# data[].attributes.body
COLOR:

The front of the house is brown and the roof is blue

The people/animals are either blue or brown

SHAPE:

3 windows

House shape

VALUE:

The house part is the darkest

Outside is the lightest

There are also some “transparent" people and animals

SPACE:

Lots of space from the house

TEXTURE:

The background has an old paper type of texture

For the other two elements, line and form, there isn't much that is noticeable or just not there.

# data[].attributes.body
Significant  events :

NAACP founded

This was one of the first steps towards racial equality and gave black people a voice and a platform to stand on. This influenced Traylor's art because he finally saw change coming in America.

The Scottsboro boys (1931)

Tension between black and white people lead to a lot of mistreatment black people mistreatment and separation in society could have had a great effect on bill Traylors art.

The great depression (1929-1939)(1936)

Traylor was homeless during the great depression he listed his home as  a funeral home implying that he was ready for death and his health was declining, this would influence his art because he would draw the things and people he saw while wandering the streets and in his declining health he probably felt more inclined to expresses his stories faster

Tuskegee airmen (1941)

The Tuskegee airmen had bases all around Alabama meaning that Traylor most likely saw and heard about black men flying planes and becoming mechanics to support the war effort. This would have influenced Traylor’s art because he was witnessing this change for the better black men were taking leadership roles and this showed that change was coming

# data[].attributes.body
Optic: There's a man who seems to be going through a difficult time . Meanwhile, the woman in the back appears to be floating along a sidewalk, as if she were a ghost.

Parts: A male with a green face placing a hand over his heart with a blue pants set.

A woman with a white dress floating away down a sidewalk

Title: The title “ The separation” gives the reader the connotation that the two that appear in the painting

Interrelationships: A man appears to be in pain, as if something had transpired between him and the woman. The man's face is green, indicating that he is ill or injured. By placing his palm over his heart, the artist creates the impression to the viewer that the woman has died away due to the artist's use of color. The woman in the back is dressed in her natural hue, as though she lives in a different world than the male. The overall title could make it seem like it could be a heartbreak or she has passed which would make them separate. With the difference of colors between brightness and darkness of two different worlds.

Conclusion: The ending story is the artist created the two to be different stories between the people in the art. The man is seriously in pain of heartbreak of the woman passing and the lady is passing off into a new life;.

# data[].attributes.body
- Traylor left his paintings ambiguous which let him communicate with, and in a way teach the black community

- In order for slaves to retain their relgiuos and cultural practices, they would use herbal healings and vivid words of spirits.

- Through code switching (switching from one language to another) he learned how to survive, and with that he learned how to communicate his experiences through paper.

# data[].attributes.body
Allegory- a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

- In order to better understand Traylor’s thinking process behind some of his images, we have to consider them in a context of racism that shaped his community.

- Most of Traylors work holds “layers” which can mean that the symbolism is hidden in plain sight.

- Most if not all of Traylor paintings have a secondary meaning to them, he used these paintings to express the development of black culture which was used to inspire black Americans to make changes in their lives.

# data[].attributes.body
- Traylor began drawing around the late 1930’s and early 40s while living in Montgomery, Alabama.
-  Since he was homeless, he worked on his art in full public view using pencils, paint, and old paperboard.
- His paintings depicted memories of his upbringing and the different cultures he had experienced throughout his life.

# data[].attributes.body
Bill Traylor was born into slavery and enslaved by John Getson Traylor in Alabama.

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued when Bill was 10 years old, but he was still a slave due to confederate states not being under Lincoln's control.

The Emancipation came into effect when he was 12 and his family was freed. Black Americans had restrictions put on them and there was little prosperity.

In his late seventies, he moved to Montgomery and found a rising African American culture that was different from his rural life.

# data[].attributes.body
Due to sharecropping debts many African-americans were unable to relocate north

After occupying cities filled with a huge population of African-Americans, they started creating support networks (churches,fraternities, businesses etc) in order to liberate themselves.

Traylor, despite witnessing numerous lynchings, still decided to live in Alabama, because it was all he knew and was going to fight for it to become a better place. Hence, his drawings.

Many of his own children left during what was known as the “Great Migration” of african americans to northern cities

Despite racial terrorism in south, Traylor stated he’d “rather be homeless in montgomery then live in Detroit

Traylor lived in a “transitional period” in time where he witnessed the end of slavery, reconstruction, and Jim Crow laws

Lived in an area where lynchings were extremely common due to Jim Crow

Lynchings was a form of extrajudicial punishment carried out by racist white people as “punishment” for african americans doing things they didn’t like

Having lived through the ratification of the 13th amendment was also a part of Traylor living in a “transitional period”.

# data[].attributes.body
-Traylor often employs chaos in his paintings creating figures of animals, humans
- the blurring and creative display of art makes it difficult to tell who or what is being hunted
- Traylor often created these figures to display enslaved people running from danger as an animal chases after them
- The historical background behind the hunts is developed by the Jim Crow Laws in which many African Americans were fearful of the oppression and discrimination they faced
- Analysis of Painting: Traylor uses both a dog and 2 humans in this image. Within this image, the dog is at the bottom remotely larger than the 2 humans but facing away from them as though searching for the humans, in a hunt. The humans seem to seek sanction as they seek higher ground away from the dog holding on to the branches of the object. Here, Traylor uses the figures to display the animal hunting the humans, as the humans seek refuge.

