Mithila Painting: Folk Art of India

Exhibition

If you have the time and the desire to extend the lesson, you might choose to offer an exhibition of student work. If you are not a visual arts teacher, it would be helpful to seek assistance or collaboration for this final week. Mounting artwork, organizing it, and displaying it in a professional manner require knowledge of practices and materials that teachers outside the visual arts may not have.

In this optional exhibition week, students will organize an exhibition of their paintings and create educational materials for the public to understand the traditions of Mithila painting that inspired their artwork.

Duration: 4 class periods

Preparation:

Teacher must locate and arrange appropriate display space for the exhibit. This could be the school library, a multi-use room, or local venue used for other art exhibits. Teacher should make reservations for use of the space for given period of time.

Students will:

• organize an exhibit of class-created, Mithila-style paintings.
• contribute to the success of the show by advertising, organizing, or explaining it to visitors.
• reinforce their understanding of the relationship between Mithila painting and their own work.

Materials:

• student-produced paintings
• printed copies of each student's written assignment from Lesson Four
• matte-board for mounting/framing works
• hardware and adhesive materials to hang paintings and other show elements
• tagboard for mounting educational information in show
• printable labels to identify works
• large paper for poster (optional)
• projector (optional)
• paper for brochures/flyers (optional)

Document Management:

Before beginning this lesson, the teacher should create a shared folder on some sort of cloud storage platform (e.g. Googledocs, Dropbox, Box, the school LMS, etc.). Tell students that all show-related information should be stored here.

• Make the folder available to anyone in the class.
• Option 1: If you're using Googledocs, create a Google form called "Student Painting Information" to collect names, painting titles, painting explanations, the links to uploaded audio files, and QR codes. Send the form submissions to a spreadsheet and keep the spreadsheet in the folder. Make sure it is visible to the class.
• Option 2: Inside the folder, create a document or a spreadsheet called "Student Painting Information." This is where students will paste their names, painting titles, painting explanations, the links to uploaded audio files, and QR codes.
• If students create audio files explaining their work, they can upload the MP3 files to this folder. Make sure all MP3 files are open to anyone with the link.
• Create a naming convention for files so that all files have either student names or group names in their titles.

Day 1

Into:

Announce plan to present a show of student paintings and let students know the date the show will open.

Ask students, "How will we get people to come see our show?" and "How will we help visitors understand the connection between what they are seeing and Mithila painting?"

Encourage students who have visited museums or seen art shows to draw on their experience.

Through:

Explain to students that they will each have individual tasks, plus they will work in a group on either: (1) advertising the show, (2) organizing and hanging the show, or (3) explaining the work to visitors. Tell them that today they will complete their individual tasks and select (or be assigned to) a group for their group tasks.

Individual Tasks

Each student will write a one-paragraph explanation of their painting. They can use their written assignment from Lesson Four as a foundation.

Each student has the option of recording a 1-minute audio explanation of their painting. It should include different information than their paragraph and should focus on the stylistic choices they made in specific parts of their work. For example, they might explain why they chose to put a figure in a specific place or what they were trying to accomplish with a particular style of line. They can use a phone or a computer in a quiet location to do the recording. If they create an audio explanation, they will need to upload it and generate a QR code so that guests can access it. See below for more on how to do this.

Note: Alternatively, you might have students work in pairs to create audio-explanations of each others' pieces.

Each student should enter all their information into a single shared class document, including: (1) artist full name, (2) title of painting, (3) paragraph explanation of painting, and (4) a QR code (if applicable).

Group Tasks

Group tasks include, but are not limited to the following lists. With teacher permission, groups may modify tasks so long as they still meet the same goals.

Advertisingup to 6 students

• Photograph select students works.
• Choose a title for the show.
• Use graphics software to create interesting image(s) for social media posts, emails, and/or flyers.
• Post to social media, send emails, distribute flyers.
• Create poster for display or digital image to be projected at entrance to show.
• note: students may be able to use smartphones for photograph and graphic design

Organizing & Hanging

• Organize paintings into 3 - 5 meaningful categories based on theme or style. This must be completed on Day 3.
• Learn how to prepare painting for display.
• Matte/frame all paintings.
• Organize artist names, titles, and QR codes for work.
• Plan layout of show and hang work.
• Hang introductory show explanation and sub-category explanations.
• Print and hang painting labels.
• Print and hang painting QR codes.
• Hang entryway poster OR project an image against a wall near the entrance to the show.
• note: solicit suggestions from visual arts teachers regarding methods of mounting/hanging work
• note: organize names, titles, and QR codes into a spreadsheet for easy printing

Explainingup to 6 students

• Write a 2- 3 paragraph introduction to the show, explaining Mithila painting and introducing overall theme and styles of student works.
• Write a 1 - 2 paragraph explanation of each sub-category grouping of paintings. This can only be completed after the Organizing and Hanging group has organized the paintings into categories.
• Print explanatory text and mount on tagboard.

Note: You may wish to create a rubric for student participation that includes both their individual responsibilities and their work on group tasks.

