This collection of video segments presents visual arts and artists from a wide range of cultures. It is hosted by Carolyn Gwinn, who appears in several “For the Teacher” segments to provide background information on the classroom videos.
For Young Artists: An Artist in the Family
This video segment takes young students into the home of Manuela, a little girl who moved to Kentucky from Colombia. Miriam Llamas, Manuela’s grandmother and a painter, still lives in Colombia. On a recent visit, documented here, Miriam showed Manuela some of her paintings and taught her some of the songs and dances of home. This segment was produced with a primary-level audience in mind and demonstrates the passing on of traditional cultural knowledge from one generation to the next.
Suggested Uses:
Use to help young students better understand and appreciate the cultural traditions passed on from grandmother to granddaughter.
Show to spark a discussion about the relationship students have with their grandparents, older relatives, and ancestors. Do any of these older people have specific talents or lessons that they have passed on to the family?
Show to inspire students to create artworks that reflect something about their culture or where they live.
Show with the other “For Young Artists” segments and have students discuss what these cultures have in common and how they are different.
Use in conjunction with social studies and have students find the countries on the map and learn more about each country/culture. Ask students what they learn about people when they study their arts and cultures.
For Young Artists: Chinese Art
Several artists present a variety of Chinese crafts as part of a Chinese New Year’s celebration at the Explorium, a children’s museum in Lexington, KY. The crafts demonstrated include paper cutting, painting, and kite making for young children. Also known as the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year celebration is the biggest festival of the year, featuring Dragon Parades, dancing, music, and fireworks. The video shows how young people can enjoy the arts and develop a deeper understanding of the traditions of Chinese culture while exploring the meanings of various Chinese crafts. This video was produced with a primary-level audience in mind.
Suggested Uses:
Use to help students better understand and appreciate the cultural traditions of the Chinese New Year celebration.
Show to inspire students to learn one of the Chinese crafts demonstrated and create works of their own.
Show with the other “For Young Artists” segments and have students discuss what these cultures have in common and how they are different.
Use in conjunction with social studies and have students find the countries on the map and learn more about each country/culture. Ask students what they learn about people when they study their arts and cultures.
Pair with the “African Masks” segment and explore the use of masks in these two cultures (Chinese dragon). Have students create a mask that suggests something about their own culture.
For Young Artists: The Dreamcatcher
Susan Mullins Kwaronhia:wi is a Mohawk from the Kahnawake reserve in Canada who now lives in Berea, KY. She learned the traditional songs, stories, dances, and crafts of her people from her elders. The dreamcatcher originated with the Ojibwe, but has been adopted by many other nations. In this video segment, Mullins shows her grandchildren how to create a dreamcatcher as part of her mission to keep her heritage alive. This video was produced with a primary-level audience in mind.
Suggested Uses:
Use to help students better understand and appreciate Native American cultures.
Show to inspire students to create dreamcatchers.
Show with the other “For Young Artists” segments and have students discuss what these cultures have in common and how they are different.
Use in conjunction with social studies and have students find the countries on the map and learn more about each country/culture. Ask students what they learn about people when they study their arts and cultures.
African Masks
Artist Maude Alexander shows some of the African masks in her collection and talks about the functional and aesthetic attributes of African masks. She then introduces students to Kente International, a store in Louisville that specializes in the arts, crafts, and clothing of Africa, including an extensive collection of masks.
Suggested Uses:
Use to help students better understand and appreciate the cultural significance of masks in Africa.
Show to inspire students to create masks. (See the “Ancestor Masks” segment on the Spectrum of Art DVD and the “Making Art” section of the binder for instructions and demonstrations.)
Show with the “For Young Artists” segments and have students discuss what these cultures have in common and how they are different. Ask students what they learn about people when they study their arts and cultures.
Use in conjunction with social studies lessons that focus on Africa and the many cultural traditions of African nations. Have students find countries on a map and research the cultural attributes of each place.
A Prayer on the Doorstep (Indian Rangoli)
Nirmala Sathaye and Suhasini V. Bapkar demonstrate the India art of rangoli, a decorative, patterned sand painting traditionally displayed on the doorstep to welcome visitors into the home. Rangoli also enhances places of worship and defines and beautifies place settings for meals. Sathaye and Bapkar describe the process of making rangoli as a time for meditation and harmony. In India, rangoli is made with a finely ground sandstone; Sathaye and Bapkar continue this honored custom in America using a mixture of rice flour and sand or salt.
Suggested Uses:
Pair with the “Mehendi-Maker” segment on the Spectrum of Art DVD to help students better understand and appreciate the culture of India. Have students create rangoli patterns (see the “Making Art” and “Visual Art and Culture” sections of the binder for how-to suggestions).
Explore how traditions such as rangoli help us better understand and appreciate other cultures. Why do the women featured in this segment feel it is important to continue these traditions in America? Have students identify traditions from their cultures that they are perpetuating and discuss why. (See the excerpt from the World of Our Own teacher’s guide in the “Visual Art and Culture” section of the binder.)
Use the segment in conjunction with a discussion of the purposes of art.
Show in conjunction with two or three segments about arts from different artists/cultures and discuss what these artists/cultures have in common and how they are different. Possible segments include “Recycled Threads,” also on Visual Arts and Culture, and “Stone: Russell Dawson” on the Spectrum of Art DVD.
