Ogden Museum of Southern Art – Artists and Sense of Place
Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School Visits Jackson Square
Keith Duncan, Artist
Since 2001, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s residency program, Artist and Sense of Place, has paired professional artists with local schools to explore the history, practices and identity of the students’ world. At the heart of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s mission is educating the public in the visual arts and culture of the American South. Working with elementary school students in the medium of the artist’s choice, the artist spends three weeks exploring the influence of geography and sense of place. Upon completion of the residency, the students visit the museum to view their finished works of art and see themselves as true Southern artists.
Artist Keith Duncan worked with 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade students from Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary to create a collaborative mural representing family, neighborhood and community, as well as the sights, sounds and tastes of New Orleans culture.
Throughout the project, students worked with a variety of mediums. The first week, students chose rectangular, oval or square paper on which to create a portrait of their choice. Then they sketched images and applied watercolor paint, oil pastels and markers. During the second week, students drew images or symbols of New Orleans culture and used watercolor paint to embellish their drawings. In the third week, students choose a piece of patterned decorative paper which served as the background for a collage depicting their favorite New Orleans cultural symbols. Finally, artist Keith Duncan painted a backdrop on which the students’ portraits and collages are displayed, just like the artists who sell their work in the historic French Quarter.
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