Arts Education:
Grades 10 to 12
Note: The list of resources in this section provides an update to Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Secondary Level (1996).
The Art of Being Human (Video). Bullfrog Films, Inc. (MGR), 1995. 28 min. Dup. order no. V12.
This program is a portrait of the artist Frederick Franck, author of The Zen of Seeing. Born on the border of Belgium and France, Franck has seen first hand the horrors of war. Living now in upstate New York, his life's work, through printing, sculpture, and books, has been to help people see the humanity in others, so that they will not be able to tolerate or be involved in violence toward others. This program provides excellent insight into the creative process and the artist's motivation and philosophy.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Beauty and the Beach (Video). Cinefocus (MGR), 1997. 53 min. Dup. order no. V6690.
(CAN) This program relates the history of women through swimwear styles and addresses the complex relationship between the bathing suit, social and cultural values, and women’s body images. It features fashion designers, cartoonist Cathy Guisewaite, models, and famous female swimmers. It discusses the effects of Hollywood and advertising on women’s self images. The program looks at historical conceptions of beauty and body image as reflected in bathing suit styles and related advertising images.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies; Visual Art
Other Use: English Language Arts 20; Life Transitions 20/30
Beverly Buchanan (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6762.
Buchanan’s work that ranges from photography, painting, and drawing to sculpture, examines the role of the shack in rural southern culture, not merely as habitat but as aesthetic expression. This episode reveals Buchanan’s remarkable eye and her ability to capture the full range of beauty in the rural south.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Bill Viola (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6768.
Perhaps the leading American video artist, Viola represented the United States in 1995 at the Venice Biennale. This program follows Viola making The Greeting, the final piece in his Venice installation.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Canadian Women Making Music (Print-Non-Fiction). Kivi, K. Linda. Seacraft Publications/Green Dragon Press (GDR), 1992. 134 p. ISBN 0-9691955-8-3 ($20.00 pbk.).
(CAN) This unique resource offers a brief history/chronology and collection of interviews that highlight a number of Canadian female musicians from the mid-19th century to the ’90s. Among the musicians who shared their stories, wisdom, tears, and laughter are Connie Kaldor and Rita MacNeil. Black-and-white photographs enhance the text.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Music
Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Ontario (Video). (History Lands: Canada's Heritage Sites Series). Good Earth Productions (MGR), 1998. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6705.
(CAN) Toronto’s grand Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are not only an accurate chronicle of the evolution of theatre, but of the development of urban Canada. They are notable not only for the calibre of stars who graced their stages, but for the fact that they were a part of a fully operational, stacked, theatre complex. Built in 1913 at the height of the Vaudeville boom, the ornate theatres were a mecca for Torontonians. By the mid-1970s, the Winter Garden had long since closed its doors and the Elgin had become a B-movie house. It would take a full decade before these two theatres would open again, equally as magnificent as they had been originally.
Suggested Use: Drama
Other Use: Canadian Studies
The Glitter: Sex, Drugs and the Media (Video). Human Relations Media/HRM Video (MGR), 1994. 28 min. Order no. V6609.
Using a fast-paced documentary style, this program explores the powerful effects that various media (television, music, movies, the printed word) have on today's young people and their growing sense of self. Adolescents are eager for information about their world, and yet they are not equipped to question the validity of the messages they receive. The Glitter: Sex, Drugs and the Media demonstrates the dangers of accepting the products and lifestyles proposed by this trillion-dollar industry, and suggests ways of protecting young people from the contrived realities of the media. Interviews with experts reveal some mind-numbing facts (e.g., by the age of 18, most people have seen 100,000 beer commercials and have been exposed to over 250,000 sexual references of which less than 1% involve pertinent facts about sex education, contraception, or STDs). The program features teens discussing how they think they are being affected by such exposure. In addition, advertising experts reveal how they use imagery, distortion, and repetition to sell their products.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies
Goat Island (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6771.
