Kim Plagge attended the museum’s Summer Teacher Institute this past July. In the following post, Kim explores how she can turn inspiration from The Culture into a class project for her students.

If you have not seen the exhibition The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, go now—it closes soon on Sunday, September 29! I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition on a recent Thursday night. (HINT: If you don’t know, the museum’s special exhibitions are free on Thursday evenings from 5-8 p.m.)

The Culture comes in the wake of hip hop’s 50th anniversary and explores “the genre’s extraordinary influence on contemporary society over the past two decades.”  I’m embarrassed to say that this exhibition was not really on my radar at all before I went. I honestly don’t know how it wasn’t. The vast diversity of techniques, styles, materials, and messages was overwhelming—but in a fantastic way. I found so much inspiration for my high school art class that it was really difficult for me to pick just one artwork. Ultimately, I decided to focus on Megan Lewis’ Fresh Squeezed Lemonade (2022).

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade takes the idea of subtractive (or possibly additive, depending upon how you look at it) drawing/painting to a whole new level. The bright repetitive fabric that is the base of the painting (often never seen in traditional painting—always covered) reveals itself as a main character within the actual painting. The strong fabric pattern works fluidly with the paint to create highlights within the face. There is a vibrancy and expressive quality within the whole painting.  Lewis created the portrait with oil and acrylic paint, something very accessible for high school art students. Oil pastels could also be a possibility. I immediately thought about going to the Cincinnati Reuse and Recycling Hub to find scraps of fabric that could be stretched on frames that we could build. I believe that almost every high school student would take a selfie for this project or find a friend who was willing to take one. I love the contemporary twist on doing a traditional portrait painting, and I really think this could be a portrait that my students would want and love to do!