After explaining all tasks and answering questions, give students the remainder of the day to write/edit their one-paragraph painting explanations. Remind them to use use their written assignment from Lesson Four as a foundation. If you decide to have them also do audio explanations, they can begin writing the script for their audio recording as well. 

Before class ends, you should let them pick their groups or assign them to groups.

Beyond:

For homework, if students will be creating audio explanations, they should finish writing their scripts. If they have access to a phone or computer at home, they should also record and upload their audio files. Remind them to record in a quiet space.

Day 2

Into:

Remind students that their ultimate goal is to present their work in a show. Explain that they have two jobs today. First, they should make sure that all their painting information is in the appropriate shared document. Second, they need to understand and begin their group tasks.

Through:

Part I

Give students 15 - 20 minutes to finish audio recordings, obtain QR codes, and get information into the correct location in the class folder. Assign more proficient students to help those experiencing technical  difficulties.

Note: They will need a quiet location for audio recording.

A QR code is similar to a bar code. There are numerous smartphone apps for scanning QR codes. When visitors come to your show, if they have smartphones, they will be able to scan the QR code posted with a painting and the code will take them directly to the audio file of the student explaining that work.

A Note about QR Codes

A simple search for "QR code generator" will yield lots of free options. This lesson is built around connecting a QR code to a url, but you really have two options.

Option 1: 

1. teacher selects QR code generator that connects QR code to a link
2. student creates audio file and saves as an MP3
3. student uploads MPS file to class folder
4. student gets shareable link to MP3 file
5. student pastes link into QR code generator and gets QR code
6. student saves QR code in designated spot in class folder

Option 2:

1. teacher selects QR code generator that allows upload of MP3 files
2. student creates audio file and saves as an MP3
3. student uploads MP3 file directly to QR code generator and gets QR code
4. student saves QR code in designated spot in class folder

Part II

Based on student skills, assign a project manager for each group. If a group has more than 6 students, you may also want to assign a recorder.

• project manager: facilitate group discussions, organize schedule of tasks, reassign people to tasks as needed, communicate with project managers of other groups
• recorder: take notes to keep track of plans and which students have committed to which tasks

Provide groups with basic list of tasks and ask them to discuss what each task will involve and which tasks need to be completed before others. They can add sub-tasks or modify tasks with teacher permission.

All notes should be kept in the class folder. By the end of Day 2, the group should have all tasks assigned to group members and approved by teacher.

The project manager should have fewer tasks than other students because s/he will be working to keep track of the entire project.

Beyond:

For homework, the project manager should work out a 3-day schedule for tasks and be prepared to organize their group to get to work the next day.

For homework all other group members may begin working on other tasks, as possible.

Day 3

Into:

Ask students to lay out their work around the room so that it is easily accessible to the Hanging and Organization group. Have them put the printed copy of their Lesson Four written assignment on top of their painting for reference.

Have students to sit in their groups and ask the project manager to explain what needs to be done for the day and remind group-members who is assigned to each task. Students may be reassigned from one task to another, as needed.

Through:

All students work on group tasks.

Note: Organizing and Hanging sub-group must organize paintings by theme or style before the end of class.

Note: If you have multiple class sections and limited space, you may want to build in a process for choosing a subset of class paintings for wall display and determine a way for visitors to also view non-displayed works, if interested.

Project managers and recorders should work on group tasks for first half of class. During the last 15 - 20 minutes of class, they should check in with all group members and get a sense of which tasks are on schedule, ahead of schedule, and behind schedule. Assign short homework tasks, as needed. This information should be recorded.

Before the end of class, the three project managers should check in with the teacher.

Beyond:

For homework, the project manager should review and alter the task schedule and assignments as needed.

For homework, all other group members may work on other tasks, as assigned.

Day 4

Into:

Have students to sit in their groups and ask the project manager for each group to explain what needs to be done for the day and remind students of who is assigned to each task. Students may be reassigned from one task to another, as needed.

Through:

All students work on group tasks.

Note: 1 - 3 students from Organizing and Hanging should explain the show organization to 1 - 2 members from each other group. How and why have they divided the work into categories? The other groups will need this information to appropriately title the show and explain the sub-categories of paintings.

During the last 15 - 20 minutes of class, project managers/recorders should check in with all group members and get a sense of which tasks are on schedule, ahead of schedule, and behind schedule. Assign short homework tasks, as needed. This information should be recorded.

Before the end of class, the three project managers should check in with the teacher.

Beyond:

For homework, the project manager should review and alter the task schedule and assignments as needed.

For homework, all other group members may work on other tasks, as assigned.

Day 5

Into:

Remind students this is their final day of preparation for their show.

Have students to sit in their groups and ask the project manager for each group to explain what needs to be done to complete the task list and remind students of who is assigned to each task. Students may be reassigned from one task to another, as needed.

Through:

At the start of class, project managers should check in with the teacher. The teacher may choose to assign students across groups, if necessary.

Students should aim to complete tasks 15 minutes before class ends.

Reconvene as a class 15 minutes before class ends and assess progress and last-minute needs. 

Beyond:

Students should tie up final tasks before the show opens.

Each student should write a self-assessment about their contribution to the class endeavor. If you provided a rubric or standards at the start of the project, have them refer to it in their self-assessment.