Quilts and Stories They Tell: Art and Literacy in the Elementary Classroom

Grade Level: K-5

Overview/Concepts: This hands-on session is aimed at the elementary art educator or classroom teacher and will explore quilts and other textiles and the stories they tell. We will look at and discuss the quilts in From Heart to Hand: African American Quilts From the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art. Following a thoughtful examination and discussion of images, patterns and messages seen in quilts, participants will create a work of art that incorporates image and text to tell a story. We will discuss a variety of ways to blend art, reading, writing, and other subjects depending on the student’s level.

Background: Story quilts are about imagery and allegory and usually contain symbols of family heritage handmade by the author. Quilting is a narrative part of many cultures and in many places, is a very social event.

Yvonne Wells is an African American artist born in 1939 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She is greatly influenced by the African American experience during the Civil Rights Movement. Her great-great grandmother was a slave and as part of her duties, she made quilts. The long retired public-school P.E. teacher took up quilting in 1979 because she needed to stay warm. She is self-proclaimed folk artist, and she uses quilts as her canvas. These stories all come from her life. Gee’s Bend is a town surrounded on three sides by water in the Alabama River making it almost an island. The women of Gee’s Bend have been making quilts since the mid 19th century with the oldest existing from the 1920s. Their patterns use bold composition and improvisation referred to as “my way”. The quilts have been carried on by women through multiple generations although each woman develops her own style and artistic voice. Although the quilts are more obviously about pattern and shape, there is meaning in their pattern. These are often made from castoff clothing or cornmeal sacks to help those in unheated homes to keep warm. Nora’s Necktie Flower Garden by Nora Ezell, 1994

Nora Ezell was born in Brooksville, Mississippi in June of 1919. She first watched her mother quilt as a child, but it wasn’t until she was in her 60s that she became passionate about it. Nora rarely bought materials for her quilts, because she believed using scraps was part of quilt making. Lessons and Materials:

Lesson #1: 18 x 24 paper, 12 x 18 paper, pencils, watercolor, crayons, brushes, colored pencils, sharpies, and other art supplies as desire, 3” fabric squares (24/student) in a variety of colors and patterns –could also use magazine pages for this if desired, glue.

Lesson #2: 7” square white drawing paper, 8” square color paper, 9” square black paper, pencils, crayons, watercolor, black marker, glue, hole punch, colored yarn, hole punch patterns,clear packaging tape, big plastic needles.

Story Quilt Lesson #1:

 Motivation—Discussion of quilts and tapestries at the High Museum and Faith Ringgold’s story quilts and the meaning behind them. Why were they made and what do they communicate to the viewer? How do they communicate? Do you see any art elements or principles that stand out to you? Do all of them tell a literal or factual story?

 Visualization—Now you are ready to make your own picture. Let’s brainstorm some ideas. What is something you would like to do? Or somewhere you would like to go? Do you have a memory of a special event that you would like to create a picture about? Do you want to create an illustration about a book you have read, a song you love or a historical event? Be sure to think of a time and place that will be interesting for you to draw and also interesting for others to look at.

 Procedures—

1. Helpers give out paper and pencils

2. Students look at ideas on the board and decide what type of picture they will create or use their own idea (preferable).

3. Sketch lightly on the page (horizontal or vertical) the scene you want to draw. Draw large and use all of the space.

4. Add color with crayon to all parts of your drawing except large areas like the sky or ground.

5. Use watercolor to paint the large areas after all crayon work is done.

6. Let dry.

7. Mount 12 x 18” paper onto 18 x 24” paper, centered.

8. Choose pieces of fabric in colors and patterns that add to your picture and glue all the way around the edges to create a border. Students can determine how many of each they need to make a pattern with 2, 3 or 4 different designs.

9. If you would like to add words to the piece consider adding words about where you are and why you are there. Add the words written on white paper and glued onto the picture or border. 10. After critique, hang on the wall and enjoy!

 Closure/Review—Look at your picture. Did you draw a scene that tells a story? Did you make good use of your space? Did you use your imagination, home and surroundings as a source for your ideas? Did you include lots of details to make the picture interesting to the viewer? Did you use ideas from another subject or from your life or imagination? What do you like the most about your picture?

Story Quilt Lesson #2:

 Motivation—Discussion of quilts and tapestries at the High Museum and Faith Ringgold’s story quilts and the meaning behind them. Why were they made and what do they communicate to the viewer? How do they communicate? Do you see any art elements or principles that stand out to you?

 Visualization—Now you are ready to make your own picture. What are your dreams for the future? Do you want to become a doctor? A lawyer? A baseball player? Let’s brainstorm some more ideas. Be sure to think of a dream for the future, not just something you want to do in the next few days or weeks. How will you draw your person to show what they are doing? Sometimes it is easier to start by drawing the clothing of the person and then add the arms, legs, etc. The clothing also usually tells us something about what the person is doing. What type of background will you need to include helping the viewer see your idea even more clearly?

 Procedures—

1. Helpers give out paper and pencils.

2. Students look at ideas on the board and decide what type of picture they will create or use their own idea (preferable).

3. (Having students plan before their final copy is beneficial) Start by drawing the person (self) wearing clothes appropriate to the dream they have chosen. Sketch lightly.

4. Draw the rest of the scene being sure to use your space and not have large areas of empty space.

5. Add color with crayon.

6. Mount white square onto slightly larger square of colored paper and mount both onto 9 x 9” black paper.

7. Hole punch black paper.

8. When glue has dried, add the words…”I dream that one day”…on the colored paper going around the drawing. 9. Sew all quilt squares together. They can later be taken apart and each student can sew around his/her own to take home. Reinforcing the black paper with packaging tape is helpful if sewing many squares together.

10. After a class critique, hang on the wall and enjoy!

 Closure/Review: Look at your picture. Did you raw a scene that shows you when you are grown up? What do you dream to do or to become? Did you include clothing and “props” that make it easier for the viewer to tell what is going on in your picture? Did you make good use of your space? Did you use your imagination, home and surroundings as a source for your ideas? Did you use lines to create the edges of your shapes and forms? What do you like the most about your picture?

National Art Standards:

Cr3: refine and complete artistic work. (could use all of the creating standards) Re8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work Cn10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art Cn11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

GA GSE Sample connection standards:

ELAGSE3RL2: Recent stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. ELAGSE3RI3: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. ELAGSE3RL7: Explain how specific apects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).