Jazz Singers Family Gallery Brian Allen, Becca Drustrup, Ashley Thicksten MST 502

Exhibition Overview The goal of this exhibition is to showcase Archibald Motley Jr.’s painting, The Jazz Singers and to relate the painting to both the WIU WPA Exhibition and the 1934 exhibition that will be taking place concurrently at the Figge Art Museum. This exhibition has three main themes. The first theme is the artist, Archibald Motley Jr. Within this theme, we will give a brief biography of the artist and look at his work as a whole using a time line The theme of the artist will touch on all the criterion by linking historical ties to WPA, his artistic aesthetics in his work, and by presenting this information with an educational focus for a family audience.

Exhibition Overview (contd.) The second theme that we address is Jazz music. This theme is important, as it is the subject matter of the painting. We present some basic defining characteristics of Jazz music. With this theme, we also touch on Bix as a local connection. Our last theme is city life. We discuss the WPA and the opportunities that it created for artists such as Motley. We link the 1934 and Western’s WPA collection to Motley’s work by identifying urban themes. We encourage visitors to go to the other exhibits and see if they can link the work using this theme. Children will be able to create a cityscape as an art activity in the gallery. The art activity reinforces the last theme of city life.

Target Audience The target audience for this exhibit is children 3 rd -8 th grades and their families, teachers or caretakers. Budget Total Budget $1, Graphic Designer - $ Vinyl and Gallery Preparation- $ Expendable Supplies for art activity – $200

Object Selections Object- Motley Preparatory Drawing We do not have much information about the drawing except that it is located at Knox College and will be on loan to the Figge for the family gallery exhibition. We would like to include some sort of panel, whether it describes the drawing and the artist’s process, or a simple label of the drawing. Images- Archibald Motley Jr. (will be place on the Artist Biography panel) Found on the Library of Congress website 4 in. x 6 in. Jazz Singers by Archibald Motley Jr. 64 in. x 84 in.

Installation Plan Wall Labels 50” High on Center to allow easy viewing for children The Jazz Singers (Vinyl) Hung close to the floor so viewer feels like part of the work The Jazz Singers (Drawing) Hang on wall perpendicular to vinyl for compare and contrast Create Your Own Cityscape (Activity) Last to put together Using round table already in gallery Put out crayons, paper, glue, textured sheets and directions

Storyline 0.0 Artist Archibald Motley Jr. and Art Process 0.1 Archibald Motley Jr. Biography: To introduce the artist through a biography; To provide life events of Archibald Motley Jr.; Text panel 0.2 Timeline Archibald Motley Jr.: To look at Motley’s work as a whole; To look at Motley’s career as an artist through a timeline; Timeline on panel 0.3 Jazz Singers: To display the artwork; To highlight a painting in WIU’s WPA collection; Painting on vinyl 0.4 Motley Study Drawing: To show a preparatory drawing by the artist; To observe an artist’s process in creating a work of art; Drawing, label to be created

Storyline (contd.) 1.0 Jazz 1.1 Jazz Intro: To introduce jazz as an art form; To break down components of music so they can be understood and related back to the Jazz Singers painting; Text panel Jazz- Bix: To introduce a local jazz musician; To provide a biographical depiction of a jazz performer who also has ties to the Quad Cities; Timeline on vinyl 2.0 WPA 2.1 WPA Intro: To introduce the WPA and link to WIU WPA/1934 exhibitions; To discuss the opportunities that it created for artists; Text panel 2.1 City Life Intro: To introduce an important theme of Motley’s works; To discuss the theme and relate it back to the Jazz Singers painting; Text panel 2.3 Cityscape Art Activity: To create a cityscape as an art activity in the gallery; To explore the urban theme Motley incorporated in his paintings; Handout on the table in the middle of the gallery

Prototypes of Interpretation Artist Biography (South right wall) Archibald Motley Jr. ( ) was born on October 7, 1891 in New Orleans, La. A year later, Motley moved with his family to Chicago, where he lived until his death in After graduating from high school, he continued his art training at the Chicago Institute of Art. Due to his race, he had a hard time finding work. In 1928, Motley had his first solo exhibit in New York City, where nearly every painting displayed was sold. Motley became was one of the first African American Artists to have a gallery show. He is most famous for his colorful representations of the African- American experience during the 1920s and 1930s, and is considered one of the major contributors to the Harlem Renaissance. Timeline of Archibald Motley Jr. (West wall) 1891: Born October 7 in New Orleans, LA into a Creole home 1892: Moved to Chicago, IL with his family 1918: Graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago 1924: Married: February 14th to Edith Granzo 1928: Wins the Harmon Foundation gold medal for The Octoroon Girl 1929: Wins a Guggenheim Fellowship for a year of study in Paris 1933: Hired by easel division of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) 1934: Painted The Jazz Singers 1935: Completed murals for music room at Nichols School, Evanston, IL 1948: Death of Edith Motley on December : Due to financial problems, accepted a job painting shower curtains for Styletone, maker of hand-painted shower curtains 1957: Worked for Artistic, Inc. painting shower curtains 1981: Died January 16 in Chicago, IL

