“All the scenarios for Day is Done are based on images found in high-school
yearbooks in this particular case, though I’ve also done a whole collection of
similar kinds of images from the small-town newspaper from where I grew
up. The particular categories had religious ritual overtones, but outside of the
church context. They all looked like they were done in public places, or they
had gothic overtones. So I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to work with these particular groups of images and develop a kind of pseudo-narrative flow.’ The rituals
run the gamut from something like dress-up day at work to St. Patrick’s Day
or Halloween, to a community play or an awards ceremony. So all I have is
this image, and then I have to write a whole scenario for it like a play, and
then do the music and everything. Each one is just based on the look of the
photograph that tells me what style it has to be done in. . . . My dream is to
perform it live in a twenty-four hour period.
ART IN THE TWEN TY-FIRST CENTURY
Art21, Inc. is a non-profit contemporary art organization serving
students, teachers, and the general
public. Art21 produces the Emmy-nominated, nationally broadcast
PBS series Art: 21—Art in the
Twenty-First Century, a wide range
of education materials, and outreach programs. This multi-faceted
project introduces audiences to
a diverse range of contemporary
visual artists working in the United
States today and to the art they are
producing now.
For more ways to use Art: 21
in your classroom, check out:
Season One,
Two and Three on
VHS and DVD:
to order call
(800) 533-2847
Top and right: Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #s 2 through 32 (Day is Done), 2004–2005.
© Mike Kelley
“I think having something be somewhat ridiculous is a way of undermining
that notion that life is just about trauma. This is also something that is very
much embedded in a lot of modernist work. Expressionism and existentialist
artworks—that kind of heavy artist-as-sufferer. I have no interest in that.”
Free Art: 21
Educators’ Guides:
www.pbs.
org/art21/
education/
teachingmaterials
Activity Suggestions
For Day is Done, Kelley was inspired by images he found in high-school year-
books. Review a selection of yearbooks from different time periods. Design
a new yearbook representing a unique perspective on important individuals
and activities.
Find lesson plans
and ideas for the
classroom on the
Art: 21 Web site and
Online Lesson Library:
www.pbs.org/art21/education
Research other art forms, such as punk music, the use of “black” humor by
comedians, or Goth fashion, that challenge normative value systems. Present
your research in written or visual form, or make your own social satire of
some aspect of contemporary popular culture.
Art: 21 slide sets from
Davis Art Images:
Call (800) 533-2847
ext. 253 to place
your order.
SchoolArts May/June 2007 17
