Arts & Global Ed
Global Art Curriculum
Art is a language spoken in some form by nearly all peoples on Earth. How can we make it speak with global education in mind? Check out the resources below for real world applications you can use in the art classroom and beyond.
The role of the artist to make revolution irresistible.
- Toni Cade Bambara
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Choose one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Find a way to tie it to an artist to talk about in class. Check out the links in the next section for artists who work with the SDGs
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Use the SDG's as sketchbook prompts. For example, "Choose a SDG that resonates with you, or you would like to see changed in your community. Create a sketch to make people more ware of this issue
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Students pick their favorite color, then research what symbolic meaning that color has around the world. This site is a great beginning source to direct students to. Have students share out in like-color groups to the class for a rainbow of information.
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Do a compare and contrast critique with two artists, from differing backgrounds or cultures, that work with the same medium or topic This visual thinking routine from Harvard provides a good framework for this kind of critique.
Mini Lessons
Lesson Ideas
Boza's Lessons:
MUSIC AND ART INTERSCHOOL LESSON
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DATA DRIVEN ART: a Global Goals PBL Lesson​
Other Lesson Links
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What Does a Global Arts Classroom Look Like?
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Making Art and Global Interconnections
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Global Artist Resources
Art has the power to move people. This is why #ArtForGlobalGoals has translated the global goals into the language of art- at the hand of 20 year old artist Leon Lowentraut.
This highly interactive will enthrall stduents as they discover how Lowentraut visualized each of the 17 goals.
To the right is an image of Goal #2: End Poverty.
EcoArt documents and promotes the global contemporary green art movement. Check out the EcoArt database of art and artists and the EcoArt Observatory, a digital content aggregator of projects from different sources.
All contemporary artworks and artists, you can search the works by tags such as "climate refugees," "conflicts and war," and "biodiversity."
Blue Diagonal Treasure, Virgina Fleck
Curating Cities is a five-year research project that examines how the arts can generate environmentally beneficial behavioural change and influence the development of green infrastructure in urban environments. Drawing on case studies from around the world, Curating Cities assesses the ongoing and potential contribution of public art to eco-sustainable development
Arts2030 advocates for the use of artists' creativity to communicate the SDGs and inspire global audiences to take action towards a more sustainable future. On their site you can search for artists based on a specific SDG. This is an amazing resource to start tying the SDGs to your curriculum.
Artists & the Sustainable Development Goals
Nathalie Meibach's twisting, colorful basket weavings are modeled from scientific data pulled from wind patterns, often from storms, gales or blizzards. Miebach translates this quantified data into physical forms that mimic the twirling motions of the invisible weather they aim to imitate.
UN SDG: 13 Climate Action
For three decades this ever-rotating group of feminist artists have been complaining creatively about equal representation for all in the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community.
UN SDG: 5 Gender Equality
A professor at Ohio University, John Sabraw is working on cleaning iron oxides out of local rivers...and turning them into beautiful oil paints. His "pollution paintings" make beautiful the once-harmful materials.
UN SDG: 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
DeBris uses marine debris to create ‘trashion’, art, jewellery, fashion and objects for the home created from used, thrown-out, found and repurposed elements. She has also used beach trash to provide one perspective on what the earth might look like from space. DeBris is also a social activist and has participated on a panel to show artists can contribute to environmental public policy and promote clean energy.
UN SDG:14 Life Under Sea
Additional Links
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Spice up your art critiques by teaching students to ask thoughtful questions that get to the root of an artwork! Project Zero, part of Harvard's School of Education has provided a wealth of thinking routines. Some of my favorites include: Think Puzzle Explore, Beauty and Truth, and Looking: Ten Times Two
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Culture Crossing Guide: The Culture Crossing Guide is an evolving database of cross-cultural information about every country in the world. This user-built guide allows people from all walks of life to share essential tips with each other about how to navigate our increasingly borderless world with savvy and sensitivity.
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Google Arts and Culture: A behemoth of a site this includes everything from full museum walkthroughs and collections, tours through ancient sites like the Parthenon, and even fun art games. If you've never check it out, be prepared to spend some time. A wonderful resource for everyone!
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SDGs Through Art: The UN takes a look at the 17 SDGs through the lens of classic an contemporary artists.
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UNESCO World Heritage: interactive map of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites
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The Best Sites for Learning About Global Cultures: A curated list of sites featuring photography, clothes, celebrations, and families
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Colossal: Hands down, one of my most favorite and used websites in the classroom. Artists from a plethora of countries, working in nearly every conceivable media, updated daily, and easy to search for topics, countries of origin or material.
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The Met for Kids: One of the world's greatest museums' takes on art education for children.
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Global Arts and Craft: a large collection of projects, resources, and articles about artwork and people around the world
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Art21: A series of videos and accompanying resources produced through PBS about contemporary artists working with such topics as racial inequity, the environment, poverty, and more.
