Newcastle
Fourth Grade
During the next month,
Newcastle fourth graders will participate in an art
project as part of the Folk Art and Music program
this year. The project is to create an assemblage
collage that shares the personal story of the
student, his or her family, family history or a
special memory. In keeping with the folk art
tradition, students will not only make their
assemblages out of traditional items (paper, glue,
paint) but will also use everyday objects or
discarded objects from around the house.
A very special aspect of
folk art is that it often tells a story that
reflects our family, our roots, our heritage and our
community. Folk art also often makes use of
materials which are “at hand” -- scraps of fabric,
recycled wood and metal, old papers, buttons, maps
and tools -- turning something ordinary into
something extraordinary! Consider how scraps of
fabric from worn work clothes can turn into
beautiful and useful quilts.
We are fortunate to have
Sheri Jacobson, an assemblage artist, visit our
classroom during the first week of April, showing us
her special form of folk art. Sheri uses a variety
of objects from her home, her past and flea markets
to create artwork that tells stories of community
and family.
Just as Sheri Jacobson does,
Newcastle students will also be building their
stories in a 3-dimentional box -- specifically in an
8-1/2 inch wide, 11 inch tall, and 2” deep cardboard
box. The box allows for flat images such as
pictures, maps, scraps of paper and paint to be
applied to the background. The box also allows for
3-dimentional objects to be glued into the box,
making their artwork a wonderful assemblage of many
types of objects.
The box, papers, glues,
paints, fabric scraps and magazines will be provided
in the classroom. At
home, the students
will gather a variety of images and objects that
help tell their stories – copies of photographs,
letters, toys, invitations, ticket stubs, maps,
household objects. The list goes on and
on. So many of these objects of everyday life have
stories and memories attached to them. Place them
in the assemblage and you’ve shared a personal
story!
