MAP inspired by Jasper Johns

In this lesson, the students the abstract painting titled "Map" by Jasper Johns in 1961. In the beginning of the lesson, the students compared and contrasted Jasper John's "Map" with a Rand McNally road map of the United States. Each table formed an art criticism commitee. They decided whether or not the painting "Map" was art or not, supplying three reasons to support their decision. When all of the tables had shared, we voted as class to decide whether Jasper John's abstract painting was or was not art. Then the students randomly chose a state which they traced from an overhead projection of the United States. The students cut out their state, painted it with tempera paint, used a collage piece of the road map, and used stencils to write the name of the state upon it. Jasper Johns used stencils, collage and paint in many of his artworks from the 1960s. Many of the aesthetic choices were made by the students for their specific state. After they were finished, the students graded themselves 1-10 on each of the three requirements: painting, collage, and stencil. Mrs. Daniel's class assembled the map and Mrs. English's class helped put it on display in the board room.

List of states and their prospective artist

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