EDUCATOR GUIDE
Story Theme: The Puppet Show
Subject: Sandow Birk
Discipline: Visual Art (Painting and Film)
SECTION I - OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................2
EPISODE THEME
SUBJECT
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
OBJECTIVE
STORY SYNOPSIS
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
MATERIALS NEEDED
INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED
SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT ..................................................................................................3
CONTENT OVERVIEW
THE BIG PICTURE
RESOURCES – TEXTS
RESOURCES – WEB SITES
VIDEO RESOURCES
BAY AREA FIELD TRIPS
SECTION III – VOCABULARY.............................................................................................................6
SECTION IV – ENGAGING WITH SPARK .........................................................................................7
Still image from SPARK story, 2006.
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 1
SECTION I - OVERVIEW
¾ Hands‐on group projects in which students assist
EPISODE THEME and support one another.
The Puppet Show ¾ Critical reflection on personal expressions and
how they are seen and received by others.
SUBJECT
Sandow Birk
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
GRADE RANGES ¾ To introduce students to Sandow Birk’s work and
K‐12 & Post‐secondary art process.
¾ To provide context for the understanding of the
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS development of personal works of art and their
Visual Arts & Language Arts relationship to broader social themes and ideas,
abstract concepts, and the history of art.
OBJECTIVE ¾ To inspire students to develop visual, written,
¾ Understand the development of personal works of listening and speaking skills through looking at,
art and their relationship to broader social themes creating and talking about visual artworks.
and ideas, abstract concepts, and the history of art.
¾ Develop basic observational drawing and/or EQUIPMENT NEEDED
painting skills. • TV & DVD with SPARK story “The Puppet Show”
¾ Develop an expressive visual vocabulary with about artists who work with some form of
which to address personal and/or social themes puppetry or computer with Internet access,
and ideas. navigation software, streaming capability,
¾ Develop observational and representational skills speakers and a sound card, printer
by looking at and reproducing images of people, • Cassette player, CD player, or computer audio
places and things accurately and thoughtfully. program
STORY SYNOPSIS MATERIALS NEEDED
Over the last few years, Los Angeles based painter • Access to libraries with up‐to‐date collections of
Sandow Birk has been expanding his artistic scope‐‐ periodicals, books, and research papers
and his audience‐‐ by turning his sumptuous • Pencils, pens, and paper
contemporary history paintings into motion
pictures. Spark visits Birk and his crew as they INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED
finish production on the artistʹs distinctly Bodily‐Kinesthetic ‐ control of oneʹs own body,
contemporary take on Danteʹs 14th century epic The control in handling objects
Divine Comedy‐‐set in 21th century San Francisco. Interpersonal ‐ awareness of othersʹ feelings,
emotions, goals, motivations
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES Intrapersonal ‐ awareness of oneʹs own feelings,
¾ Group oral discussion, review and analysis, emotions, goals, motivations
including peer review and aesthetic valuing as a Spatial ‐ ability to manipulate and create mental
group images in order to solve problems
¾ Teacher‐guided instruction, including Logical‐Mathematical ‐ ability to detect patterns,
demonstration and guidance. reason deductively, think logically
¾ Hands‐on individual projects in which students
work independently. See more information on
Multiple Intelligences at
www.kqed.org/spark/education.
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 2
SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT
CONTENT OVERVIEW
Over the last few years, Los Angeles‐based painter film, and he collaborated with filmmakers Sean
Sandow Birk has been expanding his artistic scope ‐‐ Meredith and Paul Zaloom to produce the project.