A remarkable performance troupe that works collectively and collaboratively, Goat Island incorporates visual imagery with music, dance, movement, and narrative. Included in this program are the group’s early rehearsals and later performance of a piece that was featured in England throughout 1996 as well as a workshop conducted at an art college in South Devon.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Dance; Drama; Music; Visual Art
Guillermo Gomez-Pena (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6763.
This Mexican performance artist, poet, journalist, and activist has been working for more than a decade to draw awareness to the border between the United States and Mexico, as not only a physical obstacle but also a mental one. Gomez-Pena is filmed in a performance at Washington, D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery, the week before the 1996 Presidential election. While this program is useful for cross-culture exploration, the content is explicit and might be disturbing to some viewers.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Hollywood's Aboriginal: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (Print-Non-Fiction). Rollins, Peter C. and O'Connor, John E., eds. University Press of Kentucky (UKY), 1998. 226 p. ISBN 0-8131-2044-6 ($24.95 U.S. hdc.). ISBN 0-8131-0951-5 ($15.00 U.S. pbk.).
(I/M) This resource offers both in-depth analyses of specific films and overviews of the industry’s work from The Vanishing American (1926) to The Aboriginal in the Cupboard (1995) as well as insightful characterizations of the depiction of Native Americans in film. The collection of essays discusses the impact of the Hollywood film industry and its manipulation and distortion of history. Included are short biographic accounts of the contributors and an index.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies
Other Use: English Language Arts 20
Honest Vision: A Portrait of Todd Webb (Video). Films by Huey (FBH), 1996. 55 min. ISBN 0-7815-0678-6 ($99.95 U.S.).
American photographer Todd Webb is featured in this video. Webb began showing his work emphasizing cultural and historical photographs in 1946. New York cityscapes and portraits are only an example of the high quality photographs included in this work.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Hung Liu (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6765.
This leading contemporary painter was born in China in 1948 and classically trained in Beijing in the Russian Social Realist tradition. Liu is seen painting a series of works on the Last Emperor and his Court for a 1995 exhibition in New York City.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (Video). Villon Films (MGR), 1993. 56 min. Part 1 - Dup. order no. V6788. Part 2 - Dup. order no. V6789. Teacher's Guide for series - Order no. G6788 ($7.50 loose-leaf).
This series examines the role of cinema in both supporting and attacking apartheid. It questions Hollywood’s commitment to racial stereotypes and reluctance to depict black heroes.
Part One of In Darkest Hollywood tells how almost from the beginning of cinema, filmmakers have looked at the continent of Africa with a mixture of fear and fascination, prejudice and contempt. South Africa, with its fabulous mineral wealth, exotic locations, and white settlers, attracted scores of movie makers. Now, as the era of white rule ends, Part One of In Darkest Hollywood asks, what was the role of cinema during the 45-year reign of apartheid? Through a mosaic of feature, documentary, and propaganda films, with commentary by writers, directors, and actors, some of whom supported apartheid, and others who fought to destroy it, this program turns the lens towards the filmmakers and to the society they so often misunderstood and misrepresented.
Part Two describes how during much of the period of apartheid in South Africa (1948-1990), the cinema largely ignored discrimination against black Africans. (Notable exceptions were Cry, The Beloved Country, and Come Back, Africa.) It was only after the Soweto Uprising of 1976, when unarmed African students braved the guns of the police, that Hollywood began to pay attention, and made films such as Cry Freedom and Dry White Season. Inside South Africa, film production and distribution were severely censored. It is only in recent years, with the dismantling of apartheid, that black South Africans can begin to interpret their own reality.
Supporting print is available from Media Group.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies
Other Use: Social Studies 20/History 20
In Search of the Edge: An Inquiry Into the Shape of the Earth and the Disappearance of Andrea Barns (Video). Bullfrog Films, Inc. (MGR), 1990. 26 min. Dup. order no. V3. Teacher's Guide - Order no. G3 ($2.00 loose-leaf).
