Art is an adventure into an unknown world.
Possible answer: All people have their own ideas and concepts of the world, the good and the evil, and artists’ works let us sneak into their world, they give us a chance to see their way of thinking which is sometimes absolutely different from ours.
II. Introduction to the topic
Today we’ll touch upon such a topic as art of modern cities – graffiti. At the end of the lesson you’ll have to decide whether graffiti is art or vandalism.
T.: Could you tell me what art means for you?
Possible answers: Something beautiful and exquisite. / All paintings by Monet. /Russian ballet.
Group work
Students are divided into 2 groups, pieces of paper on their desks.
T.: When you hear the word “graffiti” what words occur to you? Write down all your ideas of graffiti. It can be all parts of speech.
Possible answers: Colorful / Subway/ Europe/ Suburb / Fantasy…
III. New vocabulary
T.: Do you know that graffiti artists have their own terminology, so-called writer’s vocabulary Have you ever heard about that? What words do you know?
- How do you call a person who does graffiti? <слайд 4> writer
- Spray paint cans? <слайд 5> - cannon (s)
- Group of writers? <слайд 6> - crew
- Any work having not been removed? <слайд 7> - burning
- Locations such as walls facing train tracks that are secluded from the general public but are popular with writers? – <слайд 8> - gallery
- Pieces that are painted in hard-to-reach places such as rooftops? <слайд 9> - heaven spots
- Writers especially respected among other writers? <слайд 10> - king
- A large and labor-intensive graffiti painting? <слайд 11> - piece
- A stylized signature, normally done in one color? <слайд 12> tag (scribble)
- Pieces on trains that cover the whole height of the car? <слайд 13> top-to-bottom
- An adjective to describe poor work? <слайд 14> - toy
- Graffiti artist's sketchbook? <слайд 15> - a black book
There also various forms of graffiti:
- Tree graffiti <слайд 16>
- Radical and political graffiti <слайд 17>
- Love expressions <слайд 18>
- Poster graffiti <слайд 19>
- "Field graffiti" <слайд 20>
- Aircraft graffiti <слайд 21>
- Vehicle graffiti <слайд 22>
IV. Reading
While- reading task
Now that you know enough about graffiti artists, it’s time to read the text and find out why “writers” are so obsessed with graffiti and if it’s against the law to “write” on public transport.
Art crimes
The beginning.
Graffiti, of course, has been around since man learned how to write. In New York City the trend of "tagging", or writing one's name, on subway cars is most often credited to Taki 183, a seventeen year old from 183rd Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, whose job as a messenger required him to travel on the trains everyday. Taki began writing his name all over the trains and stations of the transit system, and it wasn't too long before people started to notice. On July 21, 1971, the New York Times ran an article entitled "Taki 183 Spawns Pen Pals," reporting on the sudden phenomenon of rapidly multiplying tags, and in the process making a folk hero out of young Taki.
Of course, the New York Times wasn't the only one who noticed. All over New York, more and more kids became enamored of the idea of their name traveling across the city every day and being seen by thousands upon thousands of commuters.
With so many youths competing for attention and space, it soon became necessary to go beyond simply scrawling one's name in black marker on a train wall to be noticed. A greater level of originality became more valued, as did more ambitious works. Logos, stylistic variations, size, and color were added to make pieces stand out from the crowd. It wasn't long before writers were covering entire sixty-foot by twelve-foot cars with a single work, a formidable and highly respected accomplishment among graffiti artists.
Why Paint the Subway.
When average people hear of the hardships endured by graffiti artists pursuing their chosen vocation, the first question they are likely to ask is "Why?" There seems to be little reason to risk one's life for something as meager as a fleeting moment of self-expression, soon to be cleansed away by a fresh coat of paint. But there are others who see it a different way: the dreamers and the adventurers, the bridge-climbers and the rebels. The graffiti writer falls squarely into this category.
Kingtwo, an old-school graffiti artist, described it like this: "The best feeling about writing on a train is something you can't describe until you do it. Graffiti was a way to express yourself, even though we knew it was illegal. We never considered the risk we took. When you do a masterpiece on the train and you add a three dimensional onto your letters and put a cloud around it, with designs here and there and no paint drips, the feeling was so great you can't imagine it."
