about
|
resources
|
opportunities
| spotlight
2009 MIDWEST FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL
August 1-2, 2009
2009 Midwest Folklife
Festival at Bishop Hill, Illinois
Enjoy these photos of some artists and staff at the annual
tri-state Midwest Folklife Festival. It was a wonderful event that explored
the deep cultural roots of our region in aesthetic and interesting
presentations over two days. The festival was hosted this year by Illinois (Company
of Folk and the Illinois Arts Council). The Iowa Arts Council and the Wisconsin
Arts Board were the other
partnering state arts agencies. Bishop Hill Heritage Association was the site host.
Funding came from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Wisconsin was ably represented by rosemaler
Lois Mueller (Platteville) and
Ghanaian dancer Nani Agbeli (Madison).
REFLECTIONS
February 3, 2009
In his 2009 State of the State address, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota used
numerous references to local culture to create a sense of community between
Minnesotans. What rings true in his words for Wisconsinites as well,
showing the shared culture of the Upper Midwest?
We're all here because we love
and care about Minnesota. Whether it's ice castles or ice fishing;
lutefisk or hot dish; 'The Minnesota Rouser' or 'Purple Rain;' going up
north or playing pond hockey down the street; visiting the world's
largest prairie chicken or ear of corn; swapping Ole and Lena jokes or
trading real-life stories of how almost every one of us has hit a deer
with our car...
QUILTING CIRCLES, LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Quilting Circles,
Learning Communities - a K-12 curriculum that explores ways to
incorporate quilts in education.
The lessons in Quilting Circles, Learning Communities move between hands-on
projects and studying quilts in cultural contexts. They invite students to
make connections with the quilts in their own lives. All lessons are
interdisciplinary, infusing art with social studies, language arts, and
technology. All lessons are linked with Wisconsin curriculum standards. Some
highlights include:
• Lessons with illustrated step-by-step guides to making traditional Hmong
reverse appliqué and innovative quilted postcards,
• A lesson in which students evaluate the controversial Underground Railroad
Quilt Code from a historian’s perspective,
• Ready-to-print worksheets for observing quilts and conducting quilt
interviews,
• A CD-ROM with over 100 stunning quilt images, videos of quilters in their
own words, and selected stories from the Wisconsin Quilt History Project’s
collection.
Order from:