Folklife Resources for Educators

Materials Related to Needlework

There are 12 titles in this list.

Barn Again ! Celebrating an American Icon - Teacher's Guide
by Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES)
http://www.sites.si.edu/education/BATeacher_Guide.pdf

Teacher resource guide with four lesson plans for grades 4-12 on the topic of the American barn as symbol, architecture, community gathering place, and window to the past. Created to accompany an exhibition of the same name developed by SITES, the materials can also function in a stand-alone capacity. They include research and activity-oriented lessons through which students gather information about barn raising, barn dances, corn husking, and quilting bees by reading oral history transcripts, examine architectural designs and historical photos of barns, and do interviews to learn more about barns and to hear barn stories. Lessons focus on the subjects of American Culture, American History, Architecture/Design, Folklife, Language and Visual Arts and address National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. (48 p. PDF)

Sponsoring Organization:
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES)
470 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Suite 7103
Washington DC 20024
(202) 633-3168
http://www.sites.si.edu/

Crossroads of the Heart: Creativity and Tradition in Mississippi
by Mississippi Arts Commission
http://www.arts.state.ms.us/crossroads/main.html

Educational website that profiles community-based Mississippi traditional artists and musicians. It includes a teacher's guide with background on the traditions described, a glossary of terms, student activities, and a resource guide for additional materials and websites. The site is organized into five sections: "Mississippi Music" (blues, gospel, fiddling, and sacred harp singing); "Handmade Objects" (Choctaw basketry, wood carving, pottery, and pine needle basketry); "Maritime Traditions" (boatbuilding, netmaking, Vietnamese fishing and boatbuilding, and model boatbuilding); "Mississippi Quilting" (quilter Hystercine Rankin, Crossroads Quilters, and quilter Elaine Carter); and "Mississippi Narrative" (storytelling, church oratory, and fiction). Each artistic form highlighted includes streaming audio of interviews and musical performances or photos documenting the traditional form. For upper elementary and middle school.

Sponsoring Organization:
Mississippi Arts Commission
501 North West Street, Suite 1101A
Jackson MS 39201
(601) 359-6030
http://www.arts.state.ms.us/

Folk Arts in Education - A Resource Handbook II
by Marsha MacDowell, LuAnne Kozma
http://www.folkartsineducation.org/

Resource handbook examining folklife, folklore, and folk arts in education throughout the United States with sample curricula from over fifty programs for youth in K-12 educational settings, museums, arts and humanities councils, and other non-profit cultural and arts organizations. The 262-page handbook includes many web-based educational resources, plus a webography and bibliography, for the study of folk arts that encourage students to become involved in hands-on, experiential learning, fieldwork, and place-based research in local community settings. It is available on the site in downloadable form or for sale in hardcopy or on CD through the Michigan State University Museum's Michigan Traditional Arts Program Store.

Sponsoring Organization:
Michigan State University Museum
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824
(517) 353-2370
http://museum.msu.edu/

Other Organizations:
Michigan Traditional Arts Program
Michigan State University Museum
East Lansing Michigan 48824-1045
(517) 353-2370
http://museum.msu.edu/s-program/MTAP/

Folklife in the Classroom
by Montana Arts Council
http://art.mt.gov/folklife/folklife_classroom.asp

Activities, lesson plans, and background about Montana folk arts and artists. Activities include the topics of "Cowboy Music & Poetry," "Documenting Traditions," "Indian Rawhide Drum Making," and "Quilting Traditions." Site also includes lesson plans, activities, and posters related to individual Montana traditional artists. The artists represent Blackfeet Indian beadwork, knifemaking, wood artistry, and traditional rawhide work from the White Clay People (Gros Ventre) tradition. Each lesson plan is in a 5 p. PDF format. Lesson plans are correlated to Montana Standards for Arts.

Sponsoring Organization:
Montana Arts Council
830 N Warren Street
Helena MT 59620
(406) 444-6430
http://art.mt.gov/default.asp

Folkvine
by Florida Division of Cultural Affairs
http://www.folkvine.org/home.php

Folklore-oriented interdisciplinary website featuring documentation of Florida art and artists, from such traditions as lacemaking, quilting, painting, shoemaking, and sculpting using papier mache, bones, and other materials. The site also incorporates circus traditions and cultural arts representing African American, Peruvian American, Puerto Rican, and Hawaiian backgrounds. The documentation of the selected traditional artists and their communities is available through audio and video clips, photographs, and background textual materials.

Sponsoring Organization:
Florida Division of Cultural Affairs
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee FL 32399-0250
(850) 245-6470
http://www.florida-arts.org/

Keeping Us in Stitches Activity: Interviewing a Quilter
by Illinois State Museum
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/pdfs/ks_interview.pdf

Activity for students to help them understand the process of quilting by interviewing a quilter in a classroom setting. Guidelines offer suggestions for preparing interview questions, taking notes during the interview, and documenting what is learned from the experience. Site includes links to Illinois State Museum quilt collections. Activity addresses Illinois State Board of Education Goals and Standards for how the arts function in history, society, and everyday life. (2 p. PDF)

Sponsoring Organization:
MuseumLink Illinois
1011 East Ash Street
Springfield IL 62703
(217) 782-7475
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/

Other Organizations:
Illinois State Museum
502 South Spring Street
Springfield IL 62706-5000
(217) 782-7386
http://www.museum.state.il.us/

Our Arts, Our Land: A Young Reader's Guide to Selected Folk Arts of Hawaii
by Michael Schuster, Carl Hefner, J.W. Junker
http://www2.hawaii.edu/%7Ehefner/pages/index.htm

Music, photographs, and interviews of traditional master artists from Hawaii designed as an introduction to folk arts for young people. The audio recordings were originally aired on Hawaii Public Radio as part of the "Pacific Visions" radio series. Hawaiian traditional arts represented include chant, lauhala weaving, fishnet knotting, quilting, slack key and steel guitar music, medicinal herbs, gourd carving, and hula ki'i puppetry. Also included are practitioners of Chinese Opera, Okinawan koten music and dance, Filipino dance, Korean pansori singing, and Japanese Mingei pottery. A folk arts quiz is provided for students.

