Deconstruction and Reconstruction: The Family Experience

Deconstruction and Reconstruction:
The Family Experience
Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts
May 12 — June 2, 2006

Deconstruction and Reconstruction:
The Family Experience
Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts
May 12 - June 2, 2006
An Educational Supplement to the Museum’s Exhibition
Table of Contents
Families: How They Have Evolved .........................................................................2
Family Depictions in Art Through History................................................................4
Family Depictions in Art Through History: The Images ...........................................7
Quotes on Family....................................................................................................11
Artists: Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher.........................................................13
Artist: Andrew Joseph Ortiz ....................................................................................15
Artist: Laura Straus .................................................................................................17
Artist: Chelsy Walker...............................................................................................19
Lesson Plan 1: Photographing Families..................................................................21
Lesson Plan 2: Family Tree ....................................................................................23
Lesson Plan 3: Analysis Fun!..................................................................................25
Vocabulary Sheet .............................................................................27
Worksheet ........................................................................................28
Lesson Plan 4: Families are Unique .......................................................................29
Worksheet........................................................................................31
Bibliography ............................................................................................................32
Sunshine State Standards ......................................................................................33
Selected Image List ................................................................................................35
Edited by Emilee Hubbard and Viki D. Thompson Wylder
Graphic Design by Emilee Hubbard
This educational packet was written by Emilee Hubbard under the direction of Viki D.
Thompson Wylder, Curator of Education, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.
Tours Available: Contact Viki D. Thompson Wylder at 644-1299
Cover: Laura Straus, Mamaronech, NY: Rafferty Family
*Images for one-time educational use only.
1

Kais, Jamal, and Malach, Palestinian Americans
Charles Rushton
Families: How They Have Evolved
The American family looks much different than it did in the time of television
shows like Ozzie and Harriet. During the post-war years, when shows like this ran on
the air, Americans celebrated the nuclear family. The nuclear family consists of a
breadwinning dad, homemaker mom, and two to three children. The name “nuclear”
was coined long after the concept of the nuclear family arose. The nuclear family was
first conceived during the Middle Ages in Europe. Even though the idea of the nuclear
family has existed for a long time, it rarely embodied the majority of families in human
history. Many still seek this ideal today.
If we take a snapshot of families in 1960 and 2000, we can see how different
they are. After the world wars, America sought stability. The year 1960 marks the heart
of this period. From the 1940s to the 1960s the nuclear family thrived. Through a look
at statistics for the year 1960 and 2000, the differences
in the American family are clear. The divorce rate
doubled. In 1960, ¼ of all marriages ended in divorce.
In 2000, that rate rose to ½. The percentage of single
parent families with children under 18 went from 5% to
13%. Only 5% of children were born to unmarried
mothers in 1960; in 2000 the number jumped to 33%.
The percentage of the marriageable population actually
married dropped 15%. Americans are marrying later;
the average age of women was 20 and men 23 in 1960.
In 2000, the average age for women was 25 and for
men, 27. The number of children in the family has
decreased since 1960 from 2.3 kids to 1.9 per family.
These statistics can lead to a number of conclusions
about the American family today and its future, but in
general families are becoming more diverse and more
realistic than idealistic.
In the earliest days, humans approached the
issue of family in practical fashion. Early humans “pair-bonded,” marriage-like, mainly
to take care of their children. They were grouped together through extended families for
survival. Since the Middle Ages and the development of the idea of “The Holy Family,”
society eventually developed one idealized goal, the nuclear family. This ideal has
been sought even in times when it became impractical. The Commercial and Industrial
Revolutions brought a new emphasis on education, especially of women. As time
passed more women gradually achieved higher education and eventually more women
were working outside the home. The emphasis on extended education for both sexes
delayed marriage. The homemaker mom diminished during the world wars, particularly
WWII, when a large number of women entered the workforce, the result of the absence
of men. After WWII, there was a slight increase in divorce. Yet, after these years of
women working outside the home and a rise in the divorce rate, the concept of the
nuclear family was never stronger.
2

