What does your 'Sense of Place' look like?
The paintings of the Kumu from the far left, Kyra, Makamae on far right, Maggie in pastels at the base.
If you could paint a painting that would express who you are and how you belong, what would it look like? What would you draw? What kinds of colors would you use? This was the most telling part of the interdisciplinary unit, and the one the students enjoyed the most!
We needed to display the art pieces. Kumus Makamae and Kyra thought to use circles of canvas, numbered and lettered so that they could piece the parts of the circle back to where they were originally made. Circle A was cut into 4 pieces. The circle pieces were numbered A1, A2, A3, and A4. The students decided how to arrange the individual paintings in the circles. The 4 pieces that made up a circle were then glued onto fabric. After they dried, the fabric was cut into a larger circle.
But where to hang the art? Our only common areas on campus are the library and cafeteria. The library won out because of it's respectful space. But another problem arose. How to mount the pieces on cinder block walls? Laminated popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun gave us a way to mount the fabric. The impossible was done! And the results are stunning!
We placed the paintings of the kumus in the center, and arranged the six red backed circles around it.
We just kept on hot gluing the popsicle sticks and stapling the fabric circles around the center painting. It was the kumu who helped the students better understand their sense of place, so it seemed natural to place the students paintings around theirs. Their red backing was very meaningful to the students as it symbolizes fire as well as Hawaii. The final paintings were mounted on verdant green fabrics as a metaphor for growth.
You can see with all the paintings mounted, they all have a similar theme, yet they are all unique!
You can see the display in the library foyer through the end of the school year. (Above)
This statement from a student says "I painted with my heart." (Below) There are reflections from students mounted around the display.