Sponsoring Organization:
Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts
250 South Hotel Street, 2nd floor
Honolulu HI 96813
(808) 586-0300
http://hawaii.gov/sfca/

Prairie Activity: Prairie Quilt
by Illinois State Museum
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/pdfs/pr_quilt.pdf

K-8 unit on prairie life and quilting that introduces students to the prairie, including fauna, flora, land forms, settlement, and cultural life, linking it to its representation in traditional quilt patterns. Students are guided in using digital cameras to document images of the prairie that can be used in quilt blocks. Unit addresses Illinois Board of Education Goals and Standards in the Arts. (2 p.PDF)

Sponsoring Organization:
MuseumLink Illinois
1011 East Ash Street
Springfield IL 62703
(217) 782-7475
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/

Other Organizations:
Illinois State Museum
502 South Spring Street
Springfield IL 62706-5000
(217) 782-7386
http://www.museum.state.il.us/

Puerto Rican Mundillo (bobbin-lace) Maker: Rosa Elena Egipciaco
by Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education
http://locallearningnetwork.org/guest-artist/rosa-elena-egipciaco/

K-12 curriculum ideas for studying the life and artistry of Rosa Elena Egipciaco, a 2003 NEA National Heritage Fellow. Egipciaco is a master bobbin lacemaker of Puerto Rican heritage who lives in New York City. These resources and activities can be used in the curriculum areas of language arts, math, and the visual arts.

Sponsoring Organization:
Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education
c/o City Lore
72 East First Street
New York NY 10003
http://locallearningnetwork.org/

The Ties that Bind
by Colorado Council on the Arts
http://www.coloarts.state.co.us/programs/education/folkarts/index.htm

Multi-media resource created in 2006 for K-12 classroom teachers to address Colorado model content standards in History, Geography, and other disciplines. The tool contains the following: Written essays (Sections 1 and II); Lesson plans (Section III); Lists of additional resources (Section IV); plus audio and video resources that can be downloaded from the site. Eleven lesson plans include: "The Art of Interviewing" (14 p. PDF), "Colcha Embroidery" (8 p. PDF), ""Exploring Cowboy Life Through Cowboy Poetry," (30 p. PDF), "Folklore Bingo" (10 p. PDF), "Hmong Cultures" (12 p. PDF), "Introduction to Folklore for Grade 12" (6 p. PDF), "Latino Cultures" (10 p. PDF), "Quilts across Cultures" (12 p. PDF), "St. Patrick's Day and the Irish" (12 p. PDF), "Take a Trip to a Special Place" (6 p. PDF), and "Wheat Weaving" (10 p. PDF).

Sponsoring Organization:
Colorado Council on the Arts
1625 Broadway, Suite 2700
Denver CO 80202
(303) 892-3802
http://www.coloarts.state.co.us/

To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions
by National Museum of the American Indian
http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/quilts.pdf

Study guide developed by the National Museum of the American Indian to accompany a 1997 exhibition of the same name. It can also be used as an independent resource for educators. Includes four lesson plans that correspond to the exhibition sections: Origins, Honoring, Design, and Community. Curriculum focuses on quilters from eight Native American communities and has accompanying study questions, handouts, and activities. (36 p. PDF)

Sponsoring Organization:
National Museum of the American Indian
Fourth Street & Independence Avenue, SW
Washington DC 20560
(202) 633-6996
http://www.nmai.si.edu

Tradition: Tennessee Lives and Legacies Teacher's Guide
by Dana Everts-Boehm
http://www.arts.state.tn.us/resources/tradition_teachers_guide.pdf

Teacher’s guide designed for grades 3-12 which enhances the understanding of Tennessee’s folklife heritage. Originally developed to prepare students for visiting an exhibition of the same name, the guide can stand on its own as an educational resource. The materials include profiles of Tennessee folk artists from a variety of regional and ethnic backgrounds, representing Cumberland Plateau old-time fiddling, Middle Tennessee buck dancing, African American blues, Choctaw beadwork, the making of Mennonite sorghum, and Mexican needlework. The guide also introduces students to the basic concepts of folklife, tradition, folk group, family folklife, tradition bearer, folk artist, and fieldwork. Accompanying forms and guidelines on interviewing family members and presenting findings in the classroom are included. The materials conform to Tennessee State Curriculum Standards for Art, Social Studies, Modern History, and Science. (24 pp. PDF) For a DVD of photographs of Tennessee traditional artists, including those in the teacher's guide, contact: dana.everts-boehm@tn.gov

Sponsoring Organization:
Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Program
401 Charlotte Avenue
Nashville TN 37243-0780
(615) 741-1701
http://www.tn.gov/arts/folklife.htm

Other Organizations:
Tennesee Arts Commission


http://www.arts.state.tn.us/