After the 1960s the nuclear family was on the decline, and still is today. Yet,
Americans remain nostalgic for the “good old days” when mom stayed at home and had
dinner on the table when dad returned from work. The “good old days,” however,
existed only during a very small fraction of historical time. Families rarely operated in
nuclear fashion before the 1940s.
When Americans finally reached that ideal of the nuclear family, why did it
decline so rapidly? The number one reason centers on young mothers who tend to
work outside the home. With the advent of educational and valuable career
opportunities, women are starting families later and no longer looking for financial
security as their major reason for marriage.
Yet today women still do 2/3 of the housework and 4/5 of the childcare. The idea
of the nuclear family has not been completely abandoned. Although nostalgia for
nuclear roles still exists, families on television
shows have changed from Ozzie and
Harriet’s nuclear structure. Shows like
Friends have numerous examples of modern
families; divorced parents, same sex
marriage, single parents, and adoption are all
portrayed on the show. Yet, the cleaning
product commercials on television still pitch
to married women. What effect will come
from this idealized nostalgia mixed with the
realism of women working outside the home?
Does the future hold a return to realism in
family life or will we still seek the nuclear
family?
New directions in society are taking
Eleanor at the Computer, Dad Watching
Cathy Lees
place. Society accepts, to varying degrees, single parents, foster parents, mixed race
parents, same sex parents, disabled family members, and combination homes with one
or both parents having children from previous marriages. Many couples will go to
couples counseling now to try to reconcile before making the decision to divorce. As
stated, one half of marriages are ending in divorce. However, the other half are making
these new family situations work. Accommodations are being made for young children
of working moms. We have daycares, after school care, stay-at-home dads, and
opportunities to work at home and make money. It seems as though Americans today,
with all the accommodations being made, are heading toward a more realistic view of
the family.
3

Depictions of Family Through Art History
The portrayal of family arises throughout the history of art. Styles vary
and themes differ, but as is natural for the human race, the family is always
present. In some epochs, family is a main theme and in other periods it is not as
prevalent yet still exists. Some major types of family representations emerge.
They are the Marriage Portrait, Artists’ Families, the Symbolic Family, the
Everyday Family, and the Noble Family. We will explore the different themes in
which family has been depicted through the history of primarily Western art.
The Marriage Portrait was one of the earliest of “family in art” types to be
formulated. Affectionate couples appeared surprisingly early. However, the
marriage portrait was not moved out of tombs and into the home until the 1 st
century BCE. Marriage portraits placed in the
home from this time are equivalent to modern
wedding portraits, reminiscent of the modern
couple commissioning a portrait to celebrate
their marriage. Depending on the era, the
celebratory wedding portrait was executed in
the contemporary style in which it was
commissioned and portrayed the contemporary
marriage culture. Sometimes the artists chose
to show their contemporary marriage culture as
negative as in William Hogarth’s series,
Marriage a la Mode. However, the overall
Doll Family Sculptures
Pat Magers
Frances (England), Lek, Nick – Thailand
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
2003
theme of marriage portraits was an increasing emphasis on a realistic vision of
the couple.
Artists also chose to represent family in their artworks by featuring a
Symbolic Family. This Symbolic Family portrait generally included Mary, Joseph,
and Jesus from the Christian religion or the
Roman and Greek gods from mythological
stories. These Symbolic Family images were
widespread throughout art history. The era that
favored the Holy Family was the Italian
Renaissance, yet its frequent portrayal occurred
long before as a staple in the Middle Ages. The
many “Virgin and Child” paintings, nativity scenes,
and pietas represent the love between parent and
child. The Italian Renaissance painters also
depicted Roman gods who represented certain
attributes of family.
These family works, whether Christian or mythological, sometimes
bestowed importance to extended family. Many Christian paintings of the Holy
Family include cousins and aunts. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon
drawing, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Infant Saint John shows Jesus’
grandmother and second cousin. Mythological works of Roman and Greek gods
4

often show various figures in family roles and relationships as in Titian’s painting
of a potential husband and wife, Bacchus and Adriadne.
Artists sometimes portray family by depicting their own families. In the
Italian Renaissance the few women artists during the era had limited access to
models. Sometimes a woman artist chose to paint her most accessible subject,
her own family. For example, Sofonisba Anguissola painted Portrait of the
Artist’s Sisters and Brother. This is not exclusive to women artists of the Italian
Renaissance. Women artists did this
throughout art history and many men worked in
this tradition as well. In the Rococo era,
François Boucher used his family as models in
his painting titled The Luncheon. Artists may
find their families as unique entities. The
access to the family makes it an easy subject to
use.
In the early eighteenth century, artists
occasionally painted their own families to show
the wealth of the family and to highlight fond
Family Rituals: Discount Store #4
Severn Eaton
Untitled #1
Laine Wyatt
interaction between children and elders. Women artists, with the ability to carry a
child, sometimes chose to portray their maternal attributes in their works.
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s painting, Self-Portrait with Her Daughter, emphasizes
this attribute.
Other artists painted family members who resided far away geographically
or members that were deceased. The artists’ longing for the missing family
members was usually the reason behind the subject choice. For example,
Arshille Gorky painted The Artist and His Mother several years after her death.
The artists who chose to portray their own families did so for many
reasons. As stated, one incentive was the family’s ready availability, especially
for early women artists. Another reason was the desire to honor the family and
its influence. Families acculturate or “frame” the people within them. These
artists, in turn, literally reversed the framing by placing family within the confines
of their canvases. By putting their families into their works, these artists revealed
a bit of their own personalities through the people closest to them or at least
revealed those traits they wanted the public to see.
An extension of the Artists’ Family Portrait
was the portrayal of the Everyday Family. Some
artists chose to show what we see everyday in
our own family lives and in other families around
us. Dependent on the time period in which it
was painted the Everyday Family Portrait
emphasized one family member or the other. In
the first half of the eighteenth century the
importance of the mother’s role in the family was
emphasized. An example of this is the painting
by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin titled Mother’s
Advice. In the second half of that century, the
5

