Workshop Ideas

Facing Adversity

Artist educators will work with children to explore how our country has faced and overcome hardship throughout its history, in times of war and peace. Music and visual arts will be the art forms of focus. Students will listen to and discuss patriotic songs, including the Star Spangled Banner , slavery songs and 20th century works that will help illustrate the power of the arts as a means to heal. Students will investigate the power of the visual arts and design by learning about the AIDS quilt, the Vietnam Memorial and other artwork that deals with loss and recovery. Throughout the discussions, artist educators will guide students through the development of individual projects in various art forms.

Bottle Tree

This project is adapted from the freed slave's tradition of remembering their ancestors by creating memory bottles and hanging them in a nearby tree. This workshop celebrates children's need to create and be a part of rituals that honor, recognize and mourn the nation's loss. Artist educators visit each class and help students fill a bottle with tributes and memories about the event. Students also develop a ceremony for placing the bottle in the tree on the school grounds. On another day, each class performs their ceremony and raises the bottle into the tree. Schools can choose to participate in a whole school ceremony at the conclusion of the day or can share the tree and its creation with families and the community. Variations on this activity include creating a time capsule or planting a memorial tree.

Words of Hope

This program utilizes writing and reading to explore student's feelings of loss, suffering and hope. Works to be shared will vary depending on the grade level but may include Dr. Seuss books, The Diary of Anne Frank ,One Thousand Paper Cranes , Maya Angelou's short stories and poems, the writings of Kahil Gibran, Black Elk, Langston Hughes and songs of Bob Dylan and Woodie Guthrie. Artist educators will lead discussions about the readings and how the authors used the craft of writing to find inspiration through their hardship. Throughout the program, students will create poems, stories and journals inspired by the discussions. Depending on the wishes of the class, the writings can be shared with classmates or displayed in the school for public viewing.

Family and Community Offerings

Like all of us, parents and community members are feeling overwhelmed by the tragic imagery of the terrorist attacks. Artist educators can design activities to bring children, parents and educators together within the safety of the school environment to create sanctuaries that allow us to feel grief, reflect on and commemorate our loss. Activities include planting a peace garden or constructing an outdoor sanctuary. Programs can be adapted for community quilt or mural making.