The Truck Driver and the Artist.
Marilyn (Vanitas) 1977 , 96”x 96.” “I HAD to take this class” Kim said. Outloud. To my face. "No offense," she added. Like many, Kim was enrolled in Art Appreciation only because an arts class was required at this Community College. None taken . This was my favorite class to teach and those reluctant students were my favorite challenge. And my favorite semester icebreaker artwork was the groundbreaking Audrey Flack painting, Marilyn (Vanitas) . Students who “knew nothing about Art,” happily weighed in on the luminous, super realism painting and readily speculated on its meaning and message.The painting offered a safe place to vocalize as we slowly developed a language for looking at Art. "You want us to do what??" Later in the semester, students were assigned an admittedly unwieldy assignment meant to encourage creativity and personalize their research. This 2-part assignment: 1- Write a letter in the voice of an artist we have studied. The re
