Artist on the Wall

After the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920, Mexico City became a vibrant cultural center that attracted international artists, intellectuals, political activists, and arts patrons. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were at the hub of these circles of activity. They were deeply engaged politically, joining the Communist Party in the 1920s to champion workers’ rights and support the establishment of a unified, independent Mexico. Use this Artist on the Wall teaching strategy to explore how these events and people influenced Frida Kahlo and the other artists of the Mexican modernism movement.

Artist on the Wall is a teaching strategy that invites kids to investigate a holistic narrative about a person, in this case an artist, and to visually map the relationship between characteristics (emotions) and actions (behaviors) onto a simple outline of a human figure. By inviting kids to analyze context clues, the group collectively explores and constructs a more complex understanding of the person’s motivations and essence.

Role on the Wall

Your Turn

1. Draw a large outline of a head/shoulders or figure on paper or print this outline; leave plenty of space to write inside and outside the figure.
2. Identify the artist you will be investigating and provide any necessary supplementary texts or resources. Using a jigsaw teaching approach helps break the text or resources into digestible segments and creates a collaborative approach where kids are dependent on each other to complete the activity as whole.
3. Invite everyone to name words, phrases,or messages that might describe this specific person. Write kids’ responses based on if they are internal (emotions - write on inside of the figure) or external (events, people, places – write outside the figure.)
4. When a response is offered, invite kids to think about where it comes from. Connect responses visually on the paper through color or a line and encourage kids to find multiple answers.
5. Next, ask students how the person might feel inside, based on an outside response, and write those feelings on the inside of the figure with another color.
6. Finally, ask kids to connect specific “external” responses to the inner feelings, and draw lines between those connections on the figure. Which outside influences match up with the inner feelings?

Dig Deeper

• …into the history of the Mexican Revolution.
• …into politics, culture, and identity in regards to Frida Kahlo.
• …into the geography of the United Mexican States, the official name of Mexico.

Suggestions

• Invite students to use references to support their answers.
• Have kids work in small groups or individually on their own silhouette map using a different artist or themselves.

Using Frida Kahlo as an example

Frida Kahlo once said:

I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to know better.

Many artists use their own life and feelings to create their art. This was especially true of Frida Kahlo. Do some research on this artist or use this printable biography and then using the strategy Artist on the Wall, try to uncover what internal (emotions) and external (people, places, and/or events) influenced Kahlo’s work.

Conversation Questions

Kahlo’s art was impacted by key events that happened to her in her life–what are some of those key events?

How do you think these events made her feel?

Kahlo was a very passionate person who had many deep and meaningful relationships with people who influenced her art. Who are some of those people?

How do you think she felt about these people? How do you think these people influenced her?

As an artist, Kahlo put her emotions into her art. What emotions do you think she experienced?

What connections do you see between her internal and external influences and her art?