Ever wondered how comics are made? How about how to draw your own? In this video, Thien Pham, a graphic artist from Oakland, CA, will show you step-by-step how to create your own comic, from writing the plot to drawing the four-panel itself.
This collaboration with New American History, Field Studio, and Virginia Public Media/PBS Learning is a series of open educational resources for grades 6-12 based on the Field Studio/PBS series, The Future of America's Past. Each episode in the series has an OER learning resource taking students behind the scenes to the spaces and places where untold history happened. This episode, filmed on location at Manzanar and the Japanese American National Museum, includes representations of Japanese incarceration in public spaces, archives and the arts.
In the Great Job! video series, real professionals give middle and high school students a behind-the-scenes look at their exciting careers.
The newest videos in the series highlight: a Biomedical Engineer, Radiologist, Machinist, Prosthetic Specialist, and a Sonographer.
Follow along as artist Sirron Norris demonstrates how to draw various emotions on cartoon faces. See how subtle changes make a big difference when expressing emotion through art.
Explore the history of voter suppression efforts in the U.S., from the Jim Crow era through the post-1965 Voting Rights Act era, in this video clip from Whose Vote Counts | FRONTLINE. Learn about the strategies that were legally implemented in southern states to disenfranchise Black people, the violent backlash that ensued when Black people challenged these policies, and the events that led up to the signing of the epic 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Adam Neely joined LA and Nahre in the studio for an improvised jam session. Adam comes from a jazz and rock background, while Nahre comes from a classical background, and LA comes from a gospel and R&B background. Together they talk about the differences in how they approach music.
Explore careers more effectively by filtering your career options by industries, sectors, and clusters, and by considering the most in-demand jobs of the future.
Learn smart tips from a teen about how to begin your own personal career exploration using both self-reflection and outward reflection to work through the maze of potential career options.
John “Crazy Legz” Pearson, founder of the Who Got Moves Battle League, is breathing life back into Beat Ya Feet -- the bouncy, fast-moving dance found in the streets, backyards and go-go clubs of Black D.C. At the heart of the dance style is the music: go-go, a blend of funk, call-and-response and Afro-Latin rhythms, ubiquitous in D.C.'s Black neighborhoods.
Honolulu is home to tourism hotspot Waikiki, and many of the city’s beachfront hotels host lavish luaus showcasing styles of hula influenced by Western music and instrumentation. But for Native Hawaiians, the origins of hula are deeply spiritual and rooted in Hawaii’s creation stories and the history and culture of their kūpuna or ancestors. Driven by the mele (poetry), hula marries movement with spoken word to express stories about specific deities, people, places and events.
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, created the DNA for funk. Musicians LA Buckner and Nahre Sol explore how he created funk music, as well as how Brown's music influenced hip hop. They break down the sound of the genre, and create their own funky original song in the process.
Activity:
From soul music and R&B, James Brown created a new genre: funk music. Funk, in turn, inspired hip-hop and trap music—genres that give voice to the life experiences of impoverished and oppressed peoples. By examining videos and text and doing research on the links between music and social justice issues, students will be prepared to collaborate on their own socially conscious rap and create a community activity to work for social change.
Kacey Musgraves won the Album of the Year award at the 2019 Grammys, becoming only the fourth country album to ever win that award. Two of the producers of the album, Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, talk to us about how they and Kacey were able to make such a crossover success.
Why do so many horror film scores today sound similar to The Exorcist from 1973? A lot of that is thanks to Krzysztof Penderecki, a Polish composer whose music was used by director William Friedkin to score The Exorcist. Penderecki's music can be heard in the works of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, and has even inspired the scores of modern horror films such as Bird Box.
Hi-hats. That blazing fast sound is everywhere—pop, reggaeton, country—and hi-hats are essential in trap music. Where exactly did trap music come from and how did it become a part of so many other musical styles? Hosts LA Buckner and Nahre Sol explore the genre's roots and make their own original beat inspired by the trap sound.
Jocquese Whitfield is a Vogue legend in San Francisco. He is a choreographer and performer who teaches the popular “Vogue and Tone” class at Dance Mission Theater. He has held the winning title at the Miss Honey Vogue Ball multiple times and is also a judge for dance and drag competitions. Here Jocquese breaks down the five elements of Vogue and discusses how the dance form became a lifestyle. Learn the basics from this master also known as Sir JoQ.
Learn how Carol and Jean-Pierre Hsu combine glass and metal to create jewelry and mobiles.
In this video from American Masters | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, learn about the lasting impact of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and why it’s such an important piece of American literature. Students answer discussion questions, analyze text from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and write a short essay to gain a deeper understanding of Angelou’s work and why it’s so impactful.
Explore how young theater directors benefit from mentoring in this video from Treasures of New York: The Drama League. Each year a cohort of fellows are selected to receive professional training as part of The Drama League’s Directors Project. Students hear advice from experienced theater professionals and are encouraged to think about the kind of preparation required for a career in the theater.
Ben, an enslaved miller at Mount Vernon, discusses freedom. In a reenactment of him thinking aloud, he considers what his life might be like if he runs away from Mount Vernon and gains his freedom as compared to his current life as George Washington's miller.
Students will learn about the work of illustrator Elizabeth Zunon. Zunon calls herself “a global artist" because she grew up in Ivory Coast, West Africa, and would spend summers in Albany, New York, with her American grandparents. She loved reading and drawing and decided to combine her two passions to tell stories for children. Today, Elizabeth is a successful children's book illustrator and author. In the related activity, students will work with drawing, painting, and collage to create an illustration of their own. The video and discussion will take one class session. The art activity may take several class sessions.
More About This Resource
For more studio tours and other arts content from WMHT, visit AHA! A House for Arts. AHA! A House for Arts features the stories of artists, makers, and creative institutions right here in our backyard and across the country. A celebration of all things creative, AHA! features everything from the traditional to the innovative.