father became central to the family. This can be seen in the painting titled The
Village Bride by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Despite the title, the father figure is
placed at the center of the canvas with his family extending compositionally to
the left and the right. At the end of the nineteenth century, importance centered
on the child in the artwork. For example, Félix Vallottan painted Dinner by
Lamplight in which the child is centralized and becomes the focal point.
As in the Marriage Portrait, Everyday Families were not always depicted in
a celebratory way. Some artists chose to portray problems in common families.
Some chose to depict everyday families in a didactic manner hoping to influence
society by visual example. An artist who did this was Jan Steen as in his
painting, The Dissolute Household.
The artists who chose to represent the Everyday
Family did so in the styles of their own epochs. The artists
placed emphasis on what they saw as important and what
their society deemed as important in family life.
In opposition to the Everyday Family other artists
chose to portray the Noble Family life. The Noble Family
consisted of royalty, aristocrats, gentry, and so on.
Royalty had, for a long time, commissioned likenesses of
themselves and their families. There are hundreds of
models of these. Some of these artworks included
religious scenes. The noble family wanted renditions of
themselves witnessing the scene within the painting. An
example of this is the painting Madonna of the Pesaro
Family by Titian. Artwork containing representations of
Mother and Daughter
Janet McKenzie
royal families can even be found in the Egyptian pyramids. Royal and noble
families still commission artists in a similar fashion today.
Depictions of family retain their importance in our own time, though new
sub-genres may be developing. Images in this section are indicative. Illustrated
works like Severn Eaton’s Family Rituals: Discount Store #4 or Laine Wyatt’s
Untitled #1 fall into such historical categories as the Everyday Family. Pat
Mager’s Doll Family Sculptures bear a resemblance to the Symbolic Family
category. Works like those by Bezzubov, Sucher, and McKenzie strike new
notes in family representation. Bezzubov and Sucher show an English mother
and a Thai father with their mixed race son. McKenzie’s Mother and Daughter
image shows a mother of color with a blond-haired child. Both these works,
suggestive of the global society of today, point to the emergence of artwork
emphasizing the multicultural composition of many contemporary families. The
Multicultural Family, and other new sub-genres, may be joining those found
traditionally in art history.
The existence of sub-genres of the family portrait testifies to the popularity
and significance of the family theme art historically. These various sub-genres,
the Noble Family, the Everyday Family, the Symbolic Family, Artists’ Families,
the Marriage Portrait, as well as those developing today, all reflect the art style
contemporaneous to their making, but more importantly they reflect western
culture’s view of family’s place, function, and intricacies over time.
6

Family Depictions in Art through History
The Images
Raherka and Merseankh,
Husband and Wife
c. 2500-2350 BCE
Egyptain
A painted
limestone statue
found in a tomb
shows a wedded
couple embracing
affectionately.
Pompeii
c. 70-69 CE
The Marriage Portrait
The marriage
portrait is placed
in the home. This
portrait is painted
on the wall, and is
equivalent to the
modern day
celebratory
wedding portrait.
Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini
and Giovanna Cenami
1434
Jan van Eyck
This painting is a
typical celebratory
marriage portrait done
in a naturalistic style of
the time it was
comssioned.
Sarcophagus of the Wedded Couple
Late 6 th century BCE
Etruscan
This piece, made of
terracotta, shows another
affectionate couple in a
conversation or
interaction of some sort.
These affectionate
couples are surprising in
early art.
From series Marriage a la Mode
1744
William Hogarth
In this series, Hogarth
paints the failing of a
marriage. These
paintings give a negative
portrayal of the marriage
and family culture of
Hogarth’s contemporaries.
7

Virgin and Child with
Saint Anne and the
Infant Saint John
Leonardo da Vinci
Virgin and Child with Saint
Anne and a lamb
c. 1510
Leonardo da Vinci
Portrait of the Artist’s
Sisters and Brother
1555
Sofonisba Anguissola
This female artist
regularly painted
her family because
during this time it
was her most
accessible subject.
Self-Portrait with Her Daughter
1786
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
The artist portrays
herself and her
daughter to
emphasize her
own maternity,
her own ability to
produce family.
The Symbolic Family
These images show
grandmother,
mother, child,
grandchild, second
cousin, and greataunt
relations.
These relationships
are seen though the
portrayals of Mary,
Saint Anne, Saint
John the Baptiste,
and Jesus.
Artists’ Families
The Luncheon
1739
François Boucher
Bacchus and Adriadne
1520
Titian
The Roman god
Bacchus shows his
love for the
returning Adriadne
in a proposal for
marriage.
This painting shows
the fashionable
interior, the wealth,
and the fond
interactions between
the children and
elders in the Boucher
family.
The Artist and His Mother
1926-1936
Arshille Gorky
This painting shows
the artist’s longing
for his mother who
died several years
before he painted
this work.
8

