Books Made by Hand

 EXAMPLES OF BOOK PAGES FROM MY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS:

 

 

I teach Central American/Dominican teachers creative strategies and techniques to use in their rural schools back home. we've been making books and illustrating personal stories.

The photos above are a selection of illustrations from the SEED team. They'll take home the process to establish or expand libraries in their schools with books made by students, parents and community members.

Design Workshop with Central American Teachers

Today, (a couple of days this and next week) I'm working at Palo Alto College in San Antonio with 20 Central American and Caribbean teachers -- part of an international education program that I have been part of for the past 10 years. These teachers (and those who have been here over the years) come to San Antonio for the equivalent of an education degree from rural "underserved" communities in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic for 6 month or 1 year terms of study. They return to share their knowledge in their schools, communities and nations. This program, funded by USAID and administered by an international expert staff at Georgetown University (and our own Alamo Colleges International Programs) is one reason I don't mind paying taxes. 

These teachers who work under conditions that most U.S. teachers would find impossible (50-60 kids in a SMALL classroom, few if any books and supplies, often limited electricity and no running water, in communities with high incidence of absentee fathers, illiteracy and poor nutrition. They work long hours for not much pay -- many of them work second jobs to make enough to support their families.

Today I am facilitating a design workshop to help them find their strongest illustration style for personal stories that will become the first books in their classroom and school libraries of handmade books. These are simple products, made with inexpensive and recycled materials, and the teachers return home to teach their students and parents how to make the books based on their own experiences. I LOVE these books and have a great collection of art from throughout the past years -- I'll share some favorites over the next few days.

In the Trenches, Teaching via Video, en español.

The catch-up: The past two weeks we've been working on the global stage, as part of a teaching team at Palo Alto College, one of the Alamo Colleges in San Antonio. One of my hats this year is as a creative learning specialist for international programs here. I've been working with this program for about 10 years in various capacities -- some of which relate to my fabric/textile life, but most to my creative process and arts education interests.

Teachers from Central American and the Dominican Republic come here for scholarship residency education programs, funded by USAID to us through grants from Georgetown University SEED/SEMILLA project. I also work with teen youth ambassadors from the same region, and these two weeks, through distance learning via computer, with 6 univerisities in the border areas of Mexico. Whew....

This most recent project also involved our teacher/students as demonstrators of activities on our little makeshift television studio in the portable buildings at PAC that we are lucky to have use of for the program -- this is only the second year we have had permanent space at the university and it's been wonderful as we can use the design of the space, changing the space and making exhibits of work that mirror the kinds of classrooms our teachers go home to -- a portable here is a space that in most cases would be a luxury classroom in their rural hometowns.

Our new website is in progress, but you can see more here -- take note of the student blogs! And here.

Here's one of the videos informing this work. It's quite controversial, as you will understand when you see. it

Illustration Workshop with the Maestros

 

Today twenty Central American teachers are at El Cielo for the first of four design workshops. Today, we looked at several children's books (they will be making their own later in the summer), and at how the artist's had worked in different and varied styles. Like many adults some of the teachers are shy about their ability to draw --- though I think they have fewer reservations than most Norte Americanos I know!

 

One of the great books I shared was Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach, with illustrations similar to those that she used on her amazing and groundbreaking art quilt Tar Beach, made in 1988. The story combines autobiography and fictional narrative, and the pictures are delightful, as is the story. (Photo above from the Brooklyn Museum)

ANd here are my illustrators. Each teacher had to produce four versions of an illustration of an event from his or her childhood. THey worked in paper collage, magazine collage, ink and watercolor, crayon/oil pastel resist. We discussed their strongest style, what was most fun, most challenging. Next Friday we'll do a printmaking workshop that works with the same narrative images.