My desire to create this Civil Rights Collage 1 -Desegregation has been a long time in the process of my thoughts. For eight years I thought in inner city public schools. For the first time I was a minority in predominately African-American elementary schools. Because the schools had such a low enrollment, I was required to teach art at multiple schools. The administrations at all the schools required we align our lesson plans to the curriculum being taught in the grade levels when possible. February is Black History month and there always was a concentration on this topic to teach the children the history of their roots. I became accustomed to this tradition in the schools and every year I think about the teachers and administrators that took great pride in conveying their black pride and history to the students. There were many Black history art projects I taught the students over the years, but I noticed they were the most interested in old photos and especially in creating collages with these photos of black Americans involved in the Civil Rights movement. Children that usually did not show much interest in their art or in history seemed to be mesmerized by this project. Huge displays of this work brought many favorable comments by the teachers, parents and administrators. I think about this every year in February and of my desire to create artwork on this topic.
My fascination with old photos also has a role in my creation of this project. Although I remember these events I was much younger and to be able to study and review in detail the history of desegregation is very interesting to me. I also hope that the younger generations will find this collage educational. Visual images and especially photos develop a better understanding of historical events and especially to those that are too young to have lived through these experiences.
The process of creation for this collage consisted of using a gallery board and painting it black. I researched photos and gathered some other materials including tissue paper, gauze, and a mesh plastic bag. I knew that I wanted it to be black and white only so I assembled my materials accordingly. Working with photographic prints is not one of my favorite mediums because it discolors sometimes when printing it from a home computer printer. After choosing the photos I wanted to use I worked with the design and flow of the composition. Since once you glue it down it cannot be moved without destroying the piece, everything has to be carefully planned ahead of time. After the planning stage, I began to glue down each piece. I use Liquitex acrylic matte medium instead of glue. I use the liquid instead of the paste and apply it with a brush. It works better if you have very little water on the brush. The matte medium needs to be applied to the surface and to each piece both on the bottom and then over the piece. It is easy for air bubbles to develop under the piece so be careful attention to smooth it out by rubbing it lightly with the wooden end of the brush. Once in a while air bubbles will form under the applied piece and I have found from experimentation that the best way to correct this is to take an Exacto knife with a very fine sharp blade and cut a small mark into the area and then reapply the matte medium. The final step was to paint in certain areas that were off-color and where there needed to be some correction towards balance and value for the composition. This last step to finish the Civil Rights Collage 1 -Desegregation was very tedious and required much more detail than the way I usually paint but was worth it to give the look I wanted it to have representing the actual events that took place at that time.
Jan, What you have created is very special. In time, the way you documented this piece of history will be a priceless piece of art. Visuals communicate in a way words never can.
Race relationships in 2015 are so much better than 1965. I worked in the radio beginning in the mid-60’s. The entertainment industry was always colorblind. If you had talent, you had instant respect from everyone else. Outside of the industry, Legendary entertainers like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Louis Armstrong still were not being treated with the level of respect they deserved. I am glad the public’s attitudes have changed for the better.
Thanks Jim for your comment. My thought process in creating the Desegregation collage was to use mostly the real photos from the events that happened in that frame of time concerning desegregation because there is an entire generation or two that have never seen them. I wanted it to reflect what really happened and not just my opinion of it. I felt assured of this when I showed it to my oldest grandson that is 12 and he wanted to know who were those men walking with Ruby Bridges and when I replied that they were FBI to protect her, he wanted to know why she would have to be protected just going to school. Reading about it in history books is important, but I think art can question and open people’s minds to question an event in history even more.