Public Art as Context: A curriculum taught and developed at St Marks Community Education Program in Dorchester that uses Boston’s public art as a context to encourage civic efficacy, city exploration, and improved English speaking and reading skills amongst adult immigrants.
This class was made possible by a generous grant from First Literacy.
Welcome to the live class page for the Public Art as Context course
Class materials and photos from this course are published here so that current students can catch up on lessons in the event that they miss class. Fellow educators who stumble on this page, please feel free to copy and implement any reading comprehension materials or elements of curriculum design! However, out of respect for the students, I ask that you not use images of them without permission.
September 27, 2017: First Class Materials
Reading Passage: Make Way for Ducklings, by Nancy Schön
If you’re wondering what to do in Boston with kids, the Make Way for Duckling statues appeal to everyone familiar with Robert McCloskey’s classic children’s book about the duck family that makes its home in Boston’s Public Garden.
In Robert McCloskey’s 1941 beloved classic that has the same name as the sculpture, Make Way for Ducklings, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard come to Boston when searching for the perfect home for their soon-to-be family. They find the Public Garden, and decide to spend the night on the little island in the Lagoon and make the garden their home.
The famous bronze ducks created by Nancy Schön located in the Public Garden near the corner of Beacon Street and Charles Street. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a duplicate of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbachev in Russia, and the work is still displayed today in Moscow.
Visiting Mrs. Mallard and her 8 ducklings is one of the top Boston kids activities for the under-8 set, but visitors of all ages love the statues. The Ducks never need professional polishing because children sit on them so often, and they are often decorated with costumes for holiday occasions.
Text roughly adapted from www.boston-discovery-guide.com
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What kind of public art is Make Way for Ducklings in Boston’s Public Garden?
a) A children’s book
b) A mural
c) A sculpture
d) A memorial
What was Make Way for Ducklings inspired by?
a) A children’s book
b) A book for adults
c) A scientist who studied ducks
d) The Chinese community nearby that loves to eat duck
Where else in the world is there an identical Make Way for Ducklings in Boston? _______________
What is the material used to make the ducks?
a) Silver
b) Bronze
c) Gold
d) Copper
Why do the ducks not need professional polishing?
a) Children polish the ducks themselves with a cloth
b) The ducks are made of a material that does not need to be polished
c) The ducks are replaced every month
d) It is common for children to sit on the ducks and this keeps them polished
Students receive their art supplies
October 4, 2017: Second Class Materials
Reading Passage: “Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment,” by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
The famous American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens spent over ten years creating this bronze, bas- relief monument. It is one of his best works. It shows the “Massachusetts 54th Regiment,” the first volunteer regiment of African-American soldiers that fought in the Civil War. The soldiers were led by white colonel Robert Shaw, the son of famous Bostonians who were against slavery.
Shaw and his soldiers are famous for attacking a fort called Fort Wagner. Many of the troops, including Shaw, were killed by their enemies in this attack. One of the soldiers who survived the attack, William H. Carney, received a Medal of Honor in because of his bravery.
In the bas-relief, an angel accompanies the men as they march down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863. They were leaving Boston and heading south. She holds an olive branch, which symbolizes peace, and poppies, which symbolize death. Through this imagery, Saint-Gaudens is showing that the soldiers died, but their effort would later help them win the war. Other features of the relief are realistic, not symbolic. For example, each soldier’s face is different, each face has a different expression. Saint-Gaudens’ respect for the soldiers is shown through his effort to show them as individuals, not simply as a group of soldiers. In 1982, the names of the African-American soldiers who died were added to the back of the memorial.
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What kind of public art work is this passage about?
a) a sculpture
b) a building
c) a mural
d) a monument
What was different and special about the group of soldiers in the monument?
a) they were Chinese
b) they were African-American
c) they were not realistic
d) they were symbolic
What does the word “regiment” mean? It means:
a) bas-relief
b) artists
c) soldiers
d) forts
How long did the artist spend making the public art work?
a) 1 year
b) 5 years
c) 10 years
d) More than 10 years
What do the poppies represent?
a) love
b) peace
c) life
d) death
Site for finding art in Boston: http://www.publicartboston.com/map/node
October 11, 2017: Fourth Class Materials
Reading Passage: Chinatown Gate, designed by Jung/Brannen Associates
Village gates and arches are common in Chinese architecture and have been embraced by Chinese-American communities across the United States. The entrance to Boston’s Chinatown, with its twin green roofs, began with a gift of materials from Taiwan in 1976.
