THE PINK ELEPHANT
Conservative Versus Controversial
Lindsay Bailor & David Grego
A Ed 323 - Fall 2007
Our Space
Our Materials
Materials…
60 balloons
Packing tape
Double-stick tape
Fishing line
Poster board
There’s always time for fun…
…or maybe we were just light-headed.
Assembling the body
Suspending the body…
Easier said than done.
Viewer Responses…
(from the peanut gallery)
Mike:
“is there symbolism behind the color?”
“What’s a pink elephant?”
Jon:
“Is there symbolism behind it?”
(we can’t really discuss that.)
Donna:
“aww he’s cute…
he’s like an awkward turtle but bigger.”
Kush:
“I feel like I’m hallucinating.”
“Ahhhh I see… let me think about that for a while.”
Appropriate Grade Level:
grades 8 - 12 (due to societal pressures and issues of censorship
Procedure:
Install Elephant before class - in same way presented today
Start lesson with open discussion, talking about societal norms,
boundaries of conversation, & defining “controversy”
Relate to big ideas and themes through artwork
Asking students to think of one idea (or sketch a few) that they
connect to personally
Introducing artmaking: creating artwork integrating imagery and
text, exploring such topics discussed in class
Exhibition:
Class critique
Deciding where these artworks would best influence passersby
Practical Classroom Use
The obvious truths that everyone ignores…
…or do they?