Inspired by a shared love of the arts and the knowledge that using a variety of art forms increases learning, assistant professor of anthropology Amy Carattini and professor of English Suzanne Spoor collaborated with Visual Arts program navigator Laura Pasquini to create an arts integration experience for their anthropology and composition students.
Arts integration is the practice of combining arts education with other academic subjects to encourage students to explore and understand complex concepts that might be challenging through more traditional teaching methods alone. The goal is to foster critical thinking skills by requiring students to analyze and interpret information in unique ways and by representing diverse perspectives in art form.
Carattini and Spoor wanted their students to do a joint project on the theme of “home” because they had originally been scheduled to run Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANT-121) and Academic Writing and Research 1 (ENG-101) as a 专题学习社区 叫做“没有地方比得上家”.尽管这些类是“解耦的”,” the two professors were both keeping the theme of home and belonging that they had developed together, and they still wanted their students to have the kind of deep learning experience that happens when they join with other students and professors. 除了, 他们在雕塑领域的同事, Wilfredo Valladares Lara was slated to curate an art show at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts to open in September called "Finding 首页." Valladares Lara's exhibit could become another opportunity for students to broaden their thinking about the theme.
整个夏天, Carattini and Spoor attended the opening of the exhibit “Sharing Honors and Burdens” at Renwick Invitational 2023 and were inspired by indigenous artist Joe Feddersen who is a printmaker, 玻璃艺术家和编织者. 通过这些媒介, 他使用符号和符号来反映当代和本地与环境的联系. Getting to meet the artist and hear his perspective on belonging to the land awakened the possibility that students might go deeper with their own definitions and understandings of home and belonging if they too started with signs, 符号和图像作为一种唤起感官印象和叙述特定时刻的方式.
就在这时，卡拉蒂尼联系上了帕斯奎尼，请求她的帮助. Pasquini suggested some creative play time in the print studio where she introduced Carattini to monoprinting with gelli plates and photo transfers. 在与这些艺术媒介一起工作并创造模型之后, 帕斯奎尼提议让学生们创作一幅三联画, 由三个面板组成的二维作品, 每一个都表达了艺术家家的一个方面(通过符号), 图片和文字). Carattini and Spoor agreed that this would be an ideal way for students to explore the concepts of home and belonging in a personal way while sharing their stories informally with each other. 由文学院院长提供经费支持, 艾丽西亚莫尔斯, 计划举办两次讲习班.
大家都说，项目讲习班是成功的. Valladeres提供了雕塑工作室作为工作室的空间. 卡拉蒂尼和斯波尔通过民族志写作为学生们做好了准备, 关于家和归属感的文学阅读和讨论. 帕斯奎尼做了其他的事情. 她计划, 有组织的, 设置一个上传数字文件的位置, 为讲习班提供材料并讲授全部课程. 在第一次研讨会期间, Pasquini walked the students through a slow looking exercise with Feddersen’s work: “Convocation over Power Lines.“通过这种单字印刷，描绘了象形图案的鸟类和几何图案的电线, Pasquini guided students to explore what meanings different patterns and symbols have in our everyday lives and which have been lost through disuse. 有一次，她向学生们展示了胶浆印刷和照片转印技术, 他们开始创作三联画. 在一个面板中, students made a gelli print of a symbol of home; in the second panel, they transferred a photo representing the theme; and in the third, they produced writing over a pattern or image (on top of their ghost prints or transferred photos, 使用透明薄膜). 结果令人震惊.
在接下来的一周, students reflected on how engaging with the materials and the creative process itself has shaped their ideas about home and belonging. 在人类学, they will use this work to understand their own starting points with the topic before going to interview others and elicit their understandings. 在英语课上，他们将继续通过文学文本来探索主题. Many students will also go on the field trip to Maryland Hall to experience Valladares Lara's Finding 首页 exhibit, 他们会在哪里遇到雕塑, 绘画, 安装部分, 织工作, videos and prints by seven different artists who have approached the theme through their own life experiences and particular skills.
The making of the triptych was fun and surreal because we learned a new way of expressing ourselves with photo transfer and Gelli Printing (which is a form of arts to make prints called monoprinting). 尽管我说过，写过关于归属感的文章, 我创作这幅关于家庭的三联画是因为我的家人为我所做的一切. 他们确保我拥有我所需要的一切，鼓励和推动我做自己，做得更好. I wanted to share my traditions with others to see and enjoy which was us in the family portrait wearing our traditional clothing.
当我想到家和归属感时，我选择的象征是玫瑰、树木和木头的图案. My mom used to tell me the story of why she chose to name me Rosemarie and her love of the flower. 从我记事起，我们就一直在院子里种玫瑰，而且每次都是这样, I think of home I think of the pink roses growing in the summer and my mom getting me roses after each of my dance performances. 我选择了木头的图案，因为它让我想起了旧木桌, 我们每天晚上都吃晚饭, the huge tree in our front yard I used to climb with my brothers every day and the smell of wood that resonates with home. 我的父亲是一名树艺师，在成长过程中，我们尽可能多地远足和冒险. 我看到的每一棵树都让我想起我的爸爸和家, 他们给了我安慰，我喜欢看看每个人是多么的不同.
The photograph I chose was a picture of a mosaic that has been in my house for as long as I can remember. 它挂在我厨房的墙上，每次我看到它, 我想到了家庭聚餐和与家人一起烘焙. 它承载着许多回忆，颜色是怀旧的. 对于我的引用，我添加了地图作为背景, 地图 make me think of home because looking at the Atlas at my grandma's house used to be my favorite thing to do. 我从高中开始就开始收集地图，而且我还在继续寻找更多的地图. 我引用的是Fleetwood Mac乐队一首名为“songbird”的歌中的一节. 我妈妈会放伊娃·卡西迪的翻唱歌曲，在我心情不好的时候唱给我听.
对于我的印花，我决定把重点放在绿色和生活上. 我爸爸一直喜欢做户外活动，从简单的园艺到精心设计的景观美化. 工作(或, 就拿我老二来说, refusing to work) together to take care of our yard or garden is the source of some of my most fond childhood memories. 每当我回家, my dad is always excited to show me his latest project or have me taste his freshly harvested honey. We will sit in the back and watch the chickens as he regales me with tales of his battles against the foxes and hawks who are always out for an easy meal.
为了我的照片, I used the picture we took this spring when my middle brother came back home to Virginia to visit. 这张照片标志着我们自2020年以来第一次聚在一起. 我哥哥在疫情爆发时加入了空军, 所以在被送往日本两年之前，他无法回家. 我将永远记得大家再次在同一屋檐下的感觉有多棒. 尽管我哥哥走后我经常回家, 直到我们重新团聚，这里才真正有家的感觉.
我喜欢创作这幅三联画，因为我喜欢艺术，而且我在英语方面很吃力，所以它让它变得很有趣. 我觉得在英语课上我们只是写和谈论我们正在读的书. 为此，我们将书中的三个主题与我们自己的生活联系起来. 它还让我们了解了同龄人在正常谈话中不会提到的事情. 我们也建立联系.
这个项目让我发展了我对家的想法. 我想的是那些让我感觉舒服、不被评判的人、地方和事物. 在我知道那些人和事有意义之前, 但这让我可以说，我和这些人在一起感觉很自在.
我们是来帮忙的.