Taiwan supported construction of Chinatown gates across the U.S. during that decade, says Wing-kai To, a professor of Chinese-American history and vice president of the Chinese Historical Society of New England. The gates were also a way to symbolize the neighborhood’s joy and strength, and a way to protect the buildings inside.
If you’re looking through the gate into Boston’s Chinatown, the Chinese characters say, “All under heaven for the common good of the people,” one of the classical Chinese verses appropriated by the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, sometimes called “the George Washington of China.” Sun Yat-sen helped overthrow the last Chinese dynasty, and in the 1910s, he founded the Chinese republic. The text on the other side of the gate promotes the Confucian moral values of “propriety, righteousness, integrity, uprightness.”
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What was the first step in the process of building the gate?
a) There was a donation from the City of Boston
b) The Chinese-American community raised money to make the bridge
c) Taiwan donated materials for the bridge
d) China donated materials for the bridge
What kind of public art is the Chinatown Gate?
a) Sculpture
b) Memorial
c) Mural
d) Architecture
Does the arch say the same thing on both sides?
a) Yes
b) No
Are these arches common in other cities in the United States?
a) Yes
b) No
Where is the arch located in Boston?
a) Chinatown
b) Dorchester
c) Downtown Boston
d) Roxbury
Public Art Presentation: Advice and Suggestions
Suggestions for going to the art
- Pick the art you want to observe and present to the class.
- You can look to see what is near you on the map here: http://publicartboston.com/map/node
- You can also get inspired with pictures of popular public art works in Boston here: http://publicartboston.com/map/node
- Try to visit the artwork while there is still light outside so you can see the art.
- If you use Uber to get there, send Chiara a copy of your receipt by text (send a screenshot) or by email (forward the email) so that she can pay you back for your trip.
- If you have a partner, try to go to see the art at the same time as your partner.
- When you are in front of the artwork, draw the artwork with the art supplies given to you in this class.
- When you are in front of the artwork, take a picture of it.
Advice for your in-class presentation
Make sure you talk to the class about:
- Where the artwork was — tell the class the location of the art
- What kind of public art this is — tell the class whether this is a mural, a monument, architecture, a sculpture, graffiti, or something else.
- What you thought about the art when you first saw it — did you like it or did you dislike it? Did you think it was interesting?
- What was your favorite part about the art?
- How do you think the artwork could have been better — if you were the artist, would you have done anything differently?
- Did you think it improved the neighborhood or the building it was nearby?
Make sure you share with the class the picture you drew of the art.
Make sure you share with the class a photo you took of the art.
If you have questions or anything happens while you are looking at the art or preparing your presentation, you can text or call Chiara.
October 18, 2017: Fifth Class Materials
Reading Passage: Community Activists Are Bringing a Huge Mural to Fields Corner in Dorchester
Ngoc-Tran Vu just completed a permanent mural in her hometown. The 29-year-old artist came to the United States as a four year old, and grew up in the Vietnamese immigrant community in Fields Corner in Dorchester. She left the city for college and graduate school in New York and Rhode Island, but later came back.
“I was seeing a lack of art in Dorchester,” Tran explains. She was very aware of the long history of the Vietnamese community in the area, and felt that those two areas of interest could be combined. “I started thinking about the changing in the landscape, and how do we hang on to the histories and stories, and that’s when I really saw this important need for art.”
Luckily, she met Tam Le, 35, who could provide the canvas she needed.
Le runs the Pho Hoa Restaurant with his family, and also had a passion for art and an interest in finding a way to give back to the community. He offered her the wall of the Pho Hoa building for an art project. From there, Tran applied for and received a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts and hired an assistant, Kathy Le.
The mural project came across some hiccups along the way, but it finally resulted in a work of art that shows Vietnamese traditions and the culture of Vietnamese people in the Boston of 2017. It’s called Community in Action: A Mural for Vietnamese Folks in Fields Corner. The mural will be a permanent addition to the building, with multiple layers of a treatment designed to help it withstand Boston’s relentless winters. The artist and the restaurant owners are having a neighborhood party to celebrate the installation of their work this week.
“The three major themes that we wanted to showcase and explore in the mural is the theme of Vietnamese presence in Boston, the second is unity, and the third is growth and a brighter future,” Tran explains. So that meant trees to symbolize growth, and figures from the Vietnamese zodiac, including a dragon and koi fish.
