Lesson V: Jonathan Green, Dorothea Lange: Poverty and Abundance

Jonathan Green: Gullah artist (1955-) What are the distinguishing traits of the work of Jonathan Green?

Vocabulary What language do I need to know in order to speak effectively about these subjects? Gullah: a member of a group of blacks inhabiting the sea islands and coastal districts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida Lowcountry: a low-lying country or region; especially : the part of a southern state extending from the seacoast inland to the fall line

In your opinion does this piece of artwork by Jonathan Green reflect poverty or abundance? Justify your answer.

What is Jonathan Green remembering about his childhood? Where is this scene repeated in today’s world?

Based on Jonathan Green’s work, how would you describe the agricultural community of the Gullah people?

“Red Tomatoes” How is math integrated in this piece of art?

“ Family Strolling” Mr. Green painted scenes of everyday life in the Carolina Lowcountry. What are the distinguishing traits of the work of Jonathan Green?

“The Baptism” “It is the small, but critical tasks of daily life that I find most stimulating and reflective of the quality of essential, personal, community, and social values." Why would people take pride in their daily tasks? Do you take pride in any daily task? Explain.

What have you noticed about the subjects in Green’s paintings?

“Quitting Time” Color Line Shape Light Texture Space Analyze art using the (6) components.

"I wanted to go back to my roots."The older people were dying, and I began to see [the Gullahs] differently. I saw them as a people with a strong link, probably the strongest link with Africa of any of the black American people.” “Braiding Hair”

Portrait of a woman Ibrahima Sall b. 1939, Senegal After 1967 Paint on glass Gift of the Wil and Irene Petty Collection, “Bessie Mae” by Jonathan Green Acrylic on canvas, 24x20”. What are the similarities and differences between these two paintings?

The Blessed Family Twins Seven-Seven (1944 -), Oshogbo, Nigeria 2006 Ink, acrylic and colored pencil on paper (17" h x 13"w “Tales”. Jonathan Green. Oil on masonite.1988 Compare and contrast these works of art.

Poverty and Abundance (Lesson III) How I can analyze primary sources to learn about the Dust Bowl: photography of Dorothea Lange Primary source: Primary sources are materials from, or directly related to, the past. Immigrant: a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

Dorothea Lange ( ) was one of the best of the American photographers who used their art to document, and ultimately to alleviate, the human suffering caused by the Great Depression of the 1930s. As she viewed it, photography was not an end in itself, but a means of exploring the world so as to improve it. How does the study of the Dust Bowl relate to poverty?

Lange’s father abandoned the family, one of two traumatic incidents in her early life. The other was her contraction of polio at age seven which left her lame throughout her life. Can you have an abundance of hope in spite of poverty?

Analyze this Dorothea Lange photograph. Lange was comfortable with everyone that she encountered, but particularly with the down-and-outers, the silent and invisible population suffering from circumstances beyond their understanding or control. Such people trusted her, and she viewed and exhibited them with compassion and respect.

Years later, Florence Owens Thompson, the woman pictured here, did not want her picture used anymore because she was no longer poor. Would you have honored her request? Do you think if a subject agrees to be photographed, should they be able to control later how the picture is used? (Ethics)

Journal a Response to each Prompt What are the distinguishing features of Green’s work? What are the distinguishing features of Lange’s work? What did you learn about the artists from the subjects of their work?

Using Microsoft Publisher, create a front page of a newspaper depicting poverty and abundance in your world.