Folklife Resources for Educators

Materials Related to Quilting

There are 12 titles in this list.

Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present
by Hunter Library, Western Carolina University
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/index.htm

Educational website documenting the Craft Revival movement in western North Carolina from 1895 to 1945, drawing on a virtual collection of photographs, documents, craft objects, and artifacts maintained by Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library. The site includes over 25 accompanying lesson plans for grades 3-12, which focus on weaving, basketry, pottery, and other mountain crafts and traditions found in the Southern Highlands of North Carolina. Additional lesson plans cover cottage industries, industrialization, the Cherokee presence, and the social, economic, and cultural aspects of the Craft Revival in the Appalachian Mountain South. Curriculum areas covered include language arts, social studies, history, art, and math.

Sponsoring Organization:
Hunter Library, Special Collections
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee NC 28723
(828) 227-2499
http://www.wcu.edu/1597.asp

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/

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/

Iowa Folklife: Our People, Communities, and Traditions
by Iowa Arts Council
http://www.uni.edu/iowaonline/folklife/intro/index.htm

Learning guide for middle and high school students plus elders in senior centers based on field documentation of Iowa traditional culture, communities, and groups done in preparation for the Festival of American Folklife and the Festival of Iowa Folklife, both held in 1996. The guide includes lesson plans with objectives, background, conceptual and hands-on activities, and handouts, arranged by subject matter: Social Studies, Language Arts, Music, and Art. Accompanying the lesson plans are activities with guidance on developing a community research archive, collecting field recordings, and creating exhibitions, festivals, and publications based on fieldwork done by students. On the site are two streamed videos for classroom viewing, streamed audio of a CD exemplifying a variety of Iowa traditional musical styles, and "Inherit Iowa," a senior citizen activity guide.

Sponsoring Organization:
Folk & Traditional Arts Program
Iowa Arts Council
Des Moines IA 50319-0290
(515) 242-6195
http://www.iowaartscouncil.org/programs/folk-and-traditional-arts/resources.shtml

Other Organizations:
Iowa Arts Council
600 E. Locust Street
Des Moines IA 50319-0290
(515) 281-6412
http://www.iowaartscouncil.org/

Keeping Us in Stitches Activity: Be a Quilt Detective
by Illinois State Museum
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/pdfs/ks_detect.pdf

Research activity with accompanying resources, geared to grades 6-10, for uncovering history recorded in handmade objects by researching quilt patterns, fabrics, and colors. Site includes links to Illinois State Museum quilt collections. Addresses the Illinois State Board of Education Goals and Standards for artistic expressions of culture and analyzing and classifying art by style, period, and culture. (3 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/

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/

Quilts in Women’s Lives – Teaching Guide
by Paddy Bowman
http://www.folkstreams.net/film,37

Teaching guide for grades 10-12 to accompany an excerpt of the film “Quilts in Women’s Lives,” created by filmmaker Pat Ferrero in 1981. Fifteen minutes of the 28-minute film are as a focus for the teaching guide. This excerpt features three women quilters -- artist and teacher Grace Earl, artist and Bulgarian immigrant Radka Donnell, and African American traditional quilter Nora Lee Condra. The teaching guide and film explore the lives, art, work, and philosophy of the three women quilters from different backgrounds. The entire film is also available as streaming video on folkstreams.net.

Sponsoring Organization:
Folkstreams


http://www.folkstreams.net/

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