Multicultural Collage

Art and Social Studies Activity

WHAT YOU NEED

• Mixed media, such as magazine photos and ads of many different peoples, torn construction paper, cloth scraps, and packaging
• Large construction/drawing paper/poster board
• Scissors
• Glue or paste

WHAT TO DO

1. Tell students that they are each going to create a collage using any or all of the media you have collected. Explain that they are to use the variety of materials to represent the diversity of people in this country or in one of the countries to our north or south. Encourage students to think of ways they might use the materials to represent that theme. To stimulate student thinking, suggest the following possibilities:
   • Show a structure, such as the Statue of Liberty. Use many different faces, colors, and textures to build up the figure.
   • Form the composite portrait of a single person, using features from pictures of many different people.
   • Show a building, such as the Capitol, using bits from many different pictures.
   • Create a map of the country. Give it a three-dimensional effect by using different kinds of material.

2. Have students share their work and give an oral explanation of how and why they chose their subject.

TEACHING OPTIONS

Have students write a statement or find a quotation of a famous person (such as Martin Luther King) that they feel captures the spirit of their collage. Have them carefully print out the lines and display them with their collage.

Create a mural by arranging all the collages to form one large design. Unify the arrangement by using colorful materials to form a background and the borders.

Use the collages as setting for a multicultural festival of art, poetry, and music from North America and the Caribbean.