How would you feel if you were only represented by your skin color? Art and Feelings

How might you visually represent a sample of students at your school? Inquiring Minds

How have artists traditionally captured a person’s likeness? Artists and Society

What doesn’t this work of art tell the viewer about the students at UT? Between the Lines

Byron Kim, Synecdoche, 1991/1998, 44 × 31 3/4 in. total (10 x 8 in. each), oil and wax on twenty panels, Michener Acquisitions Fund, 1998

AdrianeJaeckle

AmyHsu

AnthonyWhite

AutumnMcDonald

BarbaraRigney

BobbySneed

Carlos Martinez

FahdSunasara

JamesHaynes

JayRaman

JonathanThornhill

Karl Jones

KellyBaggett

KevinRanlett

MarianneKinkel

MindyLeague

NathanDube

Serge Prudhomme

SusanCollins

ZoëCharltan

Byron KimLa Jolla, California, 1961 – Brooklyn, New York, present

Synecdoche, 1991/1998Oil and wax on twenty panelsMichener Acquisitions Fund, 1998.77.1/20–20/20

A sly and skillful tribute to the intersection of abstraction and representation in painting, Synecdoche also makes a potent statement about identity. At first, this work looks like a series of monochromatic paintings, but the title—and the accompanying list of names—reveals its own particular history. In 1996, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against The University of Texas at Austin’s affirmative action policy, citing that the university “may not use race as a factor in deciding which applicants to admit.” In response, the Blanton Museum of Art commissioned Kim to create a portrait of the university. Each panel replicates the skin color of one of twenty people that Kim randomly encountered on campus. “Synecdoche” means a small part that stands for the larger whole. Here the twenty panels stand in for the larger university population.

Lesson PLan

Contemporary Class Portraits

Grades: 3–8

Duration: 55 minutes

Essential Question: How might you visually represent the stu-dents in your class?

TEKS Correlations: Art

(3.b.1, 4.b.1, 5.b.1, 6.c.1, 7.c.1, 8.c.1) The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment.

(3.b.2, 4.b.2, 5.b.2, 6.c.2, 7.1.2, 8.c.2) The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appro-priate skill.

(3.b.4, 4.b.4, 5.b.4, 6.c.4, 7.c.4, 8.c.4) The student makes in-formed judgments about personal artworks and the artworks of others.

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to...1. choose materials that will assist formulating a visual represen-

tation of a sample of students in the class. 2. articulate their decision-making process and respect divergent

opinions of their peers. 3. work collaboratively to create a visual representation of the

students in their class. Materials: Will vary depending on student choices.

Resources

http://collection.blantonmuseum.org http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/34/807

About the Artwork/Artist

A skillful tribute to the intersection of abstraction and represen-tation in painting, Synecdoche is also a potent statement about identity. At first glance, Synecdoche reads like a series of austere, monochromatic paintings, ranging from light pink to very dark brown. Then the viewer discovers a nearby list of twenty names in a gridded format that parallels the panels’ arrangement and so concludes that these panels are, in fact, portraits. The hue of each panel replicates the skin color of each of the twenty people that Byron Kim randomly encountered on The University of Texas campus in Austin.

Synecdoche is a term in literary criticism meaning a part that stands in for a whole. Here it refers at once to the color of each panel (which stands in for the individual sitter) and to all of the panels together (which stand in for the university population).

Yet by conflating painting and personhood in such an irreverent manner, the work points to the futility—the absurdity even—of reducing human beings to their skin color alone.

Introduction to artwork (10 minutes)

Using the same strategy that students learn at the Blanton, invite them to silently LOOK at Byron Kim’s Synecdoche. Next, ask stu-dents to DESCRIBE what they see. After taking full inventory, students should move on to ANALYZING the artwork. As facilitator, the teacher should link observations and descriptions to assist student analysis. Information about the artist and artwork may also be inserted.

Finally, students should be asked to RELATE their discussion to their own lives. How might they feel if they were represented by their skin color? How else could students be represented? What might best represent them? Do they feel that Byron Kim’s sample is an accurate representation of students at UT? Why or why not?

Activity (30 minutes)

Brainstorm with students how they might create a visual repre-sentation of their class. What object or objects would they select to represent the whole group? Will each student choose one item or will the students select a sample of objects to represent the entire group, similar to Synecdoche? Will all of these items be the same or will they be different? Will objects be ephemeral such as handwriting or homework, or will they be objects used every day like backpacks and shoes? Once students have made their decisions, they should work collaboratively to determine how and where their contemporary class portrait will be arranged. Formal qualities such as composition and the scale of objects should be considered. The teacher might want to designate one or two students as chief curators— students who lead the object arrangement process. Other students might be preparators—students who assist with getting objects ready.

Wrap-up (15 minutes)

Use the same strategy as before to look closely at the completed contemporary class portrait. LOOK, DESCRIBE, ANALYZE, and RELATE. How is this similar to Synecdoche? How is it dif-ferent? What might you change about the portrait you created? How would you approach this project if creating on for your entire school? For your neighborhood? With your friends?

Extensions

Try this activity at home! What is different about doing this with your family members?