CNY Grants for Arts in Education - art$TART

Chittenango Middle School and Sharon Bottle-Souva

During the course of this project we made the transformation from a classroom with teacher leaders to a fledgling community of quilters. From individual quilt squares on paper where students explored value and patterns to the finished product - a hand-tied, hand-pieced quilt on which many hands had sewn - this project allowed students to experience a little bit of history. Our goal was to show students that working together toward a common goal (making a quilt by hand) required interdependence, responsibility and willingness to work cooperatively.

We asked these questions:
- Why do people move?
- Why did they move west in the United States during the 1800’s?
- What do we use quilts for?
- What might they have used quilts for during the Westward Movement?
- What is the significance of making quilts for pioneers?

It was wonderful to see students who flourished. Both genders and all ages enjoyed the hand-work. Many students needed a lot of instruction in piecing and sewing skills. Some students enjoyed talking history as they worked and others had a natural gift when it came to seeing patterns and arranging colors. Teachers, students, and parents were involved in the quilting bee.

We videotaped students before and after the project answering questions about westward expansion and the significance of quilts. Their initial inarticulateness was transformed into confident, knowledgable answers about why people move, the challenges of migration, and the significance of quilts as both practical and expressive articles for the settlers.