Bearden/Walker Collage

This workshop highlights the work of two very prominent African American artists, Romare Bearden and Kara Walker. We begin with studying the elements of art and their application to Romare Bearden’s work by emphasizing the technical and stylistic elements of his collages that depict black life in rural, urban, and island settings. Then, we examine Kara Walker’s art of Victorian paper cuts where she creates mural sized silhouettes of scenes from slave life in early America. Finally, students will be challenged to create their own artwork, a Romare Bearden/Kara Walker styled collage based on the unit’s African American and Native American literature and history workshops.