By Lefty Leibowitz
Post reading tasks
True, false, don’t know
- Tagging is a slang term for spray paint cans.
- Taki was a messenger and that’s why he had to go by train a lot.
- The press didn’t pay much attention to Taki 183 and his writing.
- To create a single work on public transport is a real achievement for graffiti artists.
- Most of the graffiti was done in a primitive way.
- Graffiti artists don’t take a risk when they do their masterpieces in public places.
- Boredom is the only reason why they create graffiti.
- Graffiti is a way of self-expression.
Answer the questions. Pair work.
- How old was Taki 183? Why did he go by trains everyday?
- Why did kids become interested in tagging?
- What did graffiti artists do to differ from each other?
- What kind of graffiti is considered as a “highly respected accomplishment”?
- Why is graffiti only “a fleeting moment of self-expression”?
V. Role plays
T.: Well, now you’re supposed to make up a dialogue using a given situation.
Person 1
As you pass the school’s back wall, you notice a group of kids. You stop and talk to them and realize that the wall that they are standing in front of covered with graffiti. When you ask about it, they say they are bored and just wanted something to do, they also warn you not to tell anybody. The following day you’re called to the principal’s office. He informs that the security camera taped you walking through the parking lot the night before. He presses you to confess.
Person 2
You are the principal of a public high school. When you arrive at school your staff informs you that the back wall of the school has been covered with graffiti. The damage is estimated at $800. You are told that a security camera recorded a student but you are certain that the student wasn’t involved in doing the graffiti but he/she probably knows who did. You decide to question a student.
VI. Summing up
T.: Let’s draw a conclusion. Now you’ve learnt enough to decide whether you like graffiti or not, whether it’s a form of art or vandalism.
Try to make the following phrases into complete sentences
- Graffiti is…
- When I see graffiti I feel …
T.: Thank you for your work.
I hope you had a great time learning about such a controversial form of the modern art as graffiti.
Some people tend to associate the word "graffiti" with something menacing, something ugly. But today more and more people believe that graffiti is a form of contemporary art. And the question appears: what is it, indeed?
I am strongly convinced that graffiti cannot be a work of vandals. For one thing, graffiti makes our city much brighter and eye-filling. Sometimes it does look like a real masterpiece and you just cannot help admiring its magnificence. Secondly, today humans pay more earnest heed to graffiti. Since relatively recently, they have realized that it can be taken much more from graffiti than just as painting on the street walls. For example, they have made it in business, making graffiti-style clothes and displaying it in art galleries.
However, there are people who think otherwise. Graffiti is not appreciated by people as it spoils public property, when it is drawn in places such as public transport or historically important buildings. In addition, it is considered to be an example of anti-social behaviour.
I completely do not agree with that point of view. I suppose it is a stereotype. People are used to thinking so because of history of graffiti. As in the past it was appeared only in depressed areas of cities as aggressive slogans used to express animosity of the youth to the whole world.
Overall, I presume that graffiti is not vandalism. I reckon graffiti is not for spoiling property, it is for making the city we live in more creative and diversified and for inspiring ordinary people to create beautiful things.
Graffiti – art or vandalism?
Graffiti – art or vandalism? To my mind, professionally made graffiti is very beautiful. Graffiti is very popular around the world. If it is done by really talented people, a picture can be a work of art.
To start with, graffiti makes deserted houses and fences more beautiful. A picture should be drawn on old, dirty and broken walls. It would be good, if we can have special places for graffiti.
In addition to this, some graffiti artists want to be heard, and they try to explain something to people. Drawing a picture, artists express themselves. They want to colour this grey and boring world. Besides, there are some famous unusual pictures, which are made by best graffiti artists. When people look at these colourful pictures on the buildings, they think of something warm and kind.
On the other hand there are some graffiti artists who write obscene words and draw senseless pictures. Some artists spoil monuments, memorial walls, tombstones, cars, so most of people believe that graffiti is more vandalism than art. Furthermore, if graffiti is not agreed with the city government or with building owners, graffiti artists are punished by law.
To conclude, graffiti is an art, but it should be made by really talented people. If it is beautiful, why not? It is important graffiti to be legal. We should give graffiti writers a chance to tell us what they want.
FOR AGAINST
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