and his audience ‐‐ by turning his sumptuous
contemporary history paintings into motion pictures. Like ʺIn Smog and Thunder,ʺ Danteʹs “Inferno”
Spark visits Birk and his crew as they finish began as a series of paintings that Birk then decided
production on Danteʹs 14th‐century epic ʺThe Divine to make into a film. Using live actors for the project
Comedyʺ ‐‐ set in 21st‐century San Francisco. would have been prohibitively expensive ‐‐ upwards
of a million dollars ‐‐ so Birk decided to make the
Birk is a keen student of art history and often recasts film using paper cut‐out paper puppets. Set in
classic subjects and compositions with modern‐day contemporary San Francisco, the film follows the
figures and narratives. Birkʹs work is deeply experiences of a blue jeans‐wearing Dante and his
influenced by history painting, a European tradition guide, the Roman poet Virgil, as they tour the depths
of depicting historical events in detailed and often of Hell, finally meeting the Devil himself.
dramatic images. He first encountered 19th‐century
history paintings on a trip through Europe ‐‐ he was Sandow Birk was raised in Southern California. He
struck by the grand scale of the images and their lives and works in Los Angeles. Birk earned a B.F.A.
theatrical tone. Upon returning to the United States, from the Otis Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles
Birk moved into a storefront apartment in South and studied painting and art history at both the
Central Los Angeles and began creating his own American College in Paris and the Bath Academy of
versions of history painting, documenting the events Art in England. Birk was the recipient of a
that happened in his neighborhood ‐‐ gang warfare, Guggenheim Fellowship in 1995, a Fulbright
drug deals, looting and rioting ‐‐ in that same scholarship in 1997 and a Getty Award for the Visual
dramatic style. Arts in 1999. His work has been shown in galleries
and museums throughout North America and
Birkʹs first film project was ʺIn Smog and Thunder,ʺ a Europe.
“mockumentary” inspired by Ken Burnsʹ marathon
11‐hour film about the American Civil War. In Birkʹs
version, Los Angeles and San Francisco engage in all‐
out war for control of the entire state of California.
Birk got the idea for the project during a month‐long
trip to San Francisco for his solo show at the
Catharine Clark Gallery.
After multiple affronts to his hometown from a
variety of Bay Area dwellers, Birk decided to exact
his revenge by making a series of canvases in which
San Francisco is finally invaded and conquered by
Angelinos. After the success of the series, Birk
decided he could reach more people by making a
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 3
THE BIG PICTURE In Birkʹs 1994 painting, The Revenge of Lorena Bobbit,
the artist once again borrows from a composition
Much of Sandow Birkʹs painting is based on from a classic history painting of the past, this time,
European history painting spanning the 17th to the Judith Slaying Holofernes, by the Italian painter
19th centuries, a tradition of representing historical, Artemisia Gentileschi. The Biblical story illustrated
political, mythological, allegorical, or religious in Artemisiaʹs painting concerns Judith, a Jewish
subjects. The term was coined by French widow of noble decent, who decapitates Holofernes,
historiographer, architect and theoretician André the Assyrian general who has besieged her town.
Félibien, who called history painting Le grand During the Counter‐Reformation, the subject was
tradition, and placed it at the top of the hierarchy of popular as a parable about the triumph of
subjects, above scenes of everyday life, portraits, Christianity over paganism, but many art historians
landscapes, and still‐life painting. This hierarchy of have argued that Artemisiaʹs particularly gruesome
genres became central to academic painting in rendition represents the artistʹs own struggles as a
Europe and to the Academie française in particular. woman in a male‐dominated field. Birkʹs painting
borrows the same composition, but turns to the
Many of Birkʹs paintings are based directly on contemporary subject of Lorena Bobbit who famously
compositions and themes found in Neo‐classical and emasculated her husband, rendering explicit what is
Romantic history painting. Birkʹs 1991 canvas, merely symbolic in Artemisiaʹs canvas.
