Spanish V: Art Imitating Art

For some of the students, just choosing the medium in which to work was a challenge. Goya’s art encompassed many forms, from richly hued oil paintings of Spanish aristocracy to crayon sketches on tinted paper of the common man battling demons in their dreams. The scale of the artwork was equally diverse, from wall-sized canvases to notebook-sized brush and ink drawings.

In the end, each of the students’ original artwork, which they shared with the class as the culmination of the month-long unit, was remarkable. Brendon Argueta '15 made an etching of an innocent looking boy, trailing a grotesque shadow that loomed like a haunted, leaf-less tree behind him. Joe McCartney '15 captured a Goya painting of a frigid winter scene in a collage that incorporated his own monochrome photographs with swirling brushstrokes on shreds of newsprint that evoked icy wind and weather. Nick Revers '15, who is doing an independent study in Spanish but was intrigued by the whole project, contributed an original poem which he mounted on a Goya print.

Perhaps finest of all was an aquatint by Haley Burroughs '15 that could have been done by the master himself in the style of his Los Caprichos etchings - satiric studies of the upper class, the clergy, preocupation with status, ignorance, and superstition. Haley researched and executed the complicated printing technique with flawless results, and created a paint-brush-wielding donkey-artist that is as timeless and current as Goya’s.

The unit on Goya began, as many language units do, with a study of the vocabulary needed for the subject matter ahead. In this case, that included words that conveyed subtle variations on color, art techniques, and terminology for observing, understanding and critiquing art. In one exercise, for example, students chose a Goya painting and then “painted it with words” to describe it for the class. They also set the stage for appreciating the art itself by researching the history and cultural mores leading up to and including Goya’s lifetime.

Although they had studied many slides of his artwork, seeing the originals at the museum, and in such quantity, was overwhelming. After spending the final days of the unit working on their own creations, they finished up by making oral presentations to the class, which developed into round-table discussions as they shared and compared their ideas about Goya’s works.

“If your audience isn’t jumping in with questions, you’re not engaging them in your topic enough,” commented Ryan. “This project generated real give and take in Spanish on challenging subjects that matter.”

“In the end, our language classes are about learning to speak the language and understanding the history and culture of a country,” said Ryan, “but there are so many ways to achieve that. This was by far one of the most successful units we’ve done, and part of that was because the students had a voice in designing the unit and their final project.”