
Historical & Cultural Contexts
History & Memory
Critical Thinking
Teacher Reflections

“This program offered an excellent way to examine how knowledge claims are made in history and the combination of educational challenges with the cultural activities provided a vivid and unique experience for student participants.”

Walter Moser, History Teacher, Schenley High School

“The writing and critique activities involved in the interpretive art viewing and art making projects focused on Warhol’s art and practice seemed to enable students to produce art works of an unusually high professional quality which were well articulated. Their work seemed more personal and imaginative, their exploration of ideas and problem solving was more fluent and they displayed a confidence about the value of their work that is rarely seen.”

Ron Kalla, Art Teacher,
Schenley High School

Student Reviews

“In making Elian Gonzales, artists Lafe, Steimer, Hayes and Levinson looked closely at Andy Warhol’s Flash (1968) series. In an explanatory statement for the work the students wrote, “as a group, we felt that this event was a very controversial one that stuck in our memories, both because of our age at the time, and also because of the magnitude of the situation. Since this was such a heart-touching story, the pictures it provided really created a sense of the dramatic feelings that were present then. We hope that in viewing our series, the public relives the passion they felt at that time and once again feels involved in this Cuban/United States conflict.”

Student artists Donoughe, Brewton, Klein, Lerch and Blackman-Mathis scoured magazines, television and the internet to find images representing Congress’ October 2001 USA Patriot Act. The five artists had mixed feelings about the Act, for although it was enacted “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world and to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools,” it limits or even eliminates the rights of some individuals. Stated the artists, “to some of us, it was a matter of pride in our nation’s struggle against terrorism, and to others it was a symbol of national shame.”

 

 


Student Projects & Adaptations: Schenley High School
Jump to: Reviews | Summary


Walt Moser, History and World Cultures
Ron Kalla, Art Teacher
Bob Beckman, Printer, Artist Image Resource
Carrie Schneider, Photographer and Artist Educator/The Andy Warhol Museum


Summary:
The Andy Warhol Museum worked with two different groups of students from Schenley High School. The first group explored the psychology of memory. Approximately sixty art and psychology students used the temporary exhibition November 22, 1963: Image, Memory, and Myth as a point of departure for this project. The students researched the reliability of eyewitness testimony, the “flashbulb memory” phenomenon, Warhol’s Flash (1968) series, and the many conspiracies of JFK’s assassination. Out of their research students created silk-screened prints representing pivotal events that occurred during their lifetimes for which they had flashbulb memories – such as the death of rapper Tupac Shakur and the shootings at Columbine High School.

The second group was 25 philosophy students in the advanced International Baccalaureate class Theory of Knowledge. This group looked critically at the reliability of media – from the 5 o’clock news to history books – and the power of images to cue emotional responses, and collaboratively created silk-screened prints based on world events for which they had a flashbulb memory. Students created art works from source materials, including imagery of the Elian Gonzales incident, and the controversial post-September 11th Patriot Act.

Fidel image - Schenley HS

 

 
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