Post & Lesson Contributed by Ally Bernstein, Teacher Assistant
Today, we introduced the work of Julie Mehretu, an outstanding and ambitious contemporary artist from Ethiopia.
Born in 1970, Julia Mehretu grew up in both Ethiopia and Michigan, and spent
time studying art in Senegal. Her art is a whirlwind of shape and color that
both creates space and breaks the illusion of depth. Her work, which is
investigative and exploratory, reflects her experience of the cross-cultural
urban landscape. She currently lives and works in New York City.
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| Jessica |
We began by viewing paintings in Julie
Mehretu’s Stadia series. Students
zoomed in on different parts in these enormous works and identified specific elements.
We saw marks that looked like flags, fluffy animals, motorcycle tracks, rain,
airplanes, and many other different objects. Some students likened the entire
composition to a city. We also watched a short Art 21 video in which Mehretu
described her process of creating a visual language. The video also showed
Mehretu adding paint to a huge drawing – she had to stand on a ladder to work
on it!
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| Jordan |
For our own project, we borrowed the
idea of creating a visual representation for events and history. We first
created maps of the Beye School playground, an area that we all knew well
enough to recall it from memory. These maps were colorfully collaged, with
shapes representing familiar structures. We then used stickers and markers on
top of the collage as a specific reference to something about the time that we
had spent on the playground. For example, some students represented places
where they had made new friends, and others showed where they had played games.
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| Norah |
Students were encouraged to
be expressive with the marks, and the results were impressive. Come view these
beautiful Mehretu-inspired maps of the playground, on display outside the main
office!
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| Theo |
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| Jadan |
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| Jadon |
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| Shlok |
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| Shlok |
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| Joey |
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| Joey |
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| Norah |
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| Emily |