S
Gaul and his Wife
225 CE
Hellenistic
It was traditional
for a Gaul male to
take his wife and
children with him
to battle
campaigns. These
soldiers took what
was important to
them.
The Everyday Family
Peasant Wedding Feast
1567
Pieter Brughel the Elder
The Northern
Renaissance artists
produced many scenes
of common family life
like this one.
The Dissolute Household
c. 1668
Jan Steen
This didactic painting
shows how laziness
among other things
can lead to chaos
within a household.
The Villiage Bride
1761
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Greuze shows the
father as central to
the family in this
painting.
Squirt
1982
Eric Fischl
Fischl represents
middle class America in
many of his works.
This painting shows the
misbehaving boy and
the general events in
which the middle class
takes part.
January from The Book of Hours
Early 15 th century
The Limborg Brothers
Many of the
medieval illustrations
in the book are
concerned with
family focusing on
courtship rituals and
community activities.
A Mother Beside a Cradle
c. 1659
Pieter de Hooch
This painting is not
celebrating common
family life.
Rather,the artist is
showing a mother,
distant both
physically and
emotionally, from
her child.
Mother’s Advice
1738
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
This painting gives
importance to the
mother’s role in
the family
emphasized in the
contemporary
society of the
time.
Dinner by Lamplight
1899
Félix Vallottan
Along with his
contemporaries,
Vallottan gives
importance to
the child.
9

Madoona of the Pesaro Family
1519-1526
Titian
Titian portrays a
religious scene with the
patron and his family
looking onto the event.
The family, as painted,
only shows males. The
Pesaro family did not
consist of only males,
but the female
members were not
valued enough to be
painted.
The Noble Family
Las Meninas
1656
Diego Velásquez
This is a scene
of rich patrons
looking on to
their young
daughter having
her portrait
painted.
10

Quotes on Family
“Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother,
Why wert not thou born in my father’s dwelling?”
- Charles Lamb
“Nobody’s family can hang out the sign, ‘Nothing the matter here.’”
- Chinese Proverb
“Family jokes, though rightly cursed by strangers, are the bond that keeps most
families alive.”
- Stella Benson
“Home is where the heart is.”
- Pliny the Elder
“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life
sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding
shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain
and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying
to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.”
- Erma Bombeck
“All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its
own fashion.”
- Leo Tolstoy
“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at the
home in the bosom of my family.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“I hate to be a failure. I hate and regret the failure of my marriages. I would
gladly give all my millions for just one lasting marital success.”
- J. Paul Getty
“Although today there are many trial marriages…there is no such thing as a trial
child.”
- Gail Sheehy
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the world in which we live.”
- Pope John Paul II
“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.”
- George Santayana
11

“The family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of
everyday living.”
- Charles Swindoll
“Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.”
- Andre Maurois
“The family is the nucleus of civilization.”
- Will Durant
“No one knows a son better than the father.”
- Chinese Proverb
“If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional
family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes
at the fair, you’ll be going, ‘you know, we’re alright. We are dang near royalty.”
- Jeff Foxworthy
“Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest
knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.”
- Oscar Wilde
“The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the
free man makes for himself and by himself.”
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton
“It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.”
- Johan Schiller
“Family isn’t about whose blood you have. It’s about who you care about.”
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone
12

Artists: Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
Thai Family
2002
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher started their series, Families, after
coming across a phenomenon in Costa Rica. They encountered a German
environmentalist in Costa Rica married to a native. They soon discovered this is
not rare. The two photographers traveled through Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Thailand, and Cambodia to find Westerners, mainly men, moving to these
developing countries to marry natives. The Westerners hailed primarily from
homelands in Europe and North America. These people wanted to marry into
paradise.
This phenomenon quickly found its way into Bezzubov and Sucher’s
photography. They posed the couples for the camera, yet not in a formal
manner. The couples are sometimes accompanied by their children. Behind the
figures, the backgrounds show the paradise-like landscapes the Westerners
desired. Bezzubov and Sucher photograph in color to enhance the landscapes
as well as the varying ethnicities of the families.
13

