Union Elementary School artists in Kindergarten through fourth grade worked on an all school community project in their art classes as a surprise for our city for Valentine's Day! Our quilt was finished just in time to go up in City Hall. Happy Valentine's Day, Montpelier!
In this project, students were challenged to mix their own skin colors with tempera paint using the primary colors and white. Students enjoyed experimenting and mixing their skin colors! We read the book All the Colors That We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color. We talked about how even though people say “She is black” or “He is white,” all of us have skin that is a different tones of tan or brown. We learned that our skin color comes from our ancestors, the sun and melanin. What would you like to call your skin color? Chocolate? Caramel? Coffee? Cinnamon? When they were ready, student artists painted one of their hands and printed them onto the canvas or the colorful border of fabric. There are over 400 handprints on our quilt!
Students were invited to share how they say “love” in languages spoken in their homes. These words were written on the canvas after the handprints were dry. Can you find the word “love” in Turkish? Spanish? Telegu? Japanese? Hindi? Arabic? Ga? Mandarin? French? English? There are over two dozen languages spoken by families in our community! Please let us know if you would like to add the word “love” in another language that you speak at home.
Thank you to Paul Gambill and Montpelier ArtSynergy for inviting us to take part in the Valentine’s Day art projects. We appreciate the donation of the canvas for the quilt by The Drawing Board. This quilt was sewn by UES staff member Janet Burke - who donated her time and talents as well as the fabric! A group of third and fourth graders sewed the border fabric during their recess and free time – thanks for volunteering and helping! Thank you to UES ELL teachers Sylvia Fagin and Hannah Barden for the translations, as well as helping with writing, along with Marita Frey, Samantha Lafleur, Morgan Lloyd. Thank you to Community Connections teacher Kevin Marlier for helping with the finishing touches. Thank you to the staff at Montpelier City Hall for this wonderful opportunity to share our artwork with the Montpelier community! Thank you to the Montpelier Valentine's Day Bandits who put up our paper hearts all over town! This project was inspired by a lesson designed by art educator Patty Bode.
