The Art of Romare Bearden

Substitute Teacher Lesson Plan (Middle School Art) — ~45 Minutes

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Objective

Students will learn who Romare Bearden was and understand the key features of his art, including:

• His use of personal memories, African-American cultural history, and literature as subject matter
• The variety of influences on his style (Western European art, African sculpture, music, contemporary artists)
• His signature technique of collage, and the other media he worked in (watercolor, gouache, oil, prints, monotypes, murals, sculpture)
• His role as a leader who supported other artists of color

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Materials

• This resource packet ("The Art of Romare Bearden") — read sections aloud as needed
• Copies (or a written-out list on the board) of the "Be on the lookout for these" motif list from the "Bearden at a Glance" section: trains, spirit figures, rural shacks, row houses/stoops, large hands, birds, musicians, windows, hills, African sculpture, smokestacks, sun/moon, cats, roosters
• Plain paper and pencils for each student
• Optional: old magazines, scissors, glue (if available in the classroom) for the collage extension

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Warm-up (~5 min)

1. Write on the board: "I think the artist has to be something like a whale, swimming with his mouth wide open, absorbing everything until he has what he really needs." — Romare Bearden
2. Read the quote aloud to the class.
3. Ask students to quietly think, then share out: "What do you think Bearden means by comparing an artist to a whale?"
4. Briefly note that Bearden read constantly — poetry, philosophy, politics, myth, religion, art — and this quote reflects how he took in ideas from everywhere before making his art.

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Main Activity (~25 min)

Part 1: Who Was Romare Bearden? (10 min)
Read aloud (or summarize from the resource) the following facts to the class:

• Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1911, and died in 1988.
• His family moved to Harlem, New York, as part of the Great Migration of southern Black families north.
• Growing up, his family hosted visitors like poet Langston Hughes and Duke Ellington — this shaped his lifelong interest in music and literature.
• He had a career as a social worker before becoming one of the most important American artists from the mid-1960s until his death.
• He loved cats, named after historical and artistic figures (Tuttle after Tutankhamen, Mikie after Michelangelo).

Part 2: What Made Bearden's Art Special (10 min)

• Explain that Bearden's signature technique was collage — made from cut magazine images, painted papers, foil, posters, and art reproductions, which he called his "paints."
• One writer described his collages as "patchwork cubism" because they fractured space and form.
• His subjects included: African-American life and traditions, stories from religion/history/literature/myth, and blues singers and jazz musicians.
• His places painted included rural North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Harlem, Paris, and the Caribbean (St. Martin).
• He also worked in watercolor, gouache, oil, prints, monotypes, murals — and even made one sculpture.

Part 3: Motif Scavenger Hunt (Discussion) (5 min)

• Write the motif list on the board: trains, spirit figures, rural shacks, row houses/stoops, large hands, birds, musicians, windows, hills, African sculpture, smokestacks, sun/moon, cats, roosters.
• Ask students to pick 2–3 motifs from the list and guess/discuss why an artist inspired by his childhood, music, and African-American culture might include these images in his work. (There are no wrong answers — this is a discussion, not a quiz.)

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Wrap-up / Exit Ticket (~10 min)

On a half-sheet of paper, have each student answer:

1. Name one place Bearden lived or visited that appeared in his art.
2. What was Bearden's signature art technique called?
3. Name one recurring image/motif Bearden included in his work.
4. In one sentence, explain how music influenced Bearden's art.

Collect the exit tickets as students finish.

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If Time Remains

Quick Poem/Collage Response: Have students choose ONE motif from the board list (e.g., birds, trains, cats, hands) and write a short 4-6 line poem imagining why Bearden might have included that image in his art, thinking about memory, music, or his childhood home. Volunteers can share their poems aloud.