Exploring+Difficult+Content-+The+Black+Plague+Artwork

** The Black Plague Art **** work **
 * Exploring Difficult Content: **

For my learning environment design project, I decided to explore a new game than the one I played for the educational game review. The game that I played was only a demo of a game (because you had to purchase the whole game) but it gave me a great snapshot of what the game would be like as a whole and how I could use it in a classroom setting. The game, Playing History-The Plague Episode, had a funny, clever way of inserting historical facts about the Black Plague the happened in the 14th century in Europe, Asia, and Africa. This event is significant to the art curriculum because the trauma and experiences that the people of that time endured resulted in powerful artwork that is highly emotional and thought provoking. At that time in history, medicine was still rather elementary; so many people felt that the plague was a consequence for their sins, not necessarily caused by their filthy living conditions. By the end of the plague, 1 in 3 people’s lives in Europe had been taken by the bubonic plague, affecting nearly every person, dead or alive, in one way or another. Although this subject seems morbid and grotesque, it is also important to take a look at artwork that comes from the confused and grief-stricken artists, not just those who view the world as a delightful place to be.

To begin the unit, students will play the full version of Playing History-The Plague Episode where they will learn about different rolls people took during the height of the disease. In the game, you play as a young boy who is assisting his surgeon / barber father who is caring for his sick wife. The boy’s job is to find out more about the plague so that his father can better care for his mother and assist in procedures that his father would normally be responsible for, like bloodletting with leeches. Students use the psychosocial moratorium principle to explore the world of the plague without the obvious risks that would have been involved at the time. As a class, they will then read together Sardis Medrano-Cabral’s article //The Influence of Plague on Art from the Late 14th to the 17th Century// and have small group discussions where they will come up with a list of the primary influences that the plague had on fine art. After the students have grasped a basic knowledge of the plague and it’s affects on the people it touched, they will chose, at random, a character to embody while they create their work of art. They will create their work of art from the viewpoint of either a clergyman, a Beccamorto (gravedigger or the person who was responsible for carrying off the deceased), surgeon/barber (doctor), nobleperson,or average citizen. Students will consider what it would have been like for each of these people and how they would have seen the work differently at the time of the plague. Using their interpretation of the character’s experiences, they will make a piece of artwork using any medium they would like to best express the feelings, emotions, and/or view of the world for that person. This assignment would be presented to an art class that has had experience with different mediums before and have the capability of thinking more abstract and creatively, such as an intermediate or advanced art class.

** Goals and Objectives **


 * Standard:**AR.HS.CP.01 Select and combine essential elements and organizational principles to achieve a desired effect when creating, presenting and/or performing works of art for a variety of purposes.
 * Objective:** Students will understand and consider the feelings, emotions, and/or view of the world that people would have had during the time of the European Black Plague from the viewpoint in order to create a work of art. Their learning will be evidenced by their demonstration of consistent imagery and color palette that might accompany such an event.
 * Standard:** AR.HS.CP.03 Create, present and/or perform a work of art by controlling essential elements and organizational principles and describe how well the work expresses an intended idea, mood or feeling.
 * Objective:** Students will use moods and feelings to drive the intent of their artwork. Their learning will be evidenced by the impact and emotion that their artwork can stir in the viewer. The subject matter they are working with should evoke certain specific kinds of emotion and that should come across in their work.


 * Standard:** AR.HS.HC.01 Explain the influence of events and conditions on an artist's work.
 * Objective:** Through visual content, students will explain the influence that the plague might have had on an artists’ work from that time. Students’ learning will be evidenced by their ability to visually explain how the evens at the time affected the people in 14th century Europe.

** Learning Principles **

Although the learning principles do not correspond tightly from the game to the art project, the students nevertheless practice the principles during the gaming process that will help them better develop ideas for their art.


 * 1) 1. **Psychosocial Moratorium Principle:** In the game, the player is allowed to explore the world of the plague in the 14th century without the obvious consequences of having to be there an experience it themselves. They get to learn about the different roles people had during that time such as grave digger, surgeon/barber, or commoner.
 * 2) **Cultural Models About the World Principle**: This principle will help the learner think about their feeling and attitudes toward death and possible give them an insight as to how that would be the same and different than that of someone living during the time of the plague. Would death be more confusing back then since there was less knowledge of the medical causes of the plague? Would there be more or less emotion involved with death if it was occurring so frequently? Would there be alternative explanations for the cause of death outside of an easily spread, deadly bacterial? All of these questions would challenge ones thinking of the plague as we know it today, with our advances in modern medicine and how would the old mind set impact the imagery in one’s art work?
 * 3) **Active, Critical Learning Principle**: This principle applies more to the actual game play than the project creation, but is still important to the unit itself. Each portion of the game gives the player a little interesting fact or tidbit of information that is not only helpful for the player to complete his tasks in the game but also offers insight on historical facts about the event. The game is consistently teaching history while it is offering interesting missions to complete.

** Materials for Teaching the Unit **

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 * Slips of paper with the roles that students will create a piece of artwork from: clergyman, barber/surgeon, beccamorto (gravedigger/body remover), commoner, and nobleman. There will be more than one student working on the same role; however, this will create more interest when the final products are done because it will be interesting to see how different students interpret their character.
 * Art materials (a wide selection)- this project is meant to push student’s imagination and interpretation of events, so ideally they would have a wide variety of materials to work with in order to best express their version of how they perceive the events. 2D and 3D materials should be provided.
 * A class set of computers, either in the classroom or in a lab or library.
 * Sardis Medrano-Cabral’s //The Influence of Plague on Art from the Late 14th to the 17th Century// can be found at **www.entomology.montana.edu/historybug/YersiniaEssays/**
 * Medrano.htm**
 * Playing History-the Plague Episode can be found at **http://www.playinghistory.eu/**
 * Additional materials discussion the Black Plague can be found at the following cites:
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 * http://ibpkillinggame.blogspot.com/2006/12/death-in-art.html