After Miro: Spanish Connections.

A recent interdisciplinary project on Joan Miro built on the educational direction taken by our high school. Joining other secondary schools in the movement to connect disciplines and to make academic studies relevant to life skills, the administration of Cooperative Arts and Humanities Magnet High School assigned its entire teaching staff the task of interweaving learning in all areas.

One of the resulting programs of study, developed by the Spanish teacher and myself, was an ongoing study of famous Spanish artists. We intended to mesh the study of the Spanish language, history, and culture with that of the study of artistic movements, design principles, and creative thinking. One segment from this "Famous Spanish Artists" series resulted in the creation of a tiled wall panel, which reflected both the students' creative thinking and their understanding of Miro's artistic style. As a added benefit, the project tapped mapping skills and required cooperation between the participants in order to complete the work.

Spanish and Art

The project began with a look at the life and times of Joan Miro, guided by the Spanish teacher and conducted in the Spanish language. The students had access to numerous books on Miro in order to gain a sense of his colorful and upbeat style. Because Miro is usually numbered among the Surrealists, during a follow-up class I presented characteristics that can be found in surrealistic work: (1) the scale change of an object, (2) the use of levitation, (3) the juxtaposition of unrelated objects, (4) the dislocation of objects, and (5)the transformation of a subject.

We then looked at a slide of Miro's Dutch Interior I and discussed the above surreal characteristics observed. Students found examples of all five surreal characteristics presented and decided that they too would consider Joan Miro a Surrealist. For this discussion with students and during the continuation into our studio work, the Spanish teacher interspersed Spanish dialog with my exchanges in English.

Focusing on Design

To begin the studio portion, we looked at Dutch Interior I again, this time focusing on the design elements and principles used. What colors did Miro use? What kind of lines and shapes? Was his work balanced? Did the work show rhythm and linear movement? Was there a focal point?

I then asked students to create a rough work that included a variety of objects (or creatures) in-the-style-of Miro--I asked them to choose--From their creations, ones which captured the essence of Miro's art. They cut out these creations and placed them on a full scale map of the projected wall panel. The paper map was ruled to establish a grid 2' by 12 1/2' (.6 x 3.8 m) for sixty 6 x 10" (15 x 24 cm) tiles. We enlarged some of the student art to complement the scale of the wall panel and be reminiscent of Miro's murals.

The students moved the cut shapes to create balance and unity; many of their individual creations had a sense of rhythm and linear movement. To complete the plan for the finished panel, the students drew and colored each shape that was to be included.

Adding Texture to the Tiles

They then simulated the look of speckled ceramic tile by stippling watercolor paint on each of the sixty foamcore tiles that they had primed with gesso. I laid out the sixty tiles to duplicate the area covered by our paper map and numbered the rectangles that made up our map with coordinating numbers on the foamcore tiles. The students lightly drew their creations on the tiles, matching the tiles carefully where an object covered more than one tile.

The students painted the stippled tiles with acrylic paint, and a clear gloss acrylic coat was added to protect the finished work. The final display became an educational display for the school, including the tiled wall mural, color photocopies of tiled murals by Miro, and information about Miro in both English and Spanish.

A New Appreciation for Miro

Because of our urban location and proximity to Yale University, we were able to utilize a community resource and our Spanish/Art class took a field trip to the Yale Art Gallery to see original works by Miro. With the background study and experience of the studio project, the students exhibited a new appreciation for Miro's work, listening intently to Yale's docent and asking thoughtful questions.

In a review of this segment of our "Famous Spanish Artists" series, we found the project had covered all of our stated goals, including: (1) using Spanish language, (2) building skills in artistic production, (3) increasing knowledge of Spanish culture and history, (4) adding to aesthetic awareness, and (5) building on the life skills of communication and cooperation.

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Students compare characteristics of visual arts within a particular historical period or style with ideas, issues, or themes in the humanities or sciences.

Jennifer Lee is the visual arts teacher and John Gibbons is the Spanish teacher at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities Magnet High School in New Haven. Connecticut.