HANDMADE
From Kandinsky to Folk Art
Naturally, it is the lessons that stem from my own artistic interests about which I am most passionate. Thus, teaching from the vantage
point of authentic enthusiasm is an
easy position from which to motivate
students. Although I consider myself
to be a documentary photographer,
I’ve been integrating quilts into my
art-making and curriculum design for
the past sixteen years. Last spring, as
I was hard at work finishing a huge
photographic quilt, I became intrigued
with the quilters of Gee’s Bend.
Thea Storz
pean painting to African-American
folk art. This unit, which I’ve named
“Kandinsky to Pettway,” includes
viewing, critique, and production. Students worked with painting and collage.
The Quilters of Gee’s Bend
The small, isolated community of
Gee’s Bend, Alabama, is home to a
rich quilting heritage. The quilters
have enjoyed much recent fame. There
have been traveling exhibitions, large
coffee-table books, and even a series of
postage stamps. The quilts are striking; they feature bold, asymmetrical
patterns, bright colors, and rich texture. Examining the history of Gee’s
Bend gives insight into plantation
slavery, the New Deal, and the Civil
Rights Movement.
Although the women of Gee’s Bend
are not “trained,” one cannot help
making comparisons with some of the
most influential names in modern art.
It was these visual similarities that
led me to design a unit for my young-est students that traveled from Euro-
Mondrian and Kandinsky
Students began this unit by viewing
the work of artists Piet Mondrian and
Wassily Kandinsky. They discussed
color, line, and geometry. Students
then combined the “criss-cross applesauce” of Mondrian with Kandinsky’s
bright colors and organic shapes in
order to create some striking paintings.
For their next lesson, students were
given a large, square
paper, strips of
black, and squares
and rectangles cut
from blue, red, and
yellow construction
paper. A small piece
of shiny paper was
used at the end for emphasis. Students
were excited about the collages that
they created; one child spontaneously
said, “This looks like a real quilt!”
need for the warmth and beauty that
quilts provide. In order to introduce
my students to the quilters, I read pic-
ture books aloud, showed photographs,
and perused a couple of websites using
a smart board. Discussions centered
around elements of design, the anat-
omy of a quilt, the history of Gee’s
Bend, and various types of fabric and
their attributes. We also talked about
our own family members who sew and
quilts that we have in our houses.
Making Their Own: Paper
After this thorough introduction to
quilts, students were excited to make
their own. They first made a mono-
chromatic paper “quilt” modeled after
the utilitarian work
clothes quilts of
Gee’s Bend. This
piece was collaged
from a variety of
blue papers and
fabrics. A finishing
touch was to add
“quilting.” Broken white colored pen-
cil lines served this function.
By examining the culture
of another community,
students learn to value
their own community’s
cultural expression.
Connecting Through Quilts
Like the quilters of Gee’s Bend, my
students live in an isolated setting.
Although southern Alabama is much
hotter than northern Vermont, people
in both locations can appreciate the
Making Their Own: Fabric
Students were finally ready to make
a fabric quilt. To prepare for this lesson, I doubled over and sewed squares
of fabric that were about 18 x 18" ( 46
x 46 cm), and gathered a variety of
scraps. Students cut, arranged, and
glued cloth scraps onto their fabric
