Art Contract

My overall theme for sixth grade art was ancient world cultures, because it fit with the state requirements and standards for social studies and because I happen to love art history.

My middle school teaching experience was on a cycle. Each six weeks I would get a new group of students. We would start our time together with a symbolic signing of a contract, except we weren't writing and there wasn't paper involved.

Instead, we learned about the Power Figure - Nkisi N'knodi (in-Key-See in-Kon-dee) from the Kongo people of the late 19th Century.

Basically, Power Figures are sacred objects. Their power comes from spirits that were attracted to ritual substances such as herbs, animal bones, fur, and seeds located in a box or cavity on the figure's belly or head. A religious specialist, who was also a healer and a legal expert, determined the nature of these substances.

Each of the nails driven into the figure represents the taking of an oath, the witnessing of an agreement, or some other occasion when the power of the figure was invoked. On special occasions the nkisi nkondi was brought outside in a public setting where judicial procedures took place. The parties involved came before the figure with the specialist, and together they investigated the problem at hand. When an agreement was to be made, representatives from both parties took an oath in front of the nkisi nkondi. The oath was then sealed by driving a nail or other sharp metal object into the figure to activate its power. This act was similar to the Western tradition of signing a contract.

So after learning about the art class rules and expectations, students were asked to "sign a contract" to agree to follow said rules to the best of their ability.

Supplies: You can get as fancy as purchasing a wooden sculpture or as simple as you like. I purchased a plain plank from a hardware store and brought a hodge-podge of nails that I had around the house. I also brought an assorted pack for when the others ran out.

*Pro Tips: Pad the table with phone books or something to hold the plank off of it - admin doesn't like when you nail holes in the desks. Or if you can, take the students outside. You may also want to warn your neighbors and the office staff; middle schoolers hammering nails gets pretty loud.

Some students have never hammered nails. I brought a pair of pliers to let them hold the nail without their fingers in the way of the hammer.

Lean that board in the classroom for a reminder - it can be quite imposing (and I may or may not have let the students think it was a paddle when they would ask.)

Here's a photo of our Nkisi Nkondi