News

A new, artistic twist on some old photographs

By Jeff Kurowski
Compass Assistant Editor

Photographer Dorothea Lange, best known for documenting in pictures the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s, died 38 years ago, but her work lives on in books and exhibits, including a recent display at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in De Pere.

Pam Stoll, art teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes School, assigned the eighth grade students the challenge of reproducing Lange's photographs featured in the collections Photographs of a Lifetime and An American Exodus.

"It was all pretty new to me," said eighth grader Jacob Krawczyk. "I never related history to art before. It was cool how it crossed over."

The students used a technique called typographical interpretation, which involves typing a phrase or sentence on a computer. Through the use of different fonts and typefaces, they created different shades, which were cut into shapes to construct the recreation of Lange's black and white photos.

"It was interesting," said classmate Ben Manders. "It was really different than what we usually do. I've never heard of doing this, but it was fun."

"It was easy picking the photograph, but this was one of the hardest projects I've ever done," said Krawczyk.

"It took a lot of time," said Manders. "There were a lot of errors when I was putting it together. You had to keep doing it over and over to get the right shapes."

The students chose phrases representing their selected photographs.

"You had to really look at the picture and go with what came to mind," said Manders. "My photograph was called 'Returning from California,' so I chose 'Finally Home' because he looks so relaxed in the picture."

The students were also assigned the task of writing a paragraph about their photograph of choice. The entire project served as a good lesson in American history, said student Amanda Hendricks.

"It helped me learn more about the people of that time period," she said. "It gives you a better feel for what they went through."

Krawczyk became an admirer of Lange's work.

"I'm amazed at the number of great photographs and how she told a story through the write ups with each photograph," he said. "My photo was called 'Hungry Boy.' It showed a kid getting food stamps for his first food in days. I chose 'The Bread of Life' as my description. It's amazing how far we've come from those days."

The students displayed their completed works in an exhibit entitled "Face in Time" in the worship space at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

The project was part of rural theme implemented by Stoll in all the school's art classes.

"It was a continuation of what we started last year," said Stoll. "We've now moved into the city theme. I want to provide the students opportunities for historical and technical learning. They actually get to experience what they are learning."

As part of the city theme, seventh and eighth grade students toured historic neighborhoods in Green Bay.

"They learned about the different styles of homes and studied the features," said Stoll. "We had a scavenger hunt to find those features. They also had the opportunity to actually go in the community and draw a house of their choice. I received an ovation on the bus, so I know they enjoyed it."

Future city projects include recreations of downtown De Pere by the fifth and sixth graders. The eighth grade art students will build three-dimensional models of buildings.

Stoll's students enjoy the challenge and the results.

"We received a lot of positive feedback from people about this project (typographical interpretation)," said Krawczyk. "People kept asking us how we did it."