Animal Embroidery Schaffner Elementary

In January I was brought into Schaffner Traditional Elementary, on a VSA Arts KY inclusion grant, by art teacher and all around creative person Carolyn Brayden. I was to work with four 3rd grade classes on Peruvian inspired embroidery. Previous to my coming to the school, Brayden had introduced Peruvian embroidery and the history to her students. She then guided them toward selecting an animal to do a colorful embroidery on burlap.

In my first visit I showed some of my work and discussed life as a professional working artist. This was part of Braden's plan, so the students could make connections between what they are learning now and how those skills can be used as a professional. We then practiced threading a needle, how to knot the yarn, and how to do a running stitch. In the following visits students drew their animals on burlap, outlined them with a running stitch, and later filled them in with either a seed stitch or satin stitch. The following images are some of the beautiful work the 3rd grade students did. I would love to do this project with my children at home and turn it into a wall hanging.

 

 



Legacy Project for Kerrick Elementary, Fall 2012

I was asked to collaborate with the Art Teacher, and her four 4th Grade classes, at Kerrick Elementary in Louisville, Ky. The teacher was interested in my proposal to construct four quilts in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the aquisition of thier wooded area next to the school. Each quilt was to represent a season. I first met with the teacher and a representative from The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, acting adminstrators of the project, in late summer of 2012.

 

 In fall of 2012 I conducted a series of four classes. On my initial visit we looked at a picture book together, The Leaf Man, where in the book various leaves are used to create woodland creatures. We then went out into the wooded area and collected leaves for relief printing on fabric, to create our own leaf creatures. In conjunction with this project the school held a Family Literacy night, where parents also previewed the book, The Leaf Man, collected their own leaves and relief printed them on fabric with their children. The last two sessions during my stay at the school included teaching the students how to embroidery on their printed quilt squares. 

At the conclusion of my stay at the school, I took all of the quilt squares home, both the students and their parents, and used them to create four legacy quilts for the school. The following pictures are the result of this project.

Working with a student.
 

Detail of Winter Quilt

 

Winter Quilt



Detail of Spring Quilt
 

 




Spring Quilt
 

Detail of Summer Quilt



Summer Quilt

Detail of Fall Quilt





Fall Quilt