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Stimulate: Using National Gallery of Art Islamic Resources
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by Flowerree Galetovic
Bearden High School
Knoxville, Tennessee
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| | Many AP students begin to work slower after focusing on their area of concentration for a few weeks. To stimulate them, I try to broaden their perspective and rebuild their confidence. I use material from the National Gallery of Art's (NGA) Islamic Art and Culture Resource for Teachers in conjunction with a quick printmaking lesson to give them a short, focused assignment. I have them incorporate Islamic devices into their own work and produce a monoprint. This exercise can inspire them as well as prove to them that a quality work does not need to take an eternity to finish.
The National Gallery of Art has prepared a resource packet for teachers that includes an introduction to Islamic art and its imagery. It contains maps to help students visualize the past size of the Islamic world and includes an historical survey. It also has slides of Islamic book art, objects of art, and architecture. This packet is a great starting point to incorporate historical perspective, and I find it useful to extend the discussion beyond the packet to include our post-modern world while investigating visual culture of other traditions.
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Student artwork incorporating calligraphic devices
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The students are introduced to a cursory overview of Islamic art using an exhibition that was at the NGA. They then read information on the artifacts as we view slides and posters from the packet. We discuss the three devices generally used in Islamic art: arabesque (a pattern design incorporating leaves and flowers), calligraphy (the language of the geographic region in calligraphic form), and geometric design (repeated geometric design).
I have students use the library to research and find more examples of these three devices (arabesque, calligraphy and geometric design) in books and on the Internet. Students are then encouraged to create a new design by adding two of the three Islamic devices to one of their art works or renderings from their sketchbook. If calligraphy is used, the student must know the translation so they do not use words or phrases inappropriately. Incorporating these Islamic devices gives them a better understanding and appreciation of the elements. Adding elements from another culture changes the way students perceive their work, and they begin to look at their own art using a different perspective.
The students transform their new artwork into a print. They transfer their sketch to a frosted piece of Mylar or to a piece of Lexan-type plastic by laying the plastic sheet on the artwork design and then using watercolor pencils to draw the piece. The next step is to use watercolor crayon to scrub color onto the printing plate. Watercolor applied with a paintbrush may be used for a lighter, different texture; then it must dry. The beauty of this technique is that the students are layering as they would with oil pastels, combining a drawing technique with color blending. They work on keeping a sense of light, but composition becomes the real focus in this work.
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Islamic arabesque elements featured in student work
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The plate is then put through the printing press using damp BFK paper. The first print pulled is very strong in value, while the following prints are essentially "very light" ghosts. The print is quick and easy to pull, but a snag can occur if students have to wait in a line too long for a free press. Another pitfall in this process, as in any print, is that the sizing must be thoroughly rinsed out of the paper so that it does not stick to the plate surface. This is done by soaking the paper for at least thirty minutes, then gently pressing between sheets of newsprint to absorb the extra water so that the student is left with a damp sheet of BFK paper. Other papers use different soaking times. Usually, students can produce prints in forty to sixty minutes.
In the span of three or four days the students have broadened their worldview of art through a brief study of Islamic arts, produced a quality monoprint and hopefully had some fun. They have the knowledge that good work can be produced quickly, and they know a little more about some of the places seen on the news every day.
In my previous AP class, several students went on to do a body of work using this process or the concept of incorporating symbols from other cultures. This activity makes the students remember the beauty of moving quickly and the importance of looking "outside the box" for ideas.
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Repeated geometric design integrated with student's expressive portrait
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Flowerree Galetovic has been teaching for more than 25 years at Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. She has been teaching AP Studio Art and AP Art History for more than 17 years. Flowerree has been Tennessee Art Educator of the Year and is serving as the President-Elect of the Tennessee Art Education Association.
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