Back when we were able to make art together in person middle schoolers were in the thick of it with creating individual and collaborative artworks for Project 1. Although our spring art show at GVSU in Grand Rapids was canceled/postponed due to COVID-19, I wanted to take time to celebrate the hard work, creativity and perseverance that our middle schoolers showed throughout the year!

To kick off our study of community we began our creative exploration by designing unique Identity Self Portraits! This process helped students identify the visible and invisible characteristics that shape who they are. We looked at works by Detroit Artist Sydney G James to gather inspiration and plan what stories our portraits would tell. This project was a great way for students to not only learn more about themselves but also to appreciate each of their crew members for their unique contributions to our crew. It allowed us to value the visible and invisible identities that we all have and students were able to reflect on how we are more than what people perceive us as from the outside. To see more about this project check out our identity video click here.

Next we started work on a fibers unit where we studied artists and activist Aram Han Sifuentes and her work to create a Protest Banner Lending Library. Sign and banner making is an artistic form of social engagement and we used our fabric to carefully plan a message that we wanted to share with our whole school community. Students messages ranged greatly from ideas that are rooted in our curriculum and relate to the environment such as “Save The Bees” and “No Trash In The Ocean!” to messages related to social justice such as “Black Lives Matter!” and “Put Down The Guns”. Our Middle schoolers are brilliant and motivated to make changes not only with their words but with their actions, to hear their messages to our community in a short video click here.

We are so lucky to have had Project 1 as our common theme this year and be able to focus so heavily on building community. Our next project was directly inspired by the work of Project 1 artist Olalekan Jeyifous and his focus on afrofuturist architecture, art, and urban planning. As well as referencing the architectural installations of another Project 1 Artist Heather Hart. For this recycled sculpture project I posed the question “What should communities of the future look like?” Students got to design and build a structure that they felt would best support people in their community for the future. The results of their work are so diverse just like our students, to see more about this project check out this video of the process and finished city sculptures.

The last piece of art we created together was an all encompassing community quilt. This work was inspired directly by Project 1 artist Amanda Browder. Each student designed fabric squares with colors, symbols, or images that they feel represent their unique view of our community. We continued our knowledge of fiber arts and students used dyes, inks, and permanent markers with alcohol to create unique colors and patterns that represent them. After each piece of fabric was designed with pictures or words to help describe our community then we connected all the pieces together to create a vibrant quilt that amplifies individual messages to create a collective unity. To see student reflections about our community quilt click here.

Identity Self Portraits