ʺDeath of Manuel,ʺ for example is based on the
Jacques‐Louis Davidʹs ʺDeath of Maratʺ of 1793. Jean‐
Paul Marat was an activist in the French Revolution
who was assassinated. Due to a skin disease, he was
forced to spend a great deal of his life immersed in
his bath, and often worked from there. David uses
the bath setting to suggest Maratʹs tomb,
simultaneously depicting the revolutionaryʹs murder
and memorial. In Sandowʹs version, Manuel, a
Latino gangster, is depicted in his classic Chevrolet
Impala, the victim of gang warfare. Sandow reverses
some of the assumptions of traditional history
painting, exchanging the famous for the anonymous, R: Sandow Birk, The Revenge of Lorena Bobbit, 1994
the historical for the everyday. L: Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620
R: Sandow Birk, Death of Manuel, 1991
L: Jacques‐Louis David, Death of Marat, 1793
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 4
RESOURCES – TEXTS
Birk, Sandow and Marcus Sanders. Danteʹs Inferno. http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_I
Chronicle Books, 2004. llustrated/HistoryPainting.html
Helpful article on history painting
Birk, Sandow and Meg Linton. Incarcerated: Visions of
California in the 21st Century. Last Gasp Books, 2001. http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg61/gg61‐
main1.html
Birk, Sandow, Marcus Sanders, et al. Danteʹs Page on history painting from the National gallery of
Purgatorio. Chronicle Books, 2005. Art, Washington, D.C.
Birk, Sandow, Marcus Sanders, et al. Danteʹs Paradiso.
Chronicle Books, 2005. VIDEO RESOURCES
http://www.insmogandthunder.com/
Birk, Sandow. In Smog and Thunder: Historical Works Sandow Birk’s film about a battle between Los
from the Great War of the Californias. Last Gasp Books, Angeles and San Francisco.
2002.
Garrard, Mary D. Artemisia Gentileschi. Princeton BAY AREA FIELD TRIPS
University Press, 1991.
The Legion of Honor
Monneret, Sophie. David and Neo‐Classicism. Vilo Open Tues‐Sunday
International, 1999. 9:30AM to 5PM
Lincoln Park
Rosenfeld, Daniel, ed. European Painting and Sculpture 34th Avenue & Clement Street
Circa 1770 to 1937. Museum Books, 1992. San Francisco, CA 94121
415.863.3330
Catharine Clark Gallery
RESOURCES – WEB SITES 49 Geary St., 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
http://www.sandowbirk.com/ tel: 415.399.1439
Sandow Birkʹs website fax: 415.399.0675
morphos@cclarkgallery.com
http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles20
01/Articles0701/SBirkB.html Gallery Hours:
An interesting article on Sandow Birk written by Jody Tuesday‐Friday, 10:30 ‐ 5:30
Zellen Saturday, 11 ‐ 5:30
http://www.cclarkgallery.com/
http://www.cclarkgallery.com/artists/birk.html
Page on Birk from Catherine Clark Gallery
http://www.trilliumprints.com/inferno/index.php
Page on Birkʹs Danteʹs Inferno series with images from
Trillium Press
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_painting
Wikipedia entry on history painting
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 5
SECTION III – VOCABULARY
DISCIPLINE‐BASED VOCABULARY AND
CONCEPTS IN THE SPARK STORY
Castigate Lithograph
Chastise, reprimand, rebuke, criticize Print produced by lithography ‐ a method for
printing on a smooth surface It can be used to print
Divine Comedy text or artwork onto paper or another suitable
Written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his material.
death in 1321, Divine Comedy is widely considered
one of the greatest Italian epic poems and indeed of Mockumentary
world literature. It is also said to be the last great A film which is not factual but presented as if it
work of literature of the Middle Ages and the first were a documentary ‐ a false documentary copying
great work of the Renaissance. Its influence is so the style in maintaining the pretense of reality Often
great that it affects the Christian view of the afterlife used as a medium for satire and parody
to this day.
