Inspiration from the classroom
“Memory Garden: Mosaic Trees -A Reminder and Tribute”
This lesson was created by Teacher Fellowship 2007-08 participants, Maureen Waters (Social Science) and Deborah Sukenic (Art) of Richards Career Academy. They are presently working on the project. Parts of this project will be included in an exhibition in June 2008 for the Teacher Fellowship.
For this lesson, students will be creating a Memorial Garden to commemorate personal, political and/or social changes in their lives. The location of the garden, which will be on the school grounds, is a resurrection of a previous memorial. The original memorial was created several years ago in honor of a teacher who had passed. The students were inspired by a workshop with local artist David Philpot. They also learned about several environment builders and visionary artists. A field trip to Intuit provided more instruction.
Students are working to re-create a permanent and monumental environment. The main objects in the garden will be large mosaic poles in various heights, similar to Philpot’s wooden staffs. Working together, students will embellish the poles using traditional mosaic material (glass, stone, ceramic tile), as well as materials collected by them, that have a personal meaning. The contents of each pole will reflect a social issue and/or commemorate important people. The poles may also serve as a memory of our physical environment, which has been decaying due to pollution and neglect. Students will be involved not only in designing the poles, but in the layout of the garden and installation. Outsider artists presented will include: Fred Smith, Nek Chand, and anonymous Memory Jug artists.
Fred Smith’s Concrete Park Photo via flickr: Debora Drower
Nek Chand Rock Garden, Chandigarh Photo via flickr: Paul Veltman
Get more inspiration and download free curricula at Intuit - Education.
