Positive Messages: A Banksy Project with 5th Grade

The artist known as Banksy is a “street artist” who uses buildings as his canvas in different cities around the world.  In October 2013, Banksy was in New York City for a one month residency, where each day, random artworks would pop up around the city.  Audio tours were created for viewers to “find the art” and hear the story behind the creation.  Banksy’s work, although illegal (due to the fact that he does not ask permission to graffiti the buildings), is worth a high amount, and many building owners cover his work with Plexiglas to preserve the graffiti.  Other building owners, unknowing of the work’s worth, paint over the art right away, which makes his images a scavenger hunt and highly sought after.  In this CBS News Report, they explain how Banksy's work is viewed in NYC and in the art world.

In my class, we discussed how Banksy’s work is a good way to share a positive message.  Each student was asked to brainstorm a message to share with the school (for example, stay active, don’t be a bully, be yourself, etc.).  The students created artist statements explaining their concept, then created a mural-size drawing that can be placed around the school, similar to Banksy’s style.  

One key point I made sure the students understood was that artwork should never be created illegally, meaning not to graffiti a building without the building owner’s permission.  Instead, we brainstormed ways to display work that were temporary and could easily be removed if needed.  

Materials

-18" x 24" white paper

-Pencils

-Black Markers

-Chalk Pastels

-Scissors

-Wall Adhesive

-If you have access to a hot laminator, use it!

Objectives

The students will understand how art can share messages to the community.  Students were to create a drawing that was meant to share a positive message.  

The messages could be anti-bullying, helping others, integrity, patience, coming to school prepared, etc…

The drawings were to be placed at random areas in the school to share their message.

Directions

On the first day, I shared a Power Point of Bansky's street art.  I wanted to share the news reports I had found, but due to some of Bansky's work being a little to advanced for elementary students, I chose to select the artworks myself.

After viewing the Powerpoint, students were given  handout with the following questions (you can design your own by cutting/pasting the questions onto your own sheet):

1. What positive message would you like to share?

2. Why do you feel it's important to share your message?

3. How would you draw your message?  Please draw a sketch of your project on the opposite side of this paper.

4. Where would you place your finished work within the school?

After students handed in their "Bansky Brainstorm" sheets, I handed them a large white paper to draw their design.  Once drawn, students traced in black marker and colored in with chalk pastel.

Since I only had one 5th grade class at this school, I laminated all their projects to protect their work, them had the students hang there drawings randomly around the school.  To save any confusion, student wrote artist statements explain the message they were trying to share.

Looks very similar to having students design school posters?  Now you can tie in an artist!  Also, this project is open to evolve since the objective is to share a message.  Materials could change depending on your situation!