Pitch
Dante’s Inferno In terms of pitch a proposal or story – propose or
The Divine Comedy is composed of three cantos offer
(divisions of a long poem), Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio
(Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). The first canto, Purgatory
Inferno, is by far the most famous of the three, and is The means by which those who are free from sin
often published separately under the title Danteʹs reach perfection before entering into the Kingdom of
Inferno. Heaven According to Catholic teaching, purgatory
is ʺa place or condition of temporal (i.e. worldly)
Embellishment punishment for those who, departing this life in
Adornment, ornamentation, decoration, Godʹs grace are not entirely free from venial faults,
exaggeration, enhancement or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their
transgressions.ʺ
Graphic
Illustrative, pictorial representation of, explicit, Slick
vivid, detailed, visual Polished, smooth, professional glossy
Hunkered down Transcend
Get down to Rise above, excel, surpass
Inferno Virgil
Hell, blaze A Latin poet (70‐19 BC) Aelius Donatus was a
teacher of grammar and rhetoric.
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 6
SECTION IV – ENGAGING WITH SPARK
STANDARDS‐BASED ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION POINTS
Landscape and History Painting • How does Sandow Birk draw from historical
Explain to the class that they will be researching and landscape genres, reworking compositions
famous landscape and history painters of the 19th for modern audiences?
century. Then divide the group into two sub‐groups • What is he trying to say? Does he have a social
and ask one of these smaller groups to consider or political message or mission?
landscape painting. What defines landscape? What Students may choose to focus on ONE painting
do students think of as landscape? What should in particular to respond to these questions.
landscape painting look like? What does it include?
Can students find examples of famous 19th century Invite each pair to present their responses to the
landscape painters? whole group for discussion.
Ask the second group to think about history Exploring Irony
painting. What defines history painting? What (9‐12th grades)
should history painting look like? What does it Read the following extract from SANDOW BIRK July 7 ‐
include? Can students think of examples of famous August 19, 2001, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts
history painters of the 19 century?
th Forum, by Jody Zellen at
http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2
Students may be motivated to visit one of the 001/Articles0701/SBirkB.html
galleries listed in Bay Area Field Trips section of this
guide to view examples of landscape and history Birkʹs intention is to create paintings that draw on the
painters of the19th century. If this is not possible long tradition of the romantic American landscape in
suggest students research examples of landscape order to parody their vision of the West as a ʺpromised
and history painters on the Web. American paradise”
Mute the sound and show the first section of the What is intended by “parody” in this quotation?
SPARK episode on Sandow Birk, inviting students What is the purpose of parody? What effect does it
to look carefully at the work. Freeze the frame on create in terms of the subject matter in specific
selected pieces to allow students to study the paintings? Does this device make you rethink the
paintings. Additionally encourage students to view subject matter in any way?
Birk’s work at http://www.sandowbirk.com
They should then work in pairs to respond to the Ask students to focus on the Smog and Inferno series
following questions: to respond to these questions.
How does Birk parody this vision of the West as a
• What is Birk’s subject matter in these paintings? ʺpromised American paradise”?
• How would you describe his approach?
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 7
Students should write 500 words describing the use its laces like tentacles. The paper‐punch can
Smog and Inferno artwork in detail and commenting obviously become a baracuda. If it has a hinged lid,
on the way images are reworked to satirize the a cardboard box becomes a big‐mouthed character
American West. What are the elements and effects of with a ferocious appetite. ….. A ruler behind a
satire in this work? notebook becomes a shy character who keeps
peeking out and darting back out of sight.”
Sketching Exercise
After exploring the idea of creating puppet
Play the second half of the Sandow Birk story on characters from everyday objects, challenge students
SPARK. Then prepare for a sketching exercise by to find an object and create a puppet from it.
brainstorming key moments or events students can Depending on the age of the students and on the
recall from their history or literature classes. The timing, it may be helpful to provide objects or to
event could be about a famous person or it could be
assign the task prior to the class.
the subject of a poem or from a book studied in
class. Encourage students to work in groups of five Work with students on character and story, on
or six to decide on their topic. manipulating their invented characters and
interacting with others. Suggest that they allow the
Once everyone has identified their topic, ask nature of the chosen object to help them determine
students to draw five or six sketches to illustrate this the personality of the puppet. (Which is lazier‐‐an
theme, event or topic. Remaining in their groups, old bedroom slipper or a high‐heeled shoe? How is
each student should work on one of the images. the attitude of a pair of pliers different from the
attitude of an oven mitt?)
