Adinkra Cloths: grade 8

8th grade collaborative print (click to view better)

student's print booklet (click to view upright)

Summary: We completed our study on African Art, the Ashanti Tribe and Adinkra cloth printing methods. Based on this idea along with the theme of symbolism and identity each student carved their own stamp and utilized various printmaking methods to create their prints.

The large paper contains a collaborative print with a double print of each students stamp.

Behind the Scenes:

Every student exchanged their prints with everyone in the class to create a booklet, which contains 25 prints in total, one from each student.   The covers of their booklets contain collages inspired by the work of Romare Bearden who is known for his collages (1950's-70's) that focused on social issues in African American communities in Harlem and the South. Eighth graders have been focusing on the civil war and the black experience leading up to current events and questions like "What does it mean to be American." Students are reading "Between the Word and me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates that discusses identity, responsibility, privilege, and race. Furthermore, we discussed the work of Kerry James Marshall, another prolific African American artist and saw his exhibition Mastry at the MET Breuer.