Personal picture narratives: Jacob Lawrence

In this second grade lesson students will look closely at paintings by Lawrence depicting historical figures. Students will identify Lawrence’s unique style from work by other artists based on the elements of color and shape. They will create a painting using the same art elements to create a picture depicting an imagined scene from the life of Harriet Tubman.

A lesson plan for grade 2 Visual Arts Education

By Eileen Palamountain

Learn more

• The My Hero Project A student written biography on the life of Jacob Lawrence
• Artcyclopedia Information about the life of Jacob Lawrence.
• Gale Free Resources Information about Lawrence.
• Modern Storytellers Information about Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Faith Ringgold and their storytelling in art.
• Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories Through the interactive use of this site, students will begin to understand and become more familiar with the work of Jacob Lawrence.
• Art Junction This site discusses painting strategies to use with young children.

Related pages

• Asheville Art Museum: Through works of art in permanent and special exhibition, students will learn about the rich history of visual arts in North Carolina.
• Hiddenite Center: See gemstones and minerals, a restored historic home, a gallery of art work and folk art, and a doll museum at Hiddenite Center.
• Hickory Museum of Art: Hickory was the first city in the Southeast to establish a museum of American art. The collections include contemporary folk art, American paintings and prints, studio glass, pottery, and more.

Related topics

• Learn more about African Americans, Harlem Renaissance, Harriet Tubman, Jacob Lawrence, arts, colors, fine art, paintings, and picture narratives.

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Introduction

Student will learn about African American artist Jacob Lawrence. He began painting during the Harlem Renaissance. He is known for his dramatic use of primary and bold color and strong geometric figures. He had a strong interest in creating visual narratives about historically important African Americans. One series of narratives about Harriet Tubman was published as a children’s picture book.

In this lesson students will look closely at the paintings in his Harriet Tubman series and some of his other works depicting historical figures. Students will be able to identify Lawrence’s unique style from work by other artists based on the elements of color and shape. Students will create a painting using the same art elements of color and shape to create a picture showing an imagined scene from the life of Tubman. Students will be assessed on the use of these elements in their work.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• Gain a greater appreciation for the artwork of Jacob Lawrence and learn how he told stories through his narrative painting style (story painting)
• Be able to identify his work based on the elements of color
• Create their own work, borrowing the style of Jacob Lawrence by using the same bold colors, and strong geometric shapes in the human figures

Classroom time required

This lesson will take up to 5 or 6 45-minute sessions.

Materials/Resources

• tempera paint (red, yellow, blue, black, brown, green, white)
• small and medium brushes
• plastic cups to hold paint
• water containers
• 17×23 construction paper
• white chalk (to draw image on construction paper)
• manilla paper, pencils, crayons
• Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence

If possible, students should sit in groups of four so that they are able to share use of paints and water.

Technology resources

Computer and LCD projector to view website.

Pre-activities

• Review the color wheel and primary and secondary colors. Review the term “color scheme.”
• Read Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence.
• Using Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories, compare and contrast Lawrence’s work with that of other Harlem Renaissance artists (specifically in color and style). Teachers may choose to use a Venn diagram for this activity.

Activities

Session one

1. Discuss the work of Jacob Lawrence drawing from the images in Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories. Teacher should ask students to describe the work, its colors and shapes specifically. Ask questions such as:
   • Does he use soft color or bold color?
   • What specific colors can you name?
   • What kinds of colors are blue and yellow? (Primary colors)
2. Point out Lawrence’s use of strong, flat areas of color.
3. Introduce students to Lawrence’s Harriet Tubman series, found in the children’s book Harriet and the Promised Land. Share the pictures from the storybook. Ask students: Is the style the same as some of the other paintings we looked at?
4. Ask students if they can brainstorm/recall historical information about Harriet Tubman’s life (learned in social studies) and create a list of possible subject matter for an artwork.

Background information

His figures are drawn in a very exaggerated and stylized way with very angular geometric edges, rather than use of realism or realistic color and shape. His work is not realistic, it is highly stylized.

“See again I never learned color in an academic way. I never learned it in a formal way. So this may have something to do with that, of expressing myself in a very limited palette, you see, of a few colors and using pure color. You see, now knowing in my earlier experience, my early experience may have had much to do with my choice of palette. I think my palette is quite limited in color, my range is quite limited. But I would like things the way I manipulate even within this limited range which makes one color dominant in one painting, and another color pattern dominant in another; but it’s really the same color.”
From Lawrence’s Smithsonian interview.

Session two

Review Lawrence’s artwork from the Harriet Tubman series. Students will imagine they are runaway slaves and Harriet is helping to guide them to freedom. Students will create a sketch for a painting using this imaginary scenario. They may plan their color scheme in crayon. Students should try to limit their color palette to five or six of the identified strong colors used by Lawrence (red, blue, yellow, green, white, black, brown).

Sessions three and four

1. Students will draw their images on a piece of 17×23 construction paper using white chalk. Students will use tempera paint in their pre-selected color scheme to paint their images.
2. Review how to hold paintbrushes.
3. Review how to clean brushes in between colors.
4. Discourage attempts at color mixing. Remember, Lawrence is known for use of pure, bold colors.

Session five

Students will share and critique their work based on the use of the limited color palette and share their compositions and ideas.

Assessment

Students work will be assessed based on their use of color in their own painting, neatness, contribution to class discussion and sharing of their composition. Students can assess their own participation and finished work with a happy face/sad face rubric using the following prompts:

• Did you use a limited color palette in your painting?
• Did your artwork tell a story about Harriet Tubman?
• Did you try to work neatly when handling your brushes and paint?

Students will also be assessed on their ability to distinguish Jacob Lawrence’s work from that of other artists. This can be accomplished through a pop quiz using the computer and LCD projector. Teacher will need to pre-select three pieces Lawrence’s work (one could be from the Tubman series the other two could be from other series) as well as artwork from three other artists. Have students identify the work created by Lawrence. (This can also be done with art prints.)

Modifications

Students may chose to do a painting based on an event from their life rather than an imagined event involving Harriet Tubman. They might also choose to do a self portrait using the limited color scheme and then focus on adding objects in the background that tell the viewer something about the student painting the picture. (Look at the Jacob Lawrence self portrait at the Whitney website.)

This does not have to be a painting lesson. Students can just as easily work on smaller paper with only crayons or markers.

Supplemental information

Suggested reading

Jacob Lawrence: Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia.

Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance by Richard Powell.A collection of art from the period of the Harlem Renaissance

Children and Painting by Kathy Weiss Topel is a favorite book of mine that addresses painting with young children.

Critical vocabulary

• color scheme
• primary colors
• secondary colors
• narrative style

Comments

My second graders did this lesson after learning about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in history. They loved the idea of putting themselves into that period of history.