Although paradise is in the background, the expressions on the faces of
the families do not suggest they are living a utopian lifestyle. None of the family
members in the photographs smile; rather they look quite solemn. Each of the
figures stand next to each other, yet no connections nor loving interactions are
photographed.
Bezzubov and Sucher comment on the native aspirations that become
part of these family relationships. The native half in each marriage carries as
many, yet different, hopes and dreams as the Western half. The native family
members have fancied illusions of money and security symbolized by marrying a
Westerner. Yet these Westerners may no longer command the same earning
power. They have left their jobs in Europe and North America and have a new
source of income based on the new homeland economy. Family finance issues
arise for many of these couples. Bezzubov and Sucher say, “Perhaps the same
frustrations they left in the West” arise in their new homes. The Westerners
dreams of paradise break down when local politics and customs make divisions
in their marriages. The idealistic goals are not fulfilled, but the families still exist
and endure.
Wesley and Maria
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
Yuri, Surayoum, Carsten (Germany), - Costa Rica
2002
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
14

Artist: Andrew Joseph Ortiz
Family Structure 4
1995
Andrew Joseph Ortiz
Andrew Joseph Ortiz was born in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrants.
Yet, because he was born and raised in the U.S. he feels an inconsistency
between his lineages. In his artwork, he and his Spanish-speaking parents are
often shown in conflict. Ortiz does not speak the same language as his parents.
Cultural conflict erupts within his family and undermines his sense of self. The
identity clash Ortiz includes in his artwork carries meaning for all people who
have such issues within their families and society.
Ortiz moved to Texas in 1997. This move energized his curiosity about
his heritage and his own cultural identity. He started a series in 1999 titled,
Disconnection/Reconnection. In this series Ortiz “visually explores and
comments on feelings of cultural alienation and…attempt[s] to ‘reconnect’ with
his heritage.” This issue continues to appear and evolve in Ortiz’s work.
Ortiz’s art relates not only to an audience raised in the U.S. by parents of
a foreign heritage, but his work transcends cultural boundaries. His works are
understood by all people who deal with miscommunication within their families.
15

The miscommunication, as Ortiz describes it, is “both literal…and on an
emotional level.” Ortiz includes text in his pieces to clarify the story line centered
on his family’s disconnection and his place within his family.
Andrew Joseph Ortiz’s series in the Family Experience is titled Mi Familia:
Words Unspoken, Words Unheard. The title itself emphasizes the separation
created by language. Part of the title utilizes Spanish words and part of the title
is written in English. Each piece in this series is a scanned collage of
photographs and objects to create unique images of sometimes jumbled and
other times uncluttered scenes. Ortiz handwrites text on the bottom of each
piece. The series is fearless in its revelation of the artist’s personal family life
from his childhood to present. Ortiz creates work based on his family, but he
surmounts simply personal expression by making the work symbolic for
situations in many families.
Stretching Line
1995
Andrew Joseph Ortiz
16

Birmingham, Alabama: Nadine and Frank
Laura Straus
Artist: Laura Straus
Laura Straus began her career as a photographer after years spent in
photo editing. As an editor she worked closely with the works of photographers
such as Cartier-Bresson, Sebastiao Salgado, and Eugene Richards. The
photography of these artists became key influences in her own work. Her
photography style is that of the photo essay. Her subject matter deals mainly
with family and relationships.
Laura Straus’s photography of families takes on the various cultures and
classes of American society. In 2002, Straus started working in The Fields
Project, in which she documented the lives of a four-generation farming family in
Oregon, Illinois. She also documented a Mexican-American family in Texas for a
small project. Laura Straus says her goal is to “live with twelve families in
America – from the Northeast and South to Midwest, North, and Southwest.”
Her American family photography is usually focused on children. Some works
take on the family through the children’s eyes, while others show interactions
within the relationships between parents and children. She explains, “Family is
the first love that we live in and see through – it is the primary source from which
all our other relationships and ways of seeing the world are formed. Watching
families interact, with an emphasis on children, has become a powerful tool for
exploring my many questions about the way we love.”
17

Love is as present in her photography as the families themselves. Her
photo essay style shows each family’s unique bond and the way in which they
survive as a loving unit.
Mamaronech, NY: Rafferty Family
Laura Straus
Greene Family
Laura Straus
18

Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
Artist: Chelsy Walker
Chelsy Walker began her work on family due to a persistent need to learn
about her ancestors. She went through numerous microfilms to catch a glimpse
of someone related to her. Walker believes, “we are all a product of the
traditions of our fore[parents].” She searched for her own identity and that of her
immediate family. Records such as census records, death records, cemetery
listings, or obituaries may seem trivial in the search for identity, but to Chelsy
Walker they mean everything. She says she relates the records she finds to an
“’I was here’ scribbled on the wall and then dated; a proof of presence, of being.”
Walker also seeks to find some sort of synopsis of each ancestor’s life. This
biographical aspect of archived records is, as she says, “so inadequate, so
indescript, a mere passing of a windblown seed, planted in my mind, yet without
form or face.”
These ideas led Chelsy Walker to make Seeds of the Family. In this
installation she links her family’s past to the present. Each seed represents one
of her ancestors. Walker explains this piece by saying, “the parachute-type windcatching
part of the seed is made up of all the records that I have found for one
particular individual.” Each whole seed of the installation is slightly different,
representing the unique ancestor or family member. Together these seeds,
19

these individuals, make a whole, a family. She reminds viewers of the human
origins of her work by having a resin-cast foot act as the actual seedling.
Detail
Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
Detail
Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
20

