Art History - Romare Bearden

In my Art History 2024-2025 blog post, I decided January would be Romare Bearden. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Romare Bearden
1911 - 1988

My Hands Sing the Blues:
Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey
by Jeanne Walker Harvey

Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories
by Jan Greenberg

Me and Uncle Romie:
A Story Inspired by the Life and Art of Romare Bearden
by Claire Hartfield

Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy:
A Civil War Story
written & illustrated by Romare Bearden

The Block
poems by Langston Hughes, artwork by Romare Bearden

Romare Bearden 2025 Wall Calendar

I also bought the 2011 Wall Calendar

also

Art History Kids - February 2021

The Dove (1964)

Jazz Village (1967)

Tomorrow I May Be Far Away (1967)

City Lights (1970)

The Blues (1975)

Quilting Time (1986)

Week 1 Project, p.16 - A Family Portrait Collage

Week 2 Project, p.26 - A Collage That Features Your Passion

Week 3 Project, p.32 - A Collage That Shows Your Community

Week 4 Project, p.34 - A Collage Series

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mountain Top (1968)
National Portrait Gallery

The Art of Romare Bearden: A Resource for Teachers (PDF)
National Gallery of Art
print pages 1, 4, 6, 10-13, 20-23, 30
activity: Write a Poem Inspired by Collage

MMA - Georges Braque (Cubism)

Using Art to Create Art: Creative Activities Using Masterpieces
by Wendy Libby
p.11 - art movement (Cubism, Surrealism)
p.12 - "Collage of a Person" activity
p.13 - sample piece of art, Serenade (1969)
p.14 - mini biography
p.15 - "Neighborhood Collage" activity
p.16 - "Collage of Faces" activity

Grid journaling slowstitch style
YouTube video from k3n clothtales

"Printing with threads and yarns" lessons from Jayne Emerson's course
(Gel Printing on and with Textiles)

The Encyclopedia of Artists

volume 1, pp.30-31
New Orleans: Ragging Home (1974)

Bearden's work at nearby museums:

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, STL
Black Venus (1968), on display from 01/09/2025 - 07/21/2025

I recommend joining Lotus Stewart's Art History Kids website (The Studio) and getting access to her past lesson plans. I like her work, and find it's really helpful to have so many ideas that I can use as a jumping off point.

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week of Jan 6:

Mon

AM - "Collage of a Person" activity
from Using Art to Create Art, p.12


PM - "A Family Portrait Collage" activity
from Art History Kids, p.16

Tue

begin Grid journaling slowstitch style
as a Handwork project to work on during our Philosophy lessons

week of Jan 13:

Mon

design our own papers for collage using "Printing with threads and yarns" techniques from Jayne Emerson, set them aside to dry

Tue

design additional collage materials using "Printing on threads and yarns" techniques from Jayne Emerson, set them aside to dry

Wed

"A Collage That Features Your Passion" activity
from Art History Kids, p.26

week of Jan 20:

Mon

"Neighborhood Collage" activity
from Using Art to Create Art, p.15

Tue

learn about Cubism

read Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail by Laurence Anholt



see Picasso's work in 1950

Bearden traveled to Paris in 1950 and spent about seven months there. He met both Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque!

At the end of his visit Bearden did not want to leave. His friend, the cultural critic, essayist, and novelist Albert Murray, said, “Romie spent the whole day buying paper...all kinds of drawing papers—rice papers, special sizes and surfaces, different colors. His eyes got more and more moist the later it got.” One reason Bearden turned to songwriting in the 1950s was in hopes of raising funds for a return to Paris.

from National Gallery of Art packet, p.30

"Cut-Paper Portrait" activity (Pablo Picasso lesson plan)
from Using Art to Create Art, p.166

Wed

"Cubist-Style Leaves" activity (Georges Braque lesson plan)
from Using Art to Create Art, p.18

week of Jan 27:

Mon

AM - revisit Bearden's work and look at the influence of Cubism

"Collage of Faces" activity
from Using Art to Create Art, p.16


PM - "A Collage That Features Your Passion" activity
from Art History Kids, p.26

Tue

"Write a Poem Inspired by Collage" activity
from National Gallery of Art packet, p.23

Wed & Thu

"A Collage Series" activity
from Art History Kids, p.34

In addition to the Art History lesson for my regular school group (age 7-13), I'll have a Monday afternoon Art History class for early childhood (age 5-7). I think the "littles" will love Romare Bearden!

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