Piecing Me Together

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

Piecing You Together

Collage art is a prominent motif in Piecing Me Together. As a collage artist, Jade stitches together ephemera from her daily life to create the most realistic, authentic portrait of herself with multimedia materials that reflect her own unique experience. The materials from which she draws are often disparate objects that aren’t readily perceived as “art.” What’s more, the objects do not always go together—for example, one of Jade’s collages could make use of a Portland city bus schedule as well as art photographs that Jade took herself. To Jade, collaging means creating a whole picture of parts that are not necessarily congruent and/or complementary. In this way, collaging is Jade’s way of understanding and being true to her fragmented identity, as well as uplifting and beautifying everyday objects that might not be perceived as beautiful.

• Drawing inspiration from Jade, create a collage that reflects your identities. First think of the different components of your identity. Then create a collage portrait of yourself. You can use cut images from magazines, but try to utilize objects/items perceived as “common” or “mundane” in your collage as well—things that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a piece of “art.”

Teaching Suggestion: Have students watch the video “Meet the Artist: Mickalene Thomas on her Materials and Artistic Influences” which discusses how she first started working with collage as an artistic form, because she could not always afford expensive art materials like oil paints. Encourage students to find materials found in their everyday life—materials that do not have to be bought—in their collages.

• If you choose to discuss Mickalene Thomas’ multipart collage exhibit entitled Beyond the Pleasure Principle, consider the fragmented pieces that Thomas uses to compose this exhibit as a whole and what Thomas is trying to say about the Black female form.
• Mickalene Thomas identifies as a queer, Black artist. In this Them article, Thomas elaborates further on the intersection of these two parts of her identity and how that affects her as an artist.