1. Project Description/ Support for Further Topic Exploration /Pertinence to Art Education
Anne Frank has been an inspiration to youth worldwide because of her diary written while hiding in an attic in Amsterdam for two years during the holocaust. Over the years I have shared with students, letters received from her father, Otto Frank, the only member of her family who survived the war, written to me until his death in 1980. Some of the reasons I have felt compelled to share these letters and my own experience of meeting Mr. Frank and his second wife, is to keep the dialog going about holocaust and genocide; to help students make an even more intimate connection to their reading, viewing and study of the Diary of Anne Frank; and to empower young people to get involved with the world and issues of social justice and enable them to realize that one person can really make a difference.
Through the methods of art production, collage and digital media, I propose to design an artwork that can be used as part of a travelling exhibition that would include copies of the Frank letters, photo of me and the Franks, and my own journal entry from the day I met the Franks. I also plan to include other provocative imagery that will inspire young people to reach out into our own community and in the world. In this exhibition I also plan to use stories and visuals of young people in our local area who have already gotten involved in civic matters and to have an area of the exhibit where students can write or draw their own ideas of how they can also become global citizens of change. There are many ways that young people can connect to the world in this age of technology and hopefully the stories of some of their peers can serve as inspiration and impetus for their involvement.
It is also my hope that art educators of all media and art forms will use this exhibit as a theme and inspiration for further exploration of global topics like holocaust, genocide and the dangers of ethnocentrism with their own students; to keep alive the theme “Never Again”; and to be inspired to go out into the world and make a difference
2. Type of Artwork this Project Will Result In/Thematic Development and Imagery Provocation of Solutions and Possibilities in Response to Issue/ Inspirational Artists.
The primary artwork in this project will be a dimensional collage created from photos of letters and postcards from Otto Frank, digitized photos of me with Otto Frank, altered photocopies, papers, and hand created elements and text that will convey the message to get involved in the world.
Artists whose work has inspired me for this project are Nick Bantock , creator of Alexandria, In which the Extradordinary Correspondence of Griffin and SabineUnfolds; the collage work of Jane Davies; the work of Karen Frostig; and the work I have most recently discovered of Egyptian artist Saba Naim.
3. Chosen Media and Process
The Collage will contain copies of primary documents (personal letters, diary entries), and digitized photos as well as other materials such as fabric,papers, maps, handmade envelopes, stamps, screening, drawing media, text and other objects. The resulting artwork will need to be protected by Plexiglas or glass.
4. Ideas Supporting Scholarly Essay: Examining the Issues and Solutions
The issue is inspiring the youth of our community to go out into the world and get involved. One person can make a difference. Ethnocentrism and genocide are very real threats in our world and if the youth of today can’t help build bridges between cultures, who will?
5. Resources to Support the Project
Frostig, K. (2008). Transnational Dialogues Dealing with Holocaust Legacies
Knight, W.B. (2008). Never Again: A K(night) with Ben