Our Work in Schools:
Art in the Classroom
Art is an important outlet of expression and an important part of Facing History curriculum. In
responding to artwork (painting, poetry, music, film, sculpture, dance, and more), students are
able to understand moments in history through artists’ interpretations, often through analysis
as well as through a visceral or emotional lens. When students create their own artistic
creations, they portray their understandings in novel ways. The arts can thus channel both
ideas and emotions.
Facing History has long used the creation of a sculptural monument or memorial as a capstone
to the study of the Holocaust. Nazi propaganda as well as protest art is often scrutinized closely
as a way to understand how regimes spread messages,
and how art can be an instrument of protest. A study of
the Civil Rights movement cannot be complete without
playing (or better yet, singing along with) freedom songs
such as “Keep Your Eyes On The Prize.”
Ultimately, students learn to understand art as an
important medium by which to comprehend the past. At
the same time however, students learn new ways to read,
understand, and talk about their own art, as well as art
created by others. Vocabulary such as influence,
uniqueness, focal point and aesthetic are introduced in the
classroom and students are able to gain a more full perspective of historical events by
discovering the stories art has to tell.
The possibilities for art projects in Facing History classrooms are many. Over the years we have
learned that there are artistic projects that can be integrated into each of the stages of the
Facing History Journey. Here are a few projects that have engaged students in meaningful
reflection of Facing History themes.
Sample Art Projects Linked to Facing History’s Journey
Identity
Identity Charts and Identity Boxes
“We Wear the Mask”
First read and discuss Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem. Then ask students “Why do we hide
our true selves?”, “How do others impose identities onto us?” After discussing, translate
ideas into visual concepts to sketch a mask that disguises our true identities. Create a mask
using plaster of paris gauze molded into mask molds.
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“Where I’m From” Poems
Membership
Designing the Flag
A flag is a unifying emblem that uses colors, symbols and shapes to represent the concepts
of a nation, community, or people. Flags have been adopted by social and political
movements to increase their visibility and communicate their ideals. For this project, design
a flag to represent your school, a club, or another group based on your vision of that group,
using acrylic paint on canvas board. A class may engage in a series of peer interviews,
sketches and practice paintings leading to a final product.
Power of Choice
Create a 2-3 minute documentary to reveal how your environment influences your choices,
both positively and negatively.
History
Analyzing Visual Images and Stereotyping
Living Images—Bringing History to Life (Tableaux)
Storyboard Teaching Strategy
Found Poems
Judgment, Memory & Legacy
Memorials and Monuments in the Classroom
Choosing to Participate
Toolbox Project
Social Action Project
Photo essays, documentaries, and well-designed presentations are art forms that testify to
social needs and can create change. Here is an example of one student’s social action project.
Sample Student Art Project
Soumahya Fofana, a 2012 graduate of the Facing History School in New York, chose to
incorporate art into her senior year Choosing to Participate project, which dealt with the
aftermath of 9/11 in the Islamic community. Focusing on the negative media portrayal of
Muslims, Soumahya decided to make a collage out of newspaper articles about the September
11 attacks that included U.S. Muslim citizens. She then pasted these collages onto orange
backgrounds to represent the terror alert level instituted by the US government.
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I chose this topic because since 9/11, stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs have
been presented in various forms by the mass media in American culture in
order to demonize the Islamic culture
and religion. Due to the ongoing war in
Iraq, stereotypical representations of
Muslims play out in today’s media,
literature, movies, theater and other
creative expressions to demonize all
Muslims as cheats, terrorists, thieves,
violent, power-hungry people and
murderers. Islam and Muslims are
portrayed as dishonest and satanic
religious people, which is far from the
truth. I want to inform people that
religion, especially Islam, is not
analyzed, neither is it written to
Soumahya’s CTP Project at the Facing History School, NY
demonize innocent people, it is meant to inspire and worship, to spark hope,
faith and to be felt without judgments or stereotypes.
Taking media portrayals that she found negative and unfair, Soumahya transformed them into
beautiful artwork, which served to illuminate her message of religious tolerance and
acceptance in the aftermath of 9/11. This project is a perfect example of how Facing History
strives to use art in the classroom.
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