The Family Quilt
by Sarah Bergman
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PA. Standards for the Arts and Humanities
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| 9.1.3 E |
Demonstrate the ability to define objects, express emotions, illustrate an action or relate an experience through creation of works in the arts.
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| 9.2.3 D |
Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspectives.
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| 9.3.3 A |
Recognize critical processes used in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.
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| 9.3.3 F |
Know how to recognize and identify similar and different characteristics among works in the arts (e.g., Amish and Hawaiian quilts, Navaho weavings and Kente cloth from West Africa).
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Objectives
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| Knowledge: |
The students learn that Faith Ringgold is an African-American painter (b. 1930) best known for her "Story Quilts" which are made of fabric and paints.
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| Skill: |
The students will learn how to paint images on fabric triangles and piece them together to make their own "family story quilt."
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| Attitude: |
The students will learn to appreciate their peers' cultural diversity and family history. Also, they will learn about similarities between their classmates and the artwork they produce.
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| Prepare Ahead: |
Reproductions of 3-4 Faith Ringgold works of art; demonstration supplies; motivation and closure discussions; website material (www.faithringgold.com).
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| Prior Knowledge: |
Basic vocabulary (quilt, family portrait); prior use of tempera paint; understanding basic quilt patterns (triangle into squares).
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Motivation
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Questions Leading Students to
Discovery: |
Does anyone have
a quilt at home? Is it colorful? Are there pictures on it? Of what?
Faith Ringgold is an artist who makes quilts and tells stories
of people from her culture. She is an African-American artist from
New York. Can anyone point to New York on the map? Think
about your family's heritage/culture. That means are you Italian?
Spanish? What makes you special? What makes you the same as
someone else in our class? The students will look at examples of
Faith Ringgold's quilts.
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| Demonstration: |
I will draw my immediate family members on the
construction paper to demonstrate. Then using
tempera, I will paint them onto the fabric triangles. After our
fabric dries overnight, we are going to glue the pieces in place onto
the canvas. I am going to display them separately and tell the
students that there will be a special surprise at the end of the
lesson. Demonstrate how they can all be put together to make a "class quilt."
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| Visual Aids: |
"Camille's Husband's Birthday Quilt" (1988)
"Bitter Nest #2: Harlem Renaissance Party" (1988)
"The Purple Quilt" (1986)
"The Dinner Quilt" (1986)
**None of these serigraphs are a part of our exhibition, reproductions can be found at www.faithringgold.com.
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| Reference to Art History: |
Faith Ringgold, heritage quilts, cultural diversity.
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| Exemplars: |
Show examples of part students' work (last year's 1st graders);
Show my demonstration example, and then my finished example.
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| Activity: |
Given construction paper and pencils, the students will sketch their
family members, including their pets if they would like. After
sketching, they will choose colored triangles of fabric to paint their
family members on. They will work on the paintings for 2-3 class
periods. After drying, we will hang up the finished swatches of
fabric and have closure discussions. Then I will demonstrate how
we will assemble the quilt swatches to complete a large, single quilt combining all of our individual histories.
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| Supplies: |
Triangles of colored fabric, colored tempera paints, brushes, cups
of water for each table, pencils, practice paper, non-toxic fabric
glue, heavy canvas or foam core board for mounting.
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| Vocabulary: |
Story quilt, Faith Ringgold, family portrait, heritage,
special/unique.
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| Closure: |
Who is Faith Ringgold? What is her heritage? What was Faith
trying to say through her combination of fabric and drawing? Why did she make the story quilts? Look at our quilts we made. Do you see how they are all different? What does that mean? (All students have different family heritages.) How is our message similar to Faith's? Now we are going to take our individual quilt squares and connect them together to create one, large quilt. By combining our "class families" together to create a large quilt we will represent our many differences and similarities. It will show our entire class's history and heritage.
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Assessment Strategy
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The motivation and closure discussions will weigh
heavily in my assessment of the students' artwork, because the
activity is multicultural in nature and I believe it is important
that they grasp the idea behind the art-making. The students can
talk about their triangles and how they make up a family story
quilt, then a classroom quilt. The interdisciplinary activity will
also be a good tool of assessing the students' understanding of the
concepts pertaining to the quilts.
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Correlated Lessons
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The students will write letters to Faith Ringgold and
tell how they studied her story quilts and then made their own,
illustrating the diversity of their families. Photos of each quilt will
be taken and attached to the letters which will be sent to the artist.
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Interdisciplinary Domains
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The students will partner-up with a classmate of
a different heritage than their own. They will list the similarities
and differences (compare/contrast) between their two heritages.
They will focus on the cultural aspects that make their families unique/special.
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Reflections
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This lesson could be modified for older grades by teaching the
students how to actually sew the pieces of fabric together to make
their quilts. With the school's permission, our class may be able to
display our "class quilt" in the lobby of the school so all who enter
will be able to see the extent of what the children are doing in
the art program at our school.
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