Overview
Our Block, Our Stories invites students to explore how artists draw inspiration from their neighborhoods, communities, and lived experiences. Through close looking, discussion, writing, and creative reflection, students discover how contemporary artists transform personal stories, local landmarks, and everyday life into works of art.
Designed for grades 6–12, this educational module includes a pre-visit activity, gallery worksheet, and post-visit classroom project that connect students' own experiences to artworks in The Broad's collection. Inspired by artists such as Lauren Halsey, Mark Bradford, and Rigoberto Torres and John Ahearn, students reflect on themes of place, identity, memory, belonging, and community while considering how their own stories can become a source of creative expression.
LEARN – Pre-Visit Activity
Students explore how artists are inspired by the places and communities around them. Through discussion, observation, and reflection, students consider what makes their neighborhood unique and begin identifying people, places, sounds, memories, and experiences that shape their own stories.
EXPERIENCE – Museum Visit
Using a guided worksheet in the galleries, students examine artworks that explore place, identity, and community. Through observation, discussion, and writing prompts, they make connections between the artists' experiences and their own.
CREATE – Post-Visit Activity: Memory Map
Students create a visual "memory map" inspired by the people, places, and experiences that are meaningful to them. Drawing on ideas explored in the gallery, students combine words, symbols, images, and memories to tell the story of their own block, neighborhood, or community.
These materials are available in English and Spanish.
Photo by Allen Chen @_h_studio
