Students in Kindergarten and first grade have been creating their own "neighborhood" story quilts. Each student used fabric markers, fabric crayons, and ink block printing techniques to create a picture and story about where they live. Our project was inspired by the famous artist Faith Ringgold. During the project we read Faith's famous story "Tar Beach" and used her book as inspiration for our quilt squares. Special thank you to our extra important guest visitor Mrs. Meredith, who brought in sample quilts and is helping make our quilt dream a reality! Mrs. Meredith and Ms. Reynolds are currently sewing the quilt squares into amazing story quilts to be displayed in the lobby. |
Faith Ringgold, born in 1930 in Harlem, attended the City College of New York where she received her BS and her MA in Fine Arts. In 1967, Ringgold created a series, The American People, which focused on racial conflict and discrimination. In 1972, she helped found the Women Students and Artists for Black Liberation in order to make sure that African American art exhibitions equally represented men and women. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts, an art form that combines story telling and quilt making with genre painting. Ringgold has also written a children's book, TAR BEACH , which was a Caldecott Honor Book and won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration.