Whether smaller than your palm or bigger than a garage door, images can pack a punch. Zoom in on postage stamps and stand back from wall-sized murals to explore how modern artists have employed their visual vocabulary to call the viewer to action or raise public awareness.
Work with museum educators from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Postal Museum to explore how design, social issues, and persuasion come together in meaningful ways to support your content area.
Through hands-on activities learn strategies for engaging students in argumentation and persuasive writing. Then collaborate with colleagues on lesson planning while you eat lunch.
Artist John Steuart Curry honed this image carefully in 1942. His goal: compel Americans to invest in war bonds despite their recent memories of the Great Depression. Explore John Steuart Curry's work
Classroom Activity
Just as writers make calculated choices in wording and punctuation, so too do artists carefully craft their colors and lines. Highlight the persuasive power of details by challenging students to write a six-word synopsis of the scene in Curry's early sketch.
Example: My land, my family, my future.
Then, compare the sketch with Curry's final war bonds poster. What has changed? How do these changes further Curry's goal? Finally, have students revise their original synopsis to better match the war bonds poster. The catch: they may only change the punctuation!
