A CULTURAL LENS INTO THE STORY UNDERNEATH: A RESOURCE GUIDE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, ARTISTS AND CULTURE FOR ART EDUCATION

The goal of this study is to create a qualitative resource guide of African American culture, art, and artists for an art education curriculum. This project encompasses four main themes to reflect an area of African American culture via a work of art created by an African American artist. These themes are, Family with the sub themes African American Male, Matriarch, and Children; Spirit with the sub themes Faith, Spirituality, and Inspiration; Identity with the sub themes Artist’s Voice, Triumph, and Hope and Vision; Community with the sub themes Ancestors, Social Issues, and Cultural Voice. These themes constitute a basis depictive of the African American culture at a deeper level as resounded by ethicist Peter J. Paris’s reflection of the culture’s foundational building blocks, God, community, family, and person (Paris, 2004). This thesis looks beyond the composition, artistic essentials, historical relevance, and biographical sketches of the artists, to create an accessible and effective way to approach African American culture thematically. The resource provides connecting elements into a culture that has contributed to the very essence of the larger American culture