Shaving Grace
Using the best chair-making traditions, from the location and selection of wood to the design and production of the chair, Berea, KY craftsman Brian Boggs creates works of art that also serve a specific purpose. This segment explores the painstaking process Boggs employs in making his chairs, from going into the forest to select timber to the final staining of the chair. This excerpt demonstrates the art of “fine craftsmanship.”
Suggested Uses:
Show to spark a discussion of the purposes of art. Ask students to think of any objects in their homes or in the classroom that might be examples of traditional art, such as a quilt, a piece of furniture, something from the kitchen, a tool, etc.
Use in conjunction with the “Art of Craft: Rude Osolnik” segment on Responding to Art to initiate a discussion about the definitions of art and craft. Ask students to define craftsmanship and discuss its importance.
Use in conjunction with articles on folk life and folk art in the “Visual Art and Culture” section of the binder. Have students discuss the folk traditions illustrated in the video. What do the folk traditions of a family/culture reveal about the people and their history?
Use to encourage students to think about the folk traditions that might exist within their own families’ histories. Do students have family members who practice traditional art forms?
Recycled Threads
Avid recycler Pauline Proffitt of Paint Lick, KY demonstrates her process of turning old clothes and scraps of material into beautiful quilts and rugs. She attributes her skills at the loom and quilting to her mother, who passed on her knowledge of these traditional arts. Proffitt’s quilts are treasures of history, both in the myriad colors and patterns she finds in discarded fabric and in the personal stories she has woven into them through the lessons learned from her family.
Suggested Uses:
Show to spark a discussion of the purposes of art. Ask students to think of any objects in their homes or in the classroom that might be examples of traditional art, such as a quilt, a piece of furniture, something from the kitchen, a tool, etc.
Use in conjunction with the “Art of Craft: Rude Osolnik” segment on Responding to Art to initiate a discussion about the definitions of art and craft.
Use in conjunction with articles on folk life and folk art in the “Visual Art and Culture” section of the binder. Have students discuss the folk traditions illustrated in the video. What do the folk traditions of a family/culture reveal about the people and their history?
Use to encourage students to think about the folk traditions that might exist within their own families’ histories. Do students have family members who practice traditional art forms?
Contemporary Native American Artist
Truman Lowe, a contemporary Native American sculptor working primarily with wood and other materials gathered from the existing landscape, describes the influence of his own heritage on his work, from the themes he regularly examines to the materials he chooses. The power of memory, the use of natural imagery and materials, and his own vision of the landscape imbue Lowe’s creations with a spiritual quality that recalls the world of his ancestors.
Suggested Uses:
Use to explore student perceptions about Native American art. Ask them what images come to mind when they hear the term “Native American arts.” Do they think of traditional crafts? How does Truman Lowe’s work make them reevaluate their perceptions?
Show to spark a discussion about the artist’s methods and intentions. Ask students to analyze how Lowe’s work reflects family traditions as well as the themes and images he discusses in the segment.
Show to inspire students to create works of art that reflect a sense of place, especially a place that is meaningful to them.
Use to encourage students to explore traditional arts or crafts handed down in their families or in groups with which they are associated (e.g., church, Scouting, cultural). Have them create contemporary versions of traditional arts/crafts.
At Wickliffe Mounds
This second segment about contemporary Native American sculptor Truman Lowe explores how Lowe’s visit to the Wickliffe Mounds historical site—an ancient Native American community in Western Kentucky—influenced the series of works he created while in Kentucky. The video includes an overview of his work exhibited in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery at Murray State University.
Suggested Uses:
Pair with the “Contemporary Native American Artist” segment to spark a discussion about the artist’s methods, media, and intentions. Ask students to analyze how Lowe’s work reflects family traditions as well as his visit to Wickliffe Mounds. Discuss the media he works in and how he uses these materials to reflect his themes and imagery.
Show to spark a discussion of nature, ecology, and the visual arts. Have students gather materials from nature, such as twigs, bark, flowers, leaves, and stones. Ask them to create a sculpture that recalls the space where they found the materials.
Show to prepare students for a field trip to a historical site. After the field trip, have them create a work of art influenced by what they took away from the site—its meaning to the area/state/history, a feeling it evoked, or even concrete images they remember.
Poor Man’s Africa
Ellis Wilson was an African-American painter from Mayfield, KY whose work honored the everyday lives of people of color. The “Poor Man’s Africa” segment from KET’s 60-minute documentary about the artist focuses on Wilson’s travels to Haiti in the 1950s and their effect on his work. His paintings from this period illustrate the distinctive style that would become the hallmark of his work: flat shapes, sharp contrasts, bright colors, and patterned backgrounds with little attention, if any, given to facial features and details.
Suggested Uses:
Use to spark a discussion about artists’ methods and intentions. Discuss the impact of Haiti on Wilson’s work.
Pair with a visit to the online gallery of Ellis Wilson’s work to analyze his use of the elements of art and principles of design in his paintings. Use this analysis to help students create paintings inspired by Ellis Wilson.
Compare Wilson’s work to the work of another great African-American artist, Jacob Lawrence. Examples of his work can be found online or in the Speed Art Museum gallery of the Kentucky Virtual Art Museum CD-ROM.
Use in discussions of the contributions of African Americans to contemporary American art or the Harlem Renaissance (social studies, humanities, and visual arts).
Use in a discussion of prejudice and how the arts can help people better understand and appreciate those who are different from them.