Contextual statement
Fig. 2 - Brianna McCarthy's collage process
The chosen theme for this teacher resource is colour and collage, incorporating some major influences from Brianna McCarthy.
Brianna McCarthy is a young, up and coming female artist from Trinidad and Tobago. She couples the artistic element of colour along with the technique of collage in her extraordinary portraits of African women, which was the main influence behind the unit of work, targeting the senior grade level in a primary classroom (AusVELS - Level 6).
Brianna McCarthy draws her influences from her Afro-Caribbean heritage, exhibiting women of her culture as “strong…picturesque beings” expressing “depth of emotion and expression,” (Mccarthy, 2009, para. 1).
The kind of philosophy McCarthy brings forth in her artwork makes it easy to facilitate into a primary classroom. The emotion that is expressed in her colourful portraits pave the way for lessons that incorporate the importance of colour and their symbolism not only in an artistic arena, but in many areas of today’s society. Exploring and responding is a dimension in the AusVELS curriculum framework where art appreciation plays a major role and with the deep and emotional spirit McCarthy exudes in her own collage pieces through colour, it makes it only fitting to incorporate this into a primary classroom. McCarthy has made it one of her aims to “revolt against and revert the stereotypical trends of the black body,” (McCarthy, 2009, para. 1) and by incorporating this kind of attitude into a primary classroom, it instils children with positive attitudes towards many societal issues.
In terms of creating and making, the collage technique she uses in her art pieces gives students the ability to take on her way of thinking when completing a collage. Through the various colours and textures she uses, she represents certain emotions and attitudes. Collage is essentially a self-representation as it is the artist who chooses the colours, the textures and the shapes that are involved in the piece of artwork, “collage embodies (the)…possibilities of self representations and identification,” (Levine & Snyder, 2006). By incorporating these ideas into a primary classroom with a focus on the child as a their own person, by expressing themselves through art “can act as a protective factor” and develop their emotional wellbeing, (Dax Centre, n.d)
Collage is a technique that incorporates many different artistic elements such as colour, textures and shapes, which can all act as different ways to allow a child to express themselves and with the idea of McCarthy’s collages as expressing so much of herself, it is obvious that this kind of artistic technique can act as a medium for children to express themselves as well.
Brianna McCarthy is a young, up and coming female artist from Trinidad and Tobago. She couples the artistic element of colour along with the technique of collage in her extraordinary portraits of African women, which was the main influence behind the unit of work, targeting the senior grade level in a primary classroom (AusVELS - Level 6).
Brianna McCarthy draws her influences from her Afro-Caribbean heritage, exhibiting women of her culture as “strong…picturesque beings” expressing “depth of emotion and expression,” (Mccarthy, 2009, para. 1).
The kind of philosophy McCarthy brings forth in her artwork makes it easy to facilitate into a primary classroom. The emotion that is expressed in her colourful portraits pave the way for lessons that incorporate the importance of colour and their symbolism not only in an artistic arena, but in many areas of today’s society. Exploring and responding is a dimension in the AusVELS curriculum framework where art appreciation plays a major role and with the deep and emotional spirit McCarthy exudes in her own collage pieces through colour, it makes it only fitting to incorporate this into a primary classroom. McCarthy has made it one of her aims to “revolt against and revert the stereotypical trends of the black body,” (McCarthy, 2009, para. 1) and by incorporating this kind of attitude into a primary classroom, it instils children with positive attitudes towards many societal issues.
In terms of creating and making, the collage technique she uses in her art pieces gives students the ability to take on her way of thinking when completing a collage. Through the various colours and textures she uses, she represents certain emotions and attitudes. Collage is essentially a self-representation as it is the artist who chooses the colours, the textures and the shapes that are involved in the piece of artwork, “collage embodies (the)…possibilities of self representations and identification,” (Levine & Snyder, 2006). By incorporating these ideas into a primary classroom with a focus on the child as a their own person, by expressing themselves through art “can act as a protective factor” and develop their emotional wellbeing, (Dax Centre, n.d)
Collage is a technique that incorporates many different artistic elements such as colour, textures and shapes, which can all act as different ways to allow a child to express themselves and with the idea of McCarthy’s collages as expressing so much of herself, it is obvious that this kind of artistic technique can act as a medium for children to express themselves as well.
