Henry Darger Resource Kit

  • Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Henry Darger, Gigantic Roverine with Young All poisonous All islands of Universan seas and oceans. Also in Calverina Angelinia and Abbiennia, circa mid-1900s. Watercolor, pencil, and carbon tracing on pieced paper. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, Photo Credit: James Prinz © American Folk Art Museum / Art Resource NY © 2018 Kiyoko Lerner / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outside Art—home to the Henry Darger Room Collection, a re-creation of the artist's home/studio and a rich archive of source materials related to the artist—developed a free online curriculum resource for teachers about Chicago outsider artist Henry Darger (1882–1972). The life and works of Darger offer a rich foundation for classroom discussion, creation, and reflection.

Referencing his epic novel, fantastical works on paper, and striking collages, the Henry Darger Resource Kit for Educators is intended for middle-school through high-school grade levels and provides information about Darger as an artist-author and selected themes embodied in his art. It is keyed to Common Core State Standards in English-Language Arts and includes age-appropriate texts and digital images, suggested classroom activities that require students to apply gained knowledge from the visual resources and written texts, and more. The lesson plans offer flexible grade-appropriate suggestions and are designed to welcome further cross-disciplinary integration. The Kit also offers three step-by-step tutorials on how to bind books.