Text roughly adapted from the original news article by Lisa Weidenfeld in Boston Magazine, published on 09/28/20
Reading Comprehension Questions:
Why did Ngoc-Tran Vu leave Dorchester?
a) She left to learn how to paint murals.
b) She left to work somewhere else.
c) She left to attend college and graduate school.
d) She left because she did not like Fields Corner.
What is Tam Le’s job?
a) He works as an artist.
b) He works for the New England Foundation of the Arts.
c) He runs a school.
d) He runs a restaurant.
What did Ngoc-Tran Vu say she thought Dorchester needed?
a) She thought Dorchester needed more art.
b) She thought Dorchester needed more parties to celebrate Vietnamese traditions.
c) She thought Dorchester needed more restaurants.
d) She thought Dorchester needed better murals than the ones it had.
The author of the article says that “the mural project came across some hiccups along the way.” What does she mean?
a) She means that the artist, Ngoc-Tran Vu, was coughing and having hiccups while painting the mural.
b) She means that there were serious problems that happened before the mural was completed.
c) She means that there were small problems that happened before the mural was completed.
d) She means that the artist, Ngoc-Tran Vu, found some hiccups on the street as she was painting the mural.
Did the artist work alone on the project?
a) Yes.
b) No.
Public Art Presentations: Speaking Practice
October 25, 2017: Sixth Class Materials
Reading Comprehension: Boston Irish Famine Memorial needs to be restored
The memorial features bronze depictions of a starving Irish family in Ireland and an Irish family restored to health after arrival in America. It is a well-intentioned remembrance of the loss of life from starvation and disease of 1 million Irish during the mid-19th century. The two statues are not in good condition anymore, however. The memorial deserves better than its current fate as a magnet for vagrants and pigeons.
In 1998, the land for the memorial and park around it was leased to Thomas Flatley, a developer who emigrated here from Ireland. Several of the city’s business leaders of Irish descent helped create the memorial with Flatney in the park area. But after Flatley died, the group did not keep the memorial clean or the park in the best condition. Now, there are often many pigeons and homeless people in the park.
People want to help, especially because the park and memorial are located along the Freedom Trail. There are goals to turn the park into a “welcoming and vibrant space’’ alive with Irish music and dance. The Irish International Immigrant Center, which provides advocacy and legal help to today’s Irish immigrants, could pitch in to help.
It would great if the City of Boston and the mayor could dedicate time and money to help keep the park and memorial clean and useful for the city’s residents.
Text loosely adapted from original article by Lawrence Harmon, Globe Columnist, published November 09, 2013 in the Boston Globe
Reading Comprehension Questions:
Where is the memorial located?
a) Along Fields Corner in Dorchester
b) Along the Freedom Trail in Downtown Boston
c) In South Boston where most of Boston’s Irish immigrants live
d) In Thomas Flatney’s backyard
What historical event does the memorial remind people of?
a) The day that Thomas Flatney died
b) The time when memorials in Boston were kept clean
c) The Irish famine
d) The Irish immigrant population today
What does the Irish international Immigrant Center provide?
a) Legal help for immigrants
b) Healthcare help for immigrants
c) Housing advice for immigrants
d) Employment advice for immigrants
Are there many immigrants from Ireland in Boston today?
a) Yes
b) No
c) The article does not say
When could the period of starvation, disease, and loss of life have occurred, according to the article?
a) 1950
b) 1900
c) 1850
d) 1800
November 1, 2017: 7th Class Materials
Reading Comprehension: The Boston Women’s Memorial, by Meredith Bergmann
The City dedicated the Boston Women’s Memorial on October 25, 2003. The sculptures at the Commonwealth Avenue Mall honor:
- Abigail Adams
- Lucy Stone, and
- Phillis Wheatley.
Abigail Adams was born in Weymouth, Mass. She was the wife of the second president of the United States, and the mother of the sixth.
Lucy was born in Brookfield, Mass., and was one of the first women in Massachusetts to graduate college. She’s known as an abolitionist and a respected orator. She started the Woman’s Journal, the most important women’s publication of its era that advocated for the right of women to be able to vote.
Phillis was born in West Africa and sold as a slave from the ship “Phillis” in colonial Boston. She became a literary prodigy. Her 1773 volume “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” was the first book published by an African writer in America.
Artist Meredith Bergmann’s vision displays a new way of thinking about public art. Unlike larger than life statues, these invite people to interact with them.
Instead of standing on her pedestal, each woman is using it. The memorial also uses traditional symbols of sculptures in new and original ways.