Place each set of images side by side in the style of a From ChildDrama.com
storyboard and ask students to write a short two
minute narrative to accompany their sketch
sequence. The narrative should not be more than 300
RELATED STANDARDS ‐VISUAL ARTS
words.
Grade 6
Assemble the class and invite each group to 2.0 Creative Expression
Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools
“perform” their narrative sequence, timing the
2.1 Use various observational drawing skills to depict a
narrative to accompany the relevant image. At the variety of subject matter.
end of each sequence, encourage students to discuss 2.2 Apply the rules of two‐point perspective in creating
challenges as well as the thinking behind each set of a thematic work of art
sketches.
Grade 8
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing
4.2 Develop a theory about the artistʹs intent in a series
Found Object Puppets of works of art, using reasoned statements to support
personal opinions.
This exercise is from Found Object Puppets by Matt
4.3 Construct an interpretation of a work of art based on
Buchanan at ChildDrama.com and is cited with his
the form and content of the work.
permission.
http://www.childdrama.com/puppetfound.html Grades 9‐12, Advanced
4.0 Aesthetic Valuing
4.2 Identify the intentions of artists creating
Bring in a selection of found objects – a pencil, pair
contemporary works of art and explore the implications
of sunglasses, a small box, a paper‐punch, a shoe, a of those intentions.
ruler, a potato or apple etc. The idea is that anything
can be a puppet if it is animated to create a
character. The Child Drama.com site offers hints:
“Sunglasses, with their bows spread wide, become a
very convincing antʹs head, complete with reflective
eyes and two antennae, if the manipulator is skilled
enough. A shoe has a tongue and can talk, or it can
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 8
Sandow’s Dante
Screen the second part of the SPARK story featuring • Birk is using the poem as an allegory to
Sandow Birk’s animated movie of Dante’s Inferno comment on the contemporary world?
featuring puppets — all hand made by artists. It is An allegory is a mode of representation that
created in the tradition of “Toy Theatre,” a European conveys a meaning other than (and in addition
style of 19th century puppetry that uses paper to) the literal meaning. What other meanings
puppets just slightly larger than six inches tall. does Birk convey?
Discuss this technique with students: SPARKLER:
* For students who are adventurous and would
• What is the effect of using paper puppets to tell like to build a toy theatre see
a story? How does it differ from using actors? http://pennyplain.blogspot.com/2005/12/how‐to‐
build‐your‐own‐toy‐theater.html
• How does Sandow Birk’s theatrical technique
using a toy theatre and puppets impact Dante’s RELATED STANDARDS ‐ VISUAL ARTS
Inferno?
Grades 9‐12, Proficient
1.0 Artistic Perception Impact of Media Choice
• Does Birk manage to evoke the poem’s fantastic, 1.5 Analyze the material used by a given artist and
imaginative and dramatic effects through his describe how its use influences the meaning of the work.
artistic techniques on film?
1.0 Artistic Perception
RELATED STANDARDS ‐VISUAL ARTS Analyze Art Elements and Principles of Design
1.3 Research and analyze the work of an artist and write
about the artist’s distinctive style and its contribution to
Grade 4 – Artistic Perception
Analyze Art Elements and Principles of Design the meaning of the work.
1.5 Describe and analyze the elements of art (color,
shape/form, line, texture, space and value), emphasizing
form, as they are used in works of art and found in the
environment.
Grade 7 – 1.0 Artistic Perception
1.1 Describe the environment and selected works of art,
using the elements of art and the principles of design.
For more information about SPARK and its
educational content, including the Visual &
Performing Arts Standards, visit the Web site
at http://www.kqed.org/spark/education.
For more information about the California
Visual & Performing Arts Standards, visit the
CA Dept. of Education at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp
SPARK Educator Guide – Sandow Birk 9