Lesson Plan 1
Photographing Families
Session Activity: Students will be introduced to artwork by Sasha Bezzubov,
Jessica Sucher, Anya E. Liftig, Robin Radin, Charles Rushton, Laura Straus, and
M. Laine Wyatt. Students will participate in an activity that will require them to
photograph their families and then aesthetically judge their own work.
Levels: 3-12
Key Concepts/Objectives:
1) The students will become familiar with the artwork of family photographers
through analysis and discussion of their work.
2) The students will create art from scenes of their own families.
3) The students will learn to evaluate their own artwork.
Materials:
1) CD-Rom
2) Computer/Projector
3) Cameras
Vocabulary:
1) Pose
Procedure:
1) Explain to students how families have evolved since the 1960’s. Review
the section titled “Families: How They Have Evolved.”
2) Follow up with images of family photography (all images can be found on
the CD at the end of the packet):
• Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher, Frances (England), Lek, Nick
– Thailand, 2003
• Anya E. Liftig, Untitled #1
• Robin Radin, July Fourth
• Charles Rushton, Kais, Jamal, and Malach, Palestinian Americans
• Laura Straus, Greene Family
• M. Laine Wyatt, Untitled #1 and Untitled #6
3) For each image ask the following questions:
• Describe what you see in the photograph.
• How are the people in the photograph related?
• Does this look like a photograph from your family album? What is
different or the same?
• Are the people in the photograph posed? If yes, describe the pose.
21

• Do you think this is the only photograph the photographer took of
the family?
• How does the photograph make you feel?
• What is special about this family? How can you tell?
4) Talk to the students about how they intend to pose their family members
or not pose them; how they intend to show something special about their
families.
5) Have the students take multiple photographs of their families.
6) When the prints have been developed, have students bring them to class.
7) Students will then pick their best ones to show what is special about their
families – students will make an aesthetic judgement.
8) Students can then share with the class the photographs they chose to
represent their families. Students will explain the reasons for their
choices.
Evaluation:
Students will show an understanding of the photography of chosen Family
Experience artists and of their own family through discussion and through the
process of photographing their families. They will understand criteria used to
evaluate the intent and message of an artwork.
22

Lesson Plan 2
Family Tree
Session Activity: Students will be introduced to the artwork of Chelsy Walker
and Inga Finch. Students will participate in an activity that will require them to
make a classroom family tree.
Levels: Grades 3 – 6
Key Concepts/Objectives:
1) The students will become familiar with the work of Chelsy Walker and Inga
Finch through analysis and discussion of their work.
2) The students will learn what makes a family.
3) The students will make a family tree with the entire class.
Materials:
1) CD-Rom
2) Computer/Projector
3) Scissor
4) Glue
5) Bulletin Board
Variation 1
6) Markers
7) Paper
Variation 2
8) Photographs
9) Copy Machine
Vocabulary:
Family Tree
Ancestors
Procedure:
1) Begin by having a discussion about what makes a family, about who the
members of a family can be. Ask the following questions:
• Who are the members in your family?
• Would you include anyone else?
• Can your friends, pets, or neighbors be your family? Why or why
not?
2) Follow up with images of family trees (all images can be found on the CD
at the end of the packet):
• Inga Finch, The Family Tree
• Chelsy Walker, Seeds of the Family
23

3) For each image ask the following questions:
• What is a family tree?
• What makes this family tree distinctive?
• Who is usually placed in a family tree?
• Do you think the artist might include any people other than relatives
in her tree?
• Do you think she would exclude some people to whom she was
related? Why or why not?
4) Make a bulletin board with a tree trunk drawn on it.
Variation 1
5) Have the students draw family members individually or as groups. Have
the students write the names and relations of the people on their drawings.
6) Have students cut around the family members to create leaf shapes.
7) Glue all the leaves to the bulletin board to form the treetop.
Variation 2
8) Have the students bring in photographs of their families.
9) Photocopy the pictures and hand them back to the students.
10) Have students cut out their photocopied pictures into leaf shapes.
11) Glue the leaves to the bulletin board to form the treetop.
12) Ask the following questions upon completion of the classroom family tree:
• What makes our tree unique?
• Can all the people in our tree be a family? Why or why not?
• Do you think the family members you included will always be your
family or will they change?
Evaluation:
Students will show an understanding of whom a family consists through their
responses to discussion questions, through an understanding of the work of Inga
Finch and Chelsy Walker, and through the pictures they contribute to the
classroom family tree.
24

