Hmm... Collection
Updated: 6 days ago
A curated collection of objects from my art room.
Sculptures
Wooden sculpture displayed in classroom book nook. Hand carved maraca donated from Kalamazoo Valley Museum. On display near desk.
Masks
hand-carved Indonesian mask donated by Kalamazoo Valley Museum Hand painted Balinese mask donated by Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Wooden hand-carved African mask
Black Art
Gordon Parks photograph taped outside my classroom door. African painting purchased by my sister in Cape Town, South Africa Row label in classroom: Red Row (Basquiat row) Ernie Barnes art taped on outside of classroom door (Room Ful'A Sistahs, 1994). Row label in classroom: Blue row (Annie Lee row).
An Overarching Theme
After gathering 10 objects and viewing them as a united collection I noticed a reoccurring theme: culture. As an educator teaching an extremely diverse range of students it is important that the art I expose young learners to is multifaceted.
This body of curated objects really emphasizes my aim to cultivate a space where young learners can build an understanding about the world around them. When I think about my practice setting and the intention I put into decorating, I can honestly say that these 10 artifacts—and the space they inhibit— symbolize my appreciation for art through a multicultural lens.
An artifact from my Youth
Object 4, which is found displayed outside of my classroom door, is defintely my favorite out of this collection. This painting is very special to me, it hangs in the dining room of my childhood home and I grew up seeing it everyday. As a child, I was enamored with how the image depicted a familar noise. Barnes' ability to capture both movement and sound within a still image has always stuck with me, as inspires much of my work as an artist.
Now, as an art teacher, I have an Ernie Barnes row (Green row) in my classroom. Aiming to expose them to this style of figurative painting, while also revealing the ways culture can be represented through the tool of visual storytelling.
An honorable mention when discussing favorites is object 5. This object is a painting by Annie Lee titled Blue Monday 1985, another painting from my childhood home that hung on the bathroom wall. Lee taught me at a young age that art can be packed with emotion. Now, viewing it with my adult eyes, it is even more captivating as I truly understand how well she did at visually encapsulating such a heavy emotion.
By exposing my students to the work of artists like Lee and Barnes' my goal is to demonstrate the many ways visual storytelling can combine art and culture.
Hidden Love for Heritage
Before completing this blog post, I admittedly was not fully aware of the specific cultures tied to each of the masks I've obtained over the years. After doing some research, I was surprised to learn that Object 8 is a mask of Colombian descent, known as a Mopa Mopa mask. These masks were often used by the Quillacingas and Pasto peoples of southern Colombia, with the sole purpose of telling and representing complex ancestral stories—which truly points to this underlining theme of cultural storytelling.
Initially, I was drawn to this mask because of the emotionally charged facial expression. After doing some digging, I was delighted to learn that this expression surrounded by intricate motifs was actually forming a sacred visual story.
Reflecting on my practice setting by analyzing these 10 objects gave me an opportunity to tell a visual story of my own, a story describing my approach as an educator.
By analyzing these artifacts, I have come to realize my hidden love for heritage in artmaking. Representation of multiple heritages exposes my students to art highlighting traditions, historical moments, and cultural values—which directly contributes to the expansion of their world view.
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