Prototypes of Interpretation (contd.) Preparatory drawing panel/label (North left wall) We would like to include some sort of panel, whether it describes the drawing and the artist’s process, or a simple label of the drawing. Jazz (North right wall) Jazz is known as truly American, although performed worldwide. It originated in the South in the early 20 th Century It was formed by African Americans adopting European harmony to fit their existing musical elements. Jazz singing is an instrumental approach to the voice. Scat singing is a type of jazz singing that imitates the sounds of instruments instead of using words. Vocal harmony is achieved by each group member holding a different note in order to form a chord, unique in arrangement and sound. The space between two notes is called an interval. A five-part harmony, as the painting suggests, has chords that are distinct in their use of a 9 th, 11 th or 13 th interval, in addition to the more traditional 3 rd and 5 th. The Local Connection (East left wall) Davenport is home to the famous jazz musician, Leon Bismark “Bix” Biderbecke. Bix was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920’s. He was born March 10, 1903 and died August 6, In this short time, he was able to become a great cornetist, pianist, and composer. The cornet has a more conical bore as opposed to the cylindrical shape of the trumpet. This gives the cornet a warmer, mellower tone. Bix helped to invent the Jazz Ballad Style, and was a precursor to the Cool Jazz sound of the 1950’s.

Prototypes of Interpretation (contd.) Works Progress Administration (East right wall) The WPA or Works Progress Administration was an important New Deal agency which put many unemployed Americans to work from 1935 to 1943 doing public works. Many of the public works were building roads and bridges, but a very important part of the WPA was putting artists, musicians, writers, actors and directors to work with public arts projects. In the 1930’s, Archibald Motley Jr. was commissioned by the WPA to create murals for the music room at Nichols Middle School in Evanston, Illinois, depicting African-American history. City Life (South left wall) A very important theme in the work of Motley is how he depicts city life. Crowded spaces and urban themes are revisited throughout his work. The Jazz Singers is just one example of this theme. The idea of exploring city life within artwork is not just a theme that can be seen in Motley’s work, but many other artists work in Smithsonian’s 1934 exhibit and in Western Illinois University’s WPA collection. How many different cities can you find represented in these exhibits? The other two exhibitions are located on the third and fourth floor of the museum.

Prototypes of Interpretation (contd.) Create Your Own Cityscape- Art Activity Archibald Motley Jr. was well known for urban themes in his artwork. One way that many artists depict city life is to create cityscapes. A cityscape is a piece of artwork that depicts a view of a city. It usually focuses on city buildings. Follow the instructions below to create your own cityscape. Use texture sheets and crayons to create rubbings of architectural patterns on ½ sheets of paper. You can fit 2-3 different patterns on each ½ sheet of paper. Using a full sheet of paper, create a background for your city buildings. Draw your buildings on the patterned ½ sheets of paper. Don’t forget to add windows, doors or other architectural elements. Cut out your buildings. Glue your buildings onto your background. Add details for a finishing touch.

Evaluation Plan Front- end We will give the class our instructions for creating the art activity that we plan to leave in the gallery. We will see if our instructions are clear and concise so that they can create the art project. Formative We will offer multiple interactive elements on the iPad such as an iBook and a performance video. We will see which element visitors choose to engage with more frequently by having a museum volunteer observe and tally these activities during a family day at the museum. Summative We will have a museum volunteer conduct visitor interviews within the family gallery on a family day at the museum. The survey will include the following questions: Have you been to the Figge before or are you a first time visitor? If this is not your first time how often do you visit? Have you visited or do you plan to visit the 1934 exhibit or the Western Illinois University WPA collection? Which interactive element within the exhibit did you find most engaging (examples include: iBook, performance video, art activity)? What is the most interesting thing that you learned from this exhibit? Do you have any other comments about this exhibit?

Programming Plan Lecture – 1934 Talk – 8/30/2013 Tour – WPA-1934 Tour – Duration Hands-On – Cityscape Textures – Duration Film – The Jazz Singer – 9/20/2013 Family Audience – Cityscape Kick-Off – 8/23/2013 College Audience – WIU Jazz Interpretation – 9/6/2013 Older Adult Audience – Bingo Event – 9/13/2013 PK-12 Audience/Educators – Race in Art/Social/Historical Ed – 10/12/2013 Nighttime Program – Dancing with the Band – 9/12/2013 Travel – Jazz Boat Cruise – 10/5/2013