Lesson Plan 3
Analysis Fun!
Session Activity: Students will be introduced to selected artists from The
Family Experience exhibition. These artists are Severn Eaton, Cathy Lees,
Andrew Joseph Ortiz, and Pat Ward Williams. Students will participate in an
activity that will require them to analyze an artwork though a critical analysis
process.
Levels: Grades 6 – 12
Key Concepts/Objectives:
1) The students will become familiar with selected Family Experience
artwork.
2) The students will learn to evaluate art and its meaning through the critical
analysis of a work.
Materials:
1) CD-Rom
2) Computer Projector
3) Worksheets
4) Vocabulary Lists
5) Pencils
Vocabulary:
1) Elements of Design
2) Principles of Design
Procedure:
1) Hand out vocabulary lists and discuss with the class the definitions of the
elements of design and the principles of design.
2) Show the following images of The Family Experience artists (images can
be found on the CD at the end of the packet). Briefly discuss one or more
of the works.
• Severn Eaton, Family Rituals: Discount Store, details of #2 and
#4
• Cathy Lees, Eleanor at the Computer, Dad Watching
• Andrew Joseph Ortiz, I Don’t Have the Words, 1995
• Pat Ward Williams, I Hear My Mother’s Voice When I Talk to My
Daughter, 1993
3) Hand out the worksheets and have the students record their answers on
the worksheets.
4) Ask the students the following questions for each artwork:
• What medium was used?
25

• What element of design is most clear? Why?
• What principle of design is most clear? Why?
• How does this work relate to you?
• Do the words on the piece or title affect the image? Why or why
not?
• What title would you give the artwork?
• What do you think the meaning of the work is?
• Would you include this work in an exhibition about family? Why or
why not?
Evaluation: Through analyzing artwork the students show that they understand
the elements and principles of design, how art can relate to the viewer
personally, how words and titles can affect a work, and the messages of the
artists’ works.
26

Elements of Design
Analysis Fun!
Vocabulary List
Line: The path traced by a moving point.
Shape: The general outline of something that can be categorized as geometric
or natural.
Space: Actual space is two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Pictorial space is
the flat surface of the paper, canvas, or other material, also known as the picture
plane.
Value: The light and shade of something.
Texture: The degree of roughness or smoothness of any surface; it can be
actual texture or simulated texture.
Color: They can be descriptive, symbolic, or emotional. Color can be described
as primary, secondary, or tertiary, cool or warm, and in terms of its value and
intensity. Colors can be described in their relationships like analogous or
complementary.
Principles of Design
Unity: Each element is so arranged that it contributes to a desirable oneness or
wholeness.
Rhythm: Controlled movements that may be established through any of the
design elements. Rhythm can flow or can be a repetition of elements.
Proportion: The size relationships within a composition.
Balance: Achieved when the eye is attracted equally to the various imaginary
axes of a composition.
Centers of Interest: A main focal point or secondary focal areas that can be
established though any of the elements of design.
Variety of Design: Used to generate visual interest within an artwork. Variation
of any or all of the design elements will give variety of design.
27

Analysis Fun!
Worksheet
1. Pick one of the artworks shown and fill out the following information about that
artwork.
Artist:
Title:
Medium:
2. Identify and write down one element and one principle from the vocabulary list
that stand out the most; the ones that draw you into the artwork.
3. Does something personal come to mind as you look at this work? If so, write
it here. If not explain why.
4. What do you think is the artist’s message based on what you have described
in questions 1, 2, and 3? Can you think of an alternative message other than
your first interpretation?
5. Would you include this artwork in an exhibition about family? Explain your
answer.
28

Lesson Plan 4
Families are Unique
Session Activity: Students will participate in an activity that will require them to
determine what makes each of their families unique.
Levels: Grades 3 – 12
Key Concepts/Objectives:
1) The students will determine what makes each of their families unique.
2) The students will create artwork from the uniqueness of their family.
3) The students will learn to determine meaning in an artwork through an
analysis of subject matter and the element of color.
Materials:
1) Paper
2) Markers, crayons, and/or colored pencils
3) Worksheet
Vocabulary:
1) Unique
Procedure:
1) Artists who create work about their own families often show what is unique
about them. Have the students ponder the following questions:
• Describe the members of your family.
• Do you think your family is like everyone else’s?
• What is it about your family that makes it different?
• What is a feeling word you would use to describe your family?
• Identify a color you think matches your feeling about your family.
2) Have each student complete a drawing to show uniqueness or
specialness of his or her family. Tell the student to emphasize in the
drawing the color chosen to identify feeling about the family.
3) Do and discuss the following after students have completed their artwork:
• Have the students display their drawings on a table.
• Have each student choose another classmate’s work to examine.
• Have each student answer the questions on the worksheet about
the artwork he or she has chosen.
• Have each student present a classmate’s artwork using the
answers on the worksheet.
4) Have a group discussion, asking the following questions:
• Did any of your classmate’s families resemble yours? How?
29

