The innovators projectBe a part of . . .

Step 1: Choose an innovator as inspiration for your artwork.

Choose from one of the following influential people:

Alvin Ailey (dancer/choreographer) Louis Armstrong (musician) Steven Jobs (inventor) JRR Tolkien (author) Mother Theresa (human rights advocate) Benjamin Franklin (thinker/leader) Amelia Earhart (pioneering airplane pilot)

Step 2: Learn more about them and their influence.

Alvin Ailey:

Alvin Ailey was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best known and most often seen modern dance performance.

Frank Lloyd Wright: Frank Lloyd

Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture.

Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong

(nicknamed Satchmo[ or Pops) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer. Armstrong's influence extended well beyond jazz music, Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. 

Steven Jobs  "Steve" Jobs was an American

entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.  He was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the  personal computer revolution. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs oversaw the development of: the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, iTunes and the Apps Store.

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel

Tolkien, was an English writer, poet, philologist and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high Fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series.

Mother Teresa Mother Teresa of Calcutta was

an Albanian born, Roman Catholic nun who worked in the poorest areas of India. Mother Teresa founded the group ”Missionaries of Charity”. Members give "Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor". The Missionaries of Charity at the time of her death had 610 missions in 123 countries including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy or tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages and schools. For over 45 years, she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin  was

one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, politician, post master, scientist, satirist, scientist, musician, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat . As a scientist, he was a major figure in theories regarding electricity. He invented the bifocals, Franklin stove, carriage odometer, and the glass “armonica”.

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary

Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. She was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of an organization for female pilots. During an attempt to make a circumnavigation flight of the globe in 1937 Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean.

Step 3: Come up with your idea for a work of art inspired by one of these innovators. (Turn in your planning sketches!)

HINTS: Don’t be too obvious. The viewer

should have to think a little. Avoid being cliché like the plague! Think about what medium would

best represent them. Think about “abstracting”images. Give it an interesting title.

Step 4: Create your work of art. Here are some examples.

The Criteria for this assignment :

1. Must have one of the innovators as the theme for the art work.

2. Must also express how you feel about the innovator.

3. Idea must be original and creative NOT cliché.

4. Project should take at least 3 class periods to complete.

5. Must show effort and quality workmanship.