On the day of the memorial’s dedication ceremony, the artist who won the right to create the memorial by submitting her idea to the public competition, began her speech to the crowd by thanking the Mayor, the Boston Women’s Commissioner, and the citizens of Boston for devoting time, money, and space to the important matter of highlighting the important impact women have made and continue to make on the City of Boston.
Text adapted from the City of Boston official page, you can continue to read more about the project, the artist, and the three women here: https://www.boston.gov/departments/womens-advancement/boston-womens-memorial
You can watch a video about the memorial here:
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What was Lucy Stone best known for?
a) Her skills writing poems
b) Her skills at making memorials about women
c) He skills at public speaking
d) Her skills at marrying presidents
What two subjects did the poet write her first book about?
a) Religion and Morality
b) Religion and Slavery
c) Slavery and Women’s Rights
d) Women’s Rights and Art
Abigal Adams was the brother of one president and the daughter of another.
a) True
b) False.
How are the statues in this memorial different from those in most other memorials?
a) They invite people to interact with them
b) They are larger than life
c) They are made of bronze.
d) They are located in Boston
How did the City of Boston select the artist for the memorial?
a) One artist was not selected, the whole community participated
b) The Mayor was friends with the artist so he picked his friend
c) The president picked his daughter to be the artist
d) The artist won a competition
Public Art Presentations: Speaking Practice
November 8, 2017: 8th Class - Downtown Public Art Walk Field Trip
November 15, 2017: 9th Class Materials
Reading Comprehension: Rainbow gas tank by Corita Kent, 1971
In 1971, Boston Gas commissioned a famous former nun to create murals for its two giant gas storage tanks along the Southeast Expressway (Route 93) in Dorchester. Corita Kent designed the rainbow to give “a sign of hope that urges you to go on.”
Kent had been a nun, artist and teacher in Los Angeles. Her screenprints were used for Roman Catholic social justice work and President Lyndon Johnson’s 1960s anti-poverty programs. She moved to Boston after Los Angeles and settled here. In her first years here, she produced prints that were among her most activist — memorializing the murdered Martin Luther King, celebrating Cesar Chavez, and protesting the Vietnam War.
After 1960, her art grew more light and sunny, more laid back and peaceful, based on loose watercolor brushwork. The rainbow gas tank is one of these paintings blown up 150 feet tall.
A controversy arose when some claimed to see the profile of Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese communist president and Vietnam War icon, in the rainbow gas tank’s blue brushstroke. Kent denies that she did this on purpose. After the controversy, a butterfly design she drew up for the second gas tank was never painted. But the rainbow stripes have remained, becoming a beloved Boston landmark.
About her design, she has said: “to me, a rainbow represents hope, uplifting, spring,” Kent told The Boston Globe in 1971. “It’s a joyous expression, joining heaven and earth together.”
Text loosely adapted from the WBUR article, “The 50 Best Works Of Public Art In Greater Boston, Ranked,” by Greg Cook.
Students: Listen to the audio from WBUR by clinking on the link below:
https://dcs.megaphone.fm/BUR6317279839.mp3?key=73f4d12cbb172ef2bf898cccc9dd4f9a
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What did Corita Kent say about the rumor that the face of Ho Chi Minh was on the gas tank?
a) She said she did this to protest the Vietnam war
b) She said she did not paint the face on purpose
c) She said it was not Ho Chi Minh’s face, but Mao Zedong’s
d) She said she wanted to represent the Vietnamese community in Dorchester by painting the face
Who commissioned the painting?
a) Boston Gas
b) The City of Boston
c) The Mayor of Boston
d) President Lyndon B. Johnson
What does the rainbow represent?
a) Peace
b) Happiness
c) Joy
d) Hope
What was the design that the artist planned to paint on the second gas tank?
a) It was a design of a butterfly
b) It was a design of a rainbow
c) It was a design of a bird
d) It was a design of a sunflower
According to the article, the artist contributed designs to one of the President of the United States’ programs. What did this program do?
a) It fought against homelessness
b) It fought against racism
c) It fought against war
d) It fought against poverty
November 29, 2017: 10th Class Materials
Reading Comprehension I: Sculpture garden at Luc Hoa Buddhist Center
On a side street off Fields Corner there is a yellow gate with three arches. It serves as the entrance to a garden with trees and statues. It’s a small oasis outside the Luc Hoa Buddhist temple.
The center began two decades ago when Buddhist members of the local Vietnamese-American community acquired the three-family home. The yellow gate has writings that speak about peace and joy.
The statues in the garden include guardian lions, a white statue of a standing Quan Am bodhisattva, a spiritual figure of love and kindness, and a reclining statue of Sakya Muni Buddha that exudes spirituality and tranquility.
