Pigskin Dreams
Artist: Burns Park Elementary Students (under guidance of art teacher, Kate Higgins)
Sponsored By: Bank of Ann Arbor
The black and white Op Art design will accentuate and change the natural curves of the football. The white sections will be assigned to each student who will use a football image that they have seen (or dreamed!) in popular culture, such as newspapers, magazines, television, or the Internet to create a new image incorporating the ideas. The entire surface of the football will have these “Pigskin Dreams” created by each student.
Artists’ Resume
The artists are all elementary-aged students in grades four and five from Burns Park Elementary School. They are a diverse group representing Ann Arbor’s multi-cultural population from African-American, Middle Eastern, Asian, South Asian, Latino, and Western European backgrounds.
These students have been studying Pop/Op art after viewing the Pop art exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art this fall. “Pigskins on Parade” is the perfect artistic vehicle that will put into focus popular culture are seen though the lens of the American football subculture. Everyone is affected by football images both here in Ann Arbor (Michigan Wolverines) as well as the visual imagery seen on television in every child’s home. Each child will contribute their “Pigskin Dream” imagery to the Op art football showing the universality and vividness of these images.