In Search of the Edge is a comprehensive documentary proving almost conclusively that the earth is flat! It presents a carefully constructed argument from a definite, well-researched "flat-earth" point of view, while dismissing the "global earth" doctrine as little more than an elaborate hoax. The film is comprised of interviews with experts, stock footage, still photographs, and animation. The purpose of the program is to help young people learn to think for themselves and to not accept everything at face value.
A teacher’s guide is available from Media Group.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies
Judy Baca (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6761.
Known for her mile-long Los Angeles mural depicting Chicano history, Judy Baca focusses on the social and political problems facing Chicano culture. In this program, she completes a mural on the UCLA campus.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
June Wayne (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6769.
Wayne is the founder of Tamarind, perhaps the most prestigious lithography studio in the United States. Her work, represented in this program by a series of prints in New York City, explores her interest in scientific theory, space, and atomic structure.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Lessons for the Living: Drama and the Integrated Curriculum (Print-Non-Fiction). Clark, Jim, et al. Mayfair Cornerstone Limited (LRDC), 1997. 137 p. Order no. 9343 ($46.55 pbk.).
(CAN) Part One of this three-part resource offers a theoretical overview of the history of curriculum integration and addresses why the idea of holistic and integrated learning has re-emerged in Canadian education.
Part Two contains six detailed drama structures, each of which is intended to provide an exciting beginning for an integrated project. Designed, developed, and tested in the classroom, each drama offers a powerful connecting point to the lives of young students. The dramas deal with themes and issues that concern or directly relate to the lived experience of many adolescents. These themes and issues include the young homeless, environmental pollution, racism, growing up, war, and the conflicting demands of science and morality.
Part Three includes some practical guidelines on planning for drama.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Drama
Lorna Simpson (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6770.
One of the recurring themes in photographer Lorna Simpson’s work is the ambiguous terrain connecting words and images. In the fall of 1995, Simpson designed a group of large-scale landscapes printed on felt that are the focus of this program. While there is some discussion of couples engaging in sexual activity in public places, there are no explicit images.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Mierle Ukeles (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6767.
Ukeles is the artist-in-residence at the New York City Department of sanitation, where she is currently involved with redesigning and reclaiming the largest landfill in North America. This program follows Ukeles as she organizes a massive collaborative west coast work in the fall of 1996.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Milton Resnick (Video). (A World of Art: Works in Progress Series). Annenberg/CPB Project (MGR), 1997. 30 min. Dup. order no. V6766.
As one of the last living members of the New York School of Painters or Abstract Expressionists, Resnick is filmed as he paints five large canvasses over an eight-month period.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer (Video). National Film Board of Canada (MGR), 1997. 51 min. Dup. order no. V2952.
(CAN, I/M) At the age of 16, George Johnston left the Yukon community of Teslin and trekked hundreds of kilometres overland to coastal Alaska in search of the history of his people. Johnston met with elders, learning as much as he could about the Tlingit religion and the songs and dances of his people. A few years later, Johnston did something else that was quite extraordinary: after ordering a camera from a mail-order catalogue, he taught himself to use it and to develop and print his own photographs. Johnston took the camera with him everywhere, and the images he recorded of special moments and everyday occasions became a beacon to the young and a testament to the golden times of the Tlingit people. This program is a unique portrait of a man who was himself a creator of portraits and a keeper of his culture. His photos, which record a critical period for the Tlingit nation, lovingly portray a sense of history and a zest for life. As director Carol Geddes, a clan relative of Johnston's says, his legacy "was to help us dream the future as much as to remember the past."
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Other Use: Canadian Studies
A Propaganda Model of the Media Plus Exploring Alternative Media (Video). (Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media Series). National Film Board of Canada (MGR), 1994. 44 min. Dup. order no. V4784. Companion Book - Order no. G4780 ($13.50 pbk.). Six part modular series - Order no. G4779 ($5.25 pbk.).