• Was there any family completely unlike yours?
• Is there one classmate’s family you especially liked because of its
uniqueness? Why?
• Has looking at a variety of families made you more appreciative of
something about your own family?
• If you were to do this exercise over who else would you include?
Would you use the same color to convey your emotions?
Evaluation: Students will learn to value their own families and appreciate family
differences through their artwork. Their answers on the worksheets, and their
responses to the group discussion will show their understanding of the
uniqueness of families.
30

Families are Unique
Worksheet
Carefully examine the artwork you have selected and then write your answers to
the following questions.
1) Who makes up this family?
2) What colors did the person emphasize in his or her artwork? Based on the
choice of color, name a feeling word you would say describes the artwork.
3) What makes this family unique?
4) How do you know this?
5) Does this family resemble your family? Why or why not?
31

Bibliography
Artists’ Statements. 2005. Deconstruction and Reconstruction: The Family Experience,
The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.
Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra. The Louvre. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 2000.
Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra. The Musée d’Orsay. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc.,
2000.
Fineberg, Jonathon. Art Since 1940. 2 nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2000.
Hayes, Steven J. “Basic Quotes.” 2002-2004. April 12, 2005.
.
Gore, Al and Tipper. Joined at the Heart. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC,
2002.
Guillemets, Terri. “Quote Garden.” Phoenix, AZ: 1998-2005. April 12, 2005.
.
Kleiner, Fred S., Christin J. Mamiya, and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner’s Art Through the
Ages. 11 th ed. Thompson Learning Inc., 2001.
Minor, Vernon Hyde. Baroque and Rococo. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
1999.
Moncur, Michael. “Quotations Page.” 1994-2005. April 12, 2005.
.
32

Sunshine State Standards
The Arts
The student understands and applies media, techniques, and processes.
• Uses and organizes two-dimensional and three-dimensional media,
techniques, tools, and processes to produce works of art that are derived
from personal experience, observation, or imagination.
The student creates and communicates a range of subject matter, symbols, and
ideas using knowledge of structures and functions of visual arts.
• Uses the elements of art and the principles of design with sufficient
manipulative skills, confidence, and sensitivity when communicating ideas.
The student assesses, evaluates, and responds to the characteristics of works of
art.
• Develops and justifies criteria for the evaluation of visual works of art
using appropriate vocabulary.
The student creates and communicates a range of subject matter, symbols, and
ideas using knowledge of structures and functions of visual arts.
• Knows and uses the interrelated elements of art and the principles of
design to improve the communication of ideas.
The student understands the visual arts in relation to history and culture.
• Understands and uses information from historical and cultural themes,
trends, styles, periods of art, and artists.
The student assesses, evaluates, and responds to the characteristics of works of
art.
• Understands how a work can be judged by more than one standard.
Language Arts
The student uses speaking strategies effectively.
• Speaks for special occasions, audiences and purposes, including
conversations, discussions, projects, and informational or imaginative
presentations.
The student uses viewing strategies effectively.
• Determines main concept and supporting details, and recognizes and
responds to nonverbal cues used in a variety of nonprint media message,
such as motion pictures, television advertisements, and works of art.
33

Social Studies
The student understands historical chronology and the historical perspective.
• Compares everyday life in different places and times and understands that
people, places, and things change over time.
The student understands how scarcity requires individuals and institutions to
make choices about how to use resources.
• Understands how scarcity affects the choices people make in everyday
situations.
34

1.
2.
3.
4.
Selected Image List
Frances (England), Lek, Nick – Thailand
Sasha Bezzubov and Jessica Sucher
2003
July Fourth
Robin Radin
Kais, Jamal, and Malach, Palestinian Americans
Charles Rushton
Greene Family
Laura Straus
35

5.
6.
7.
8.
The Family Tree
Inga Finch
detail, The Family Tree
Inga Finch
Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
detail, Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
36

9.
10.
11.
12.
detail, Seeds of Family
Chelsy Walker
Family Rituals: Discount Store #2
Severn Eaton
Family Rituals: Discount Store #4
Severn Eaton
Eleanor at the Computer, Dad Watching
Cathy Lees
37

13.
14.
I Don’t Have the Words
Andrew Joseph Ortiz
1995
I Hear My Mother’s Voice When I Talk to My
Daughter
Pat Ward Williams
1993
38