“We try to liberate ourselves from some of the things of this life,” Hanh says. “We know for sure this life is suffering. We try to cultivate our mind, liberate ourselves from this suffering.” The garden is an oasis of peace and public art in Dorchester.
Reading Comprehension II: “Roxbury Love” (Mandela) mural by Richard “Deme5” Gomez and Thomas “Kwest” Burns, 2014
The 100-foot-long mural is a statement of pride by and for Roxbury’s African-American community with its black and white portrait of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s anti-segregation and anti-apartheid leader who died in 2013. On the mural, there is text that reads: “Roxbury love.”
The two artists who spray painted the mural have said that the mural commemorates the visit Mandela made to Boston on June 23, 1990, just months after he was released from spending 27 years in prison. Massachusetts was the first state to withdraw its pension funds from companies doing business in South Africa; the city of Boston soon followed. The international civil rights icon had come for a one day stop to thank Boston for its support. After leaving Boston, he continued his eight-city U.S. tour to gather backing and raise money for a political campaign that would eventually get him elected president of South Africa in 1994.
Both texts adapted from previously referenced WBUR article, “The 50 Best Works Of Public Art In Greater Boston, Ranked,” by Greg Cook
Reading Comprehension Questions:
How many arches does the Buddhist Garden have?
a) One
b) Two
c) Three
d) Four
When was the center founded?
a) Around 2007
b) Around 1997
c) Around 1987
d) Around 1977
In this paragraph, what does “oasis” mean?
a) A place where there is water and palm trees in the desert
b) A place where people can find peace
c) A place where Vietnamese people can go
d) A place where Buddhists can pray
What does the “Roxbury Love” mural commemorate?
a) A visit by Nelson Mandela to the city of Boston
b) A donation of money from Nelson Mandela to the city of Boston
c) A donation of money from the City of Boston to Nelson Mandela
d) The eight-city tour Nelson Mandela took in 1994
What did the City of Boston do to support the anti-apartheid fight in South Africa?
a) It invited Nelson Mandela to visit Boston
b) It donated to Nelson Mandela’s presidency campaign fund
c) It donated to Nelson Mandela’s own private foundation
d) It boycotted companies doing business in South Africa
December 6, 2017: 10th Class Materials
Reading Comprehension: “Betances Mural” by Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg, 1979
A pair of brilliant suns radiate from either end of this 45-foot-long ceramic mosaic. It celebrates the Puerto Rican heritage of many residents of Boston’s South End. It was painted during the 1960s to prevent the displacement of the neighborhood’s residents.
The artist, Lilli Rosenberg, also oversaw the creation of ceramic mosaics in the Boston Common and at the MBTA’s Park Street station. The create this mural, she organized more than 300 children and neighborhood residents to sculpt clay tiles.
Fish, people and musical instruments float across the design. In the center is Rosenberg’s sculpted-cement portrait of 19th century Puerto Rican patriot Ramón E. Betances, who lead an unsuccessful independence uprising against the Spanish colonial government. On the mural, you can read a quote from this man: “We must know how to fight for our honor and our freedom.”
“Freedom Trail,” 1951
The Freedom Trail’s red line that goes through the Revolutionary War historic sites in the heart of Boston has been a big success.
It began in 1951 because a newspaper editor wanted to connect with the revolutionary history. But even as someone from the city, he found himself lost and disoriented when attempting to visit all the sites.
Through conversations with religious leader of the North End’s Old North Church, they proposed a walking route. Schofield publicly floated the idea in his March 8 column. “All I’m suggesting is that we mark out a ‘Puritan Path’ or ‘Liberty Loop’ or ‘Freedom’s Way’ or whatever you want to call it, so visitors and locals will know where to start and what course to follow,” he wrote. “You could do the trick on a budget of just a few dollars and a bucket of paint.”
After more columns pushed the idea, the Mayor of Boston at the time announced that the city would create what is today known as “The Freedom Trail.”
That June, workers put up signs along a mile and a fifth route from Boston Common to the North End. It quickly became a hit. The trail has evolved over the years — the line has been repainted and it now leads to more sites than it originally did. The Black Heritage Trail and the Women’s Heritage Trail were created later to show the people and places the original trail had overlooked.
The Freedom Trail can be seen as an artwork because it’s a giant line drawn through the city. In addition to the art of it, the trail is also is a set of directions on how to walk a certain way, on how to perform a sort of ritual by visiting the actual sites and stepping back into history.
Both texts adapted from previously referenced WBUR article, “The 50 Best Works Of Public Art In Greater Boston, Ranked,” by Greg Cook
Reading Comprehension Questions:
What is at either end of the mural (1st reading)?
a) Puerto Rican men
b) Artists
c) Moons
d) Suns
Was this the artist’s only work in Boston (1st reading)?
a) Yes
b) No
c) It does not say
What kinds of things can you see on the mural (1st reading)?
a) Fish
b) People
c) Musical instruments
d) All of the above
Why was the trail created (2nd reading)?
a) It was easy to get lost when trying to find Boston’s historic landmarks
b) Many people did not have maps in the time it was created
c) It was created so that tourists could pay more money to the city of Boston
d) It was created because the city had extra bricks from another project
Was the trail immediately popular?
a) Yes
b) No
Public Art Presentations: Speaking Practice
December 13th, 2017: 11th Class Materials
Reading Comprehension: “Tenango” mural by Mayor’s Mural Crew, 2014
Inspired by the building owner’s request for a Mexican style mural — and a rooster — Heidi Schork, the founder and director of the Mayor’s Mural Crew, came up with a catchy composition of flowers and birds around a rooster for this narrow, fenced-off alley sandwiched between two Jamaica Plain buildings. The imagery is inspired by traditional tenangos, which Schork explains are an embroidered piece of cloth made by women in the state of Hidalgo in central Mexico.
The Mural Crew, a summer work program for Boston teens, began in 1991 as an anti-graffiti project under former Mayor Ray Flynn. “Our first few summers were spent in Codman Square painting out gang graffiti,” Schork says. “Then it took on a life of its own.” After a quarter century, she says, “hundreds of Boston kids have been able to paint murals that have lasted a very long time. We have trained many kids and turned them on to public art. … The freedom of painting such a large wall is a lot of fun. But it’s a lot of hard work.”
Text adapted from previously referenced WBUR article, “The 50 Best Works Of Public Art In Greater Boston, Ranked,” by Greg Cook
Color Commons 2017, by New American Public Art Studio and Dennis Carmichael
Color Commons is a responsive public art installation by the studio New American Public Art that invites passersby to change the color of the twelve
24-foot tall Light Blades by text message. The Light Blades have become a much more personal and relatable icon since NAPA allowed them to be controlled by the public community. Color Commons is programmed with over 900 different color names. Anyone can text a color name, like red, blue, or yellow, to a number posted on the site. The lights will respond by turning the color that the person texted. With this new feature, New American Public Art hopes to make Boston a more playable city, one where existing urban infrastructure can be used in ways that enhance person-to-city and person-to-person connections. Color Commons will be on display through Winter 2017.
Text adapted from New American Public Art website, at http://www.newamericanpublicart.com/color-commons-2017
Reading Comprehension Questions:
Who works on the Mural Crew?
a) Professional artists
b) Teenagers
c) Adults
d) Mexican women
At first, what did the Mural Crew do?
a) They painted over graffiti
b) They painted graffiti themselves
c) They painted murals around Boston
d) They took down murals around Boston
What changes depending on text messages in the second public art piece?
a) The shape of the piece of art
b) The name of the piece of art
c) The sounds of the piece of art
d) The color of the piece of art
What kind of city do the artists want to make Boston?
a) A more intelligent city
b) A more hardworking city
c) A more playable city
d) A more hardworking city
Who can interact with the art piece using text messages?
a) The Mayor
b) Anyone
c) The artist only
d) Women only
Public Art Presentations: Speaking Practice
December 20, 2017: Last class — Field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts
After showing students how to find the title of the artwork, artist, and medium used on the museum plaques that accompany the art pieces, we roamed as a group and practiced this reading skill with each painting and sculpture we observed.
A big thank you to all who made this class possible:
Mike Oliver, Executive Director of St Marks Community Education Center, for trusting me to design curriculum and execute this vision, for inviting me to paint the mural at St Mark’s that sparked the idea for the class, and for being a wonderful mentor and friend throughout my time at St Marks.
Lenore Balliro, Director of Programs at First Literacy, for first approaching Mike with the wonderful idea of an arts-based English class, and for following through with the funding that allowed St Marks to provide this class to students free of charge.
My students and friends, who made this Wednesday class the past three hours of my week, every week.
Boston Cultural Council, for funding the creation of the mural at St Marks and many other public arts projects throughout Boston
The City of Boston, for sponsoring so much great public art in Boston that we couldn’t begin to do it all justice with this course.
