Get ready for Black History Month with Alma W. Thomas, Snoopy, and Apollo 11, by Rob the Art Teacher

This video, voted for by teachers, focuses on what inspired Alma Thomas, and how she painted, and includes a torn paper mosaic activity suitable for elementary school / primary school art students.
Learning about Alma W. Thomas is also a great way to prepare for Black History Month / African American History Month (February in the US and Canada / October in Europe and the UK).
Alma Thomas shows how important it is to follow your heart. She is an inspiration and a role model for women of any age, for people of colour, and for all young artists.
Alma Woodsey Thomas, who was born in 1891 and died in 1978, was an African American artist and teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., in the USA. Thomas is remarkable because she only became a full-time, professional artist when she was 68 years old, when she retired from teaching. And then, only 13 years later, when the artist was 81, she became the first African American woman to receive a solo exhibition at a major art museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
When we look at her paintings, and read the titles she used, and listen to her own words, we learn that Alma Tomas was inspired by NATURE, COLOUR, LIGHT, SPACE TRAVEL, and feelings of HAPPINESS.
Studying the feelings and ideas that Alma Thomas expresses in her paintings, helps students discover their own feelings and ideas, and this helps young artists to express themselves in their art.
As art students, when we study Alma Thomas’ style and techniques, we can be inspired to experiment with similar methods, and this will help grow our own creativity when making art.
#AlmaWoodseyThomas #AlmaThomas #womenartists #artlessons #collage #mosaic #painting #arthistory #blackhistorymonth #africanamericanhistorymonth #americanart #africanamericanart
More about Alma W. Thomas:
awarewomenarti...
missalmathomas...
americanart.si...
www.phillipsco...
muse.jhu.edu/a...
www.smithsonia...
thebluelantern....
www.artic.edu/...
FOOTNOTE: Where is Snoopy now?
All but one of the Apollo program’s used lunar modules either crashed into the Moon’s surface or burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. Apollo 10’s lunar module, Snoopy, is still out there, drifting aimlessly around the solar system, waiting for some future exo-archaeologist to snatch it up for display at the Smithsonian.
The mission was designed as a rehearsal for the main event on the Moon, but it set records of its own. History glazes over Apollo 10 because of the significance of what followed; however, the crew completed the same tasks as Apollo 11 (minus landing on the Moon). And they used Snoopy, the lunar module, as well as Charlie Brown, the command module, to travel farther and faster than any humans have before or since.
During the mission, Snoopy was jettisoned into space as planned and would have entered orbit around the Sun. However, its location remains a mystery despite efforts by amateur astronomers to search for it using the last known 1969 orbital coordinates. They identified a number of target sites, but so far they’ve been unsuccessful.
Extract from: “What became of the discarded lunar modules from the Apollo missions?” by James Jarvis and Eric Betz, Astronomy.com Magazine, October 2015 Issue astronomy.com/...
CREDITS:
Paper mosaics by students at The American Elementary School in Gdynia: Sebastien P and Antonina Z, and Anna T and Antonina A.
Apollo 11 launch video clip, BBC America • Apollo 11 Launch Count...
Lunar Module (either Apollo 10 or 11) video clip • Apollo Program: Traged...
Peanuts cartoon by Schulz
This video uses the music “Funky Suspense” from www.bensound.com
This video uses the royalty-free ‘Bye’ graphic from PNGTree
Snoopy pics: Apple TV Snoopy in Space
You can also find me on LinkedIn: / robgarrettcfa
Rob Garrett is an accomplished art teacher, writer, and curator. With fine art and art history degrees from leading New Zealand Universities, he is a qualified teacher with experience teaching art to all ages, having worked in primary (elementary) schools, high schools, and higher education art schools (academies), including a time as the Head of New Zealand’s oldest art school, in Dunedin. His international work with artists has included directing & establishing artist residency programmes, managing New Zealand’s presence at the 2005 Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, & curating numerous public art exhibitions, festivals, and city-wide programs.