# data[].attributes.body
- the stains on Traylor's artwork were not deliberate
- during the Great Depression, many people used second-hand supplies
- Traylor was among the many at the time who used these second-hand supplies, and how times he incorporated the stains into his paintings
- Analysis of Painting: The stains on this painting are very visible, there are several chips in the cardboard around the edges, down the middle, and slight folds in the cardboard as well. Traylor worked this painting around these stains to create and illustrate a story of some kind through the use of metaphors and symbolism.

# data[].attributes.body
- Originally in African culture, blue was known as a "spiritually shielding color."
- Often valued as high as gold.
- To Traylor, coloring in blue would protect the characters as well as himself, especially when drawing scenes containing "racial conflict."

- The blue is only scattered around the inside of the house. Since there is another character with a gun outside, the character on the inside could be scrambling for safety, hence the wild, rushed application of the color blue.

# data[].attributes.body
- Traylor's representation of guns and rifles has a dual meaning. Sometimes they serve a practical purpose, while other times they have a symbolic meaning (which is often power and oppression).
- In this painting, the gun has a more metaphorical purpose. It is placed in between the man and the dog. It is still being used as protection and defense, but not in a typical way. Just the presence of the gun is what separates the man from the dog. They can never truly connect because violence will always divide them.

# data[].attributes.body
- Traylor uses varying bird types: chickens, doves, vultures, etc.
- In various cultures, blackbirds, crows, and owls symbolized bad luck, death, and misfortune.
- In contrast, songbirds (like doves) represent freedom and/or heaven.
- In the painting above, Traylor paints the blackbird standing next to the spotted animal to show how death or bad omens metaphorically walk alongside unsuspecting animals/people.

# data[].attributes.body
Significant events:
Dred Scott Decision: this said that African Americans are not citizens and could influence his art to depicting slavery and discrimination.
Traylor freed: In 1865 after the thirteenth amendment was passed, Bill Traylor became a free man. This could influence his painting because he can finally explore and see the world for himself outside of a plantation.
Traylor moves his family: In 1908, They moved 50 miles away from where he had grown up. This could influence his artwork because he had to move away for a reason, that reason possibly being racism. We can see the themes of racism and oppression in his artwork.

# data[].attributes.body
- literally, hats are protective headgear commonly used by people in Alabama to protect them from the sun.
- figuratively, in Bill Traylor's paintings, hats protect the characters from vulnerability.
- not everyone wears hats, meaning not everyone has the privilege of protection and safety.
- hats also indicate who is in power.

# data[].attributes.body
Overview:Explain the details as well as the overarching idea of the artwork' overall image. Without any additional analysis, describing the image to someone who has never seen the painting before.

Parts:Identify visual elements that make up the image breaking them down into different parts. Certain details of the image that have a deeper meaning. The placement of the image, etc.

# data[].attributes.body
Title -  When reading the title, you get a sense of what the painting might be about. The title can either help you understand the painting better or not. You can create your own title to help you better understand the painting.

Interrelationships - This is when you use aspects of the title as well as the painting to find connections between the two. These can be the people, colors, or even objects in the painting that convey a message for a relationship.

Conclusion - The conclusion is basically what you see in the end. After reviewing the painting, you see what the author was really trying to say or the argument they were trying to make.

# data[].attributes.body
Traylor typically used trees to overtly emphasize a "hunting narrative"

Analysis of Painting: Now with the use of the dogs and trees, Traylor furthers the use of these symbolizes to depict a fearful man running from the dogs and seeking sanction in the trees away from the hunters, the dog.

# data[].attributes.body
- Dogs typically symbolize a wide range of characters from: "docile pets (compliant/obedient pets) to lethal foes (as an enemy)
- On plantations, dogs were used to help with farming and act as hunters; however, they were also trained to hunt and kill humans: typically hunting fugitives

Analysis of Painting: In this painting, there is a man standing with outstretched feet as a dog looks at the man with bared teeth. This suggests that the man is a potential fugitive running from the dog who is trying to hunt and kill him.

# data[].attributes.body
Read the article about the Symbolism Lens and gather important points from it. Make several additional posts to explain key points. Relate the Symbolism lens to Traylor analysis.

# data[].attributes.body
Read the article about the Allegorical Lens and gather important points from it. Make several additional posts to explain key points. Relate the Allegorical lens to Traylor analysis.

# data[].attributes.body
Read the article about the Transitional Lens and gather important points from it. Make several additional posts to explain key points. Relate the Transitional lens to Traylor analysis.

# data[].attributes.body
Using what you know about OPTIC, pull a painting off the Internet and analyze for the class. During this lesson, be sure to define the parts of OPTIC for the class.

# data[].attributes.body
Review the timeline and discuss how each historical event might influence the artwork of Traylor.

# data[].attributes.body
Using the  7 visual elements, find a painting online and analyze for the class. During your analysis, be sure to teach the elements.

# data[].attributes.body
Read the article about the Personal Lens and gather important points from it. Make several additional posts to explain key points. Relate the personal lens to Traylor analysis.