(CAN) Beginning with Chomsky's response to a college student who role plays "Jane U.S.A."- someone who naively believes she lives in a democratic society in which she can create her own destiny- the viewer is presented with a cross-section of typically lively Chomsky encounters. Central to a functioning democracy is the necessity of free access to information, ideas, and opinions. But what should be our democratic right turns out to be limited and shaped by the biases of institutions and ideologies within the mass media. Chomsky shows how governments, corporations, and other elites manufacture the consent of the public to serve their interests.
Supporting print is available from Media Group.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Media Studies
Rembrandt: His Life, His Times, His Work (Video). Landmark Media Inc. (OME), 1994. 42 min. No order number is required. ($135.00). Circulating copy - ($225.00).
The life and work of the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt is recounted in this resource. The personal side of the man—his birth, his family education, his marriage, his work, and his final days are explored. His paintings are utilized to provide the story of his life and to reflect the importance of his work.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Riel Country (Video). National Film Board of Canada (MGR), 1996. 50 min. Dup. order no. V2943.
(CAN, I/M) Students from two Winnipeg neighbourhoods, and a variety of cultures, create a collective drama about cultural issues in order to raise awareness about discrimination. They discuss their roots and issues facing Canadian society today, including racism and ways to promote reconciliation. The program contains a few instances of coarse language.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Drama
Other Use: Canadian Studies; English Language Arts 10
Ruth Asawa: Of Form and Growth (Video). Direct Cinema (MCN), 1992. 30 min. No order number is required. ($150.00).
This film offers an intimate look at San Francisco-based artist Ruth Asawa, and presents a multi-faceted portrait of this mother, teacher, and woman of the earth. Her humanness is conveyed with the intensity and sensitivity that pervades her life and her views on art, form, and growth.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
The Stage and the School. 8th ed. (Print-Non-Fiction). Schanker, Harry H. and Ommanney, Katharine Anne. Glencoe/McGraw Hill (LRDC), 1999. 630 p. Order no. 9293 ($64.05 pbk.).
(CAN, I/M) This updated edition is a basic resource for teachers new to the field and for drama students. The book is organized into four parts: interpreting the drama, a treasury of scenes and monologues, appreciating the drama, and producing the drama. Each section includes several chapters providing clear, focussed information and a review suggesting topics and questions for discussion and research. The text provides several monologues and dialogues and information about improvisation, mime, costuming and makeup, the musical play, and the structure, varieties, and history of drama. It offers black-and-white photographs and diagrams. Included are a table of contents, an extensive glossary, and an index.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Drama
Other Use: Theatre Arts 20, 30
Sunday Arts and Entertainment: Inuit Throat Singers (Video). Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 1993. 13 min. Order no. Y8Q-93-01 ($99.00).
(CAN, I/M) The program Inuit Throat Singers gives a fascinating glimpse of an ancient art form that comes from a remote, frozen world. Those unacquainted with the form will find the unfamiliar sound of throat singing unusual, but will learn about the intense rhythmic qualities found in this cultural musical dimension.
Suggested Use: Grade 12; Music
Take Joy: The Magical World of Tasha Tudor (Video). The Video Project (MGR), 1997. 48 min. Dup. order no. V2942.
This delightful program documents the life and work of world-renowned illustrator and writer, and a most remarkable human being, Tasha Tudor. It was the first time she allowed a film crew access to her daily life. She discusses her family, her painting, her dolls, marionettes, animals, gardening, cooking, and public life. Her eternal optimism and great joy in life are portrayed.
Suggested Use: Grade 10; Grade 11; Grade 12; Visual Art
Other Use: Arts Education: Grades 6 to 8; Arts Education: Grade 9; English Language Arts: Elementary Level; English Language Arts: Grades 6 to 9
Understanding McLuhan (CD-ROM). The Voyager Company (MHR), 1996. ISBN 1-55940-686-0 ($49.95).
This disc is designed to be easy to use. Two complete searchable McLuhan books are included—Understanding Media and The Gutenberg Galaxy, as well as a number of video clips of McLuhan lecturing and being interviewed. The statements McLuhan has made about education, advertising, and newspapers are as relevant today as they were over 20 years ago.
Suggested Use: Media Studies
Other Use: English Language Arts 20
