Art project for “In the Time of the Butterflies”

For the past two months, I’ve been filling in for Michael Roman as a substitute teacher for his 12th grade literature classes. We were reading In the Time of the Butterflies, a novel which aptly humanizes the historical story of the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic.

I assigned students an triptych drawing project to work on as they developed their essays about the novel. Tomorrow, students will hang their art.

The assignment:

Your assignment is to create a triptych that argues the visual, emotional case of your “In the Time of the Butterflies” essay.

Form: For each body paragraph of your essay, you will create a piece of artwork illustrating or inspired by the quote you have chosen. The quote should be included in the presentation of the artwork. You can decide how to present the artwork.

Technique: You can use the techniques we have experimented with in class - scribbling, to capture emotion, doodling collage, to convey complexity, free association, to explore concepts - as well as any other art technique. I recommend combining multiple techniques to match the mood of each scene in the book you are making art about.

Thoughtfulness: Use the art process to help you think deeper about the meaning of each quote so that the analysis in your essays will be stronger.

tripych : an artwork consisting of three panels.

The artwork will be graded based on:

Emotion

I scribbled and drew with very intense feeling to represent the full emotions of the topic.

Content

I made art in response to the the big ideas we are exploring. The art demonstrates an understanding of the subject.

Process

I made this art with an open mind, using ideas from my classmates and teacher - and from own subconscious mind.

Presentation

I presented my triptych in format that evokes the structure of my essay. One can see that the images are inspired by the quotes and that the whole project represents the importance of standing up for what you believe in.

Total effect

I made an interesting piece of art that conveys emotion and makes you think.