Smithsonian American Art Museum

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION

Title: Quilted Landscapes Students (grade, subject, etc): SS/VA 4-6

Essential Question: What can we learn about the history of our country from the history of our family?

Assessed Standard(s): NCSS 1 Supporting Standards(s): NAEA 1

Materials (teacher will supply): fabric or paper, suggested reading from list —If using paper: hole punch, yarn or raffia, regular crayons or paints —If using fabric: freezer paper, iron, rotary cutter, cutting mat, fabric crayons or paints, needle and thread/iron-on adhesive or contact paper

Vocabulary: immigration, emigration, trust, community, quilt, patch, piecing, backing, batting, border, sashing, nontraditional quilt

Resources (available for download): A Matter of Trust by María Castagliola, Camas para Sueños by Carmen Lomas Garza, Mis Hermanos by Jesse Treviño, Oral History Guide, suggested readings and questions, Quilt Activity Guide

SCAFFOLDING WORK SHEET

To complete the Culminating Task, students need to know how to:

Instructional activities to prepare students:

a. Read and discuss a book from the suggestions provided 1) Interview a family member

b. Use Oral History Guide

a. Discuss Latino art representing immigration or family

b. Hear interviews with Latino artists about personal experiences

2) Look at art

c. Analyze the impact family history has on an artist’s work

a. Use ideas from SAAM artwork to design patch 3) Make a family history quilt

b. Create patch using fabric paint or pastel

a. Mark cultural origins of each student on a map (optional) 4) Connect family histories to American history and culture

b. Discuss connections between students’ patches

LESSON SUMMARY

Pre-Visit: Read and discuss a book from the suggestions provided as an example of significant stories in family history. Practice using the Oral History Guide. For homework, interview parent, grandparent, or guardian using the guide. Find an event or scene that involves a country of origin, immigration, or move (or impact of that experience on the family).

Video Visit: Discuss images of Latino immigration and family experiences and relate to artists’ immigration experience through biographical information and artist videos.

Culminating Task: Sketch ideas for a quilt patch representing the chosen event or scene and select a final design. Copy this design onto a fabric or paper square for inclusion in a class quilt. Assemble the quilt and compare and contrast the experiences represented in each patch.

Contact: Education Staff Smithsonian American Art Museum, Education Office

Phone: 202-275-2323 Email: SAAMedstaff@si.edu

Quilted Landscapes: Suggested Readings Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1985.

A family's patchwork quilt tells the story of their lives. Strom, Yale. Quilted Landscape: Conversations with Young Immigrants. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Immigrants to America from around the world tell their stories. Morris, Ann. Grandma Francisca Remembers: A Hispanic-American Family Story. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 2002.

A girl learns about her family history from her grandmother. Lomas Garza, Carmen. Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press, 2005.

Lomas Garza combines her artwork with stories of growing up in Kingsville, TX. Tenorio-Coscarelli, Jane. The Tamale Quilt. Lake Elsinore, CA: Quarter-Inch Publishing, 1993. A grandmother tells stories to her grandchild through a quilt.

Quilted Landscapes: Suggested Questions Reading Discussion:

Questions may vary depending on your choice of book to read to the class. Suggested questions include:

• What were the most important events in the lives of these characters?

• How did each event affect the characters?

• What can you learn about American culture or other cultures from the story?

• What connection do the characters feel to these cultures?

• How do the characters tell their stories? With words, pictures, crafts, etc.?

• Does anything in this story remind you of your own family?

Quilt Discussion:

• How did you decide on a story to add to this quilt?

• How did you design a picture that would tell your whole story?

• What larger story does this quilt tell now that it is all put together?

• Are there any connections or similarities in many of the patches?

• Are there any differences between many of the patches?

• What can we learn about our class as a group from this quilt?

• Can we learn anything about this country from the stories in this quilt?

Contact: Education Staff Smithsonian American Art Museum, Education Office

Phone: 202-275-2323 Email: SAAMedstaff@si.edu

Quilted Landscapes: Oral History Guide Ask a parent, grandparent, or guardian if you can interview him or her about your family and any memories of growing up. Use the questions provided and add as many of your own as you want. Ask the person if you can share the interview with your class at school. Also ask permission to record the interview. Questions include: • What is your full name?

• When and where were you born?

If the person was born in the United States:

• Did our family come to the United States from another country or countries? When? Which countries?

• Where have we lived in this country? Have you or anyone in our family moved far away from your

childhood home? What was that like?

If the person was born outside the United States:

• Why did you come to this country? When and how did you come?

• What was it like?

• What do you remember about the country where you grew up? How does it compare?

• Have you moved since coming to this country? Why?

Final Question:

• How have these experiences affected you and our family?

Contact: Education Staff Smithsonian American Art Museum, Education Office

Phone: 202-275-2323 Email: SAAMedstaff@si.edu

Quilted Landscapes: Guide to Quilt Activity Version One: If you have no quilting experience or little time or money, you might consider this substitution: 1. Use heavy cardstock squares in exchange for fabric patches.

2. Piece the quilt together by punching holes in the corners, then weave the pieces together with yarn or

raffia.

3. Make additional loops at the top for hanging.

Version Two: If you have no quilting or sewing experience, but are interested in working with fabric, try this process for making a nontraditional quilt: 1. Cut-out squares of fabric (recommended dimension: 1 sq.ft.) using a rotary cutter and cutting mat or

other surface. These will be the bases of the students’ patches and can be either all the same color or

multiple colors.

2. Iron-on plastic-coated freezer paper to make the patches easier for the students to draw on.

3. Have students copy their final design onto their patches in pencil or chalk and go over the sketch in

fabric crayons or fabric paint.

4. Arrange the patches in a layout with the class.

5. Decide whether or not to add fabric borders or sashing (strips between the blocks).

6. Assemble the quilt by sewing the patches together, sandwich the quilt between two sheets of contact

paper, or use an iron-on adhesive on the seams to connect the patches.

Version Three: If you have experience quilting or sewing and need advice on quilting with children, start with Version Two, then consult this Web site for ideas and resources to create a quilt: http://www.thecraftstudio.com/qwc/index.htm (Past winner of the EduNET Choice Award)