FARE: Me, Myself, and Everyone Else
Saskia Kusnecov in collaboration with Stacy Scibelli
Me, Myself, and Everyone Else
FOR GRADES 7-12
Explore different components of identity through workshops utilizing various media and analyzing the cultural building blocks of what makes us who we are.
For Those Teaching the Following Topics:
Self-Perception
Stereotypes
Gender Identity
Racial/Ethnic Identity
“Wearing” Identity
How Identity is Shaped
Materials Provided:
Educator guides with detailed, step-by-step instructions including discussion suggestions
Handouts for students
Links to sites with images of the artist’s works
Listings of websites and films with information on artists
Workshop Process: Each lesson begins with an interactive introduction to the topic of discussion, as the students engage with an on-hands art activity. The activity is followed by a class discussion of women artists who are represented in the style of media which the activity is presented in (i.e. painting, multi-media, performance, etc.). At the end of each lesson, students will write a “journal entry”, reflecting on their experiences with the topic, the activity, and the women artists they learned about. They do not need to have a physical journal for this portion, just lined paper to write on and a folder to keep their reflections in.
History: The Feminist Art Project partnered with artist/instructor Stacy Scibelli, to provide these online education resources. Me, Myself and Everyone Else is based on the course Women and Creativity taught by Scibelli with Douglass Residential College students in the Women and Creativity community. The class introduces students to women artists and asks participants to consider the concept of identity through readings, discussion and hands-on projects. Students in the class are not required to have art history or visual arts backgrounds. These resources were created by Saskia Kusnecov in collaboration with Stacy Scibelli.
*Douglass Residential College is the historic Women’s College at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The Feminist Art Project gives special thanks to Saskia Kusnecov, Stacy Scibelli and Douglass Residential College. © Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
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Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 1: Self-Portrait Project
Identity, more than ever, is subjective, fluid, and multi-dimensional. With the growth of diverse communities, how we perceive identity is constantly re-evaluated to fit rapidly diversifying local and global populations. Deciphering and defining identity has become interdisciplinary, as scholars from many disciplines take it upon themselves to solve the puzzle that artists have addressed for millennia. This project makes it fun and easy for students to begin to take ownership of how they perceive themselves and their identity.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 2: Identity Crisis Portraits
For students, establishing a personal identity is often a push-pull task as they try to answer the questions of who they want to be or don’t want to be in a highly media-charged world. This project allows students to makes sense of the identity crises that they face in their every day lives, asking them think about the way invisible influences – such as politics, the media, their peers or their parents – create a dichotomy between who they perceive themselves to be, and how they do not want to be perceived.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 3: Significant Object Project
Students’ identities are communicated by the way they present themselves, the company they keep, as well as the objects that they hold dear to them. This project allows students to think about the “things” in their lives and the way objects influence some aspect of our identity. It also allows students to learn about using different media as they reproduce their object in print.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 4: Mask Project
The Guerilla Girls are an anonymous group of female, feminist artists who work to bring inequality in the fine arts to the surface. They are known by their trademark masks, which they wear to keep their identities anonymous so their careers are not threatened by the expression of their voice. In this way, the Guerilla Girls reclaim their voice by muting their physical identity. In doing this they are also reclaiming their authentic identity by making a difference in issues that are important to them. Students will also have the opportunity to reclaim their voice and identity by creating masks that express something that they normally wouldn’t feel comfortable expressing if their physical identities were known.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 5: Quilt Project
Throughout history and across cultures, quilts have been used as a medium to tell the stories of individuals and groups. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to tell their own story in their own quilt square.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 6: Performance Project
Performance art – as opposed to traditional dance or theater performances – is artistic expression using the body as a medium. Performance can also be a form of catharsis (the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions) or self-investigation. In this lesson, students will have the chance to put on their own performance piece, using their body or other props to express a concept or explore the possibilities of catharsis.
Me, Myself and Everyone Else Lesson 7: In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
Identity is complex; as seen in the previous workshops, it is made up of many different parts and pieces. This workshop addresses the intersection of multiple facets of students’ identities: race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc. How we experience life is based on the outcome of the intersection of all of these identities. Students will engage with a an excerpt from a novel and a discussion that address the principal of intersectionality (the idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories– including gender, race, class, and ethnicity– interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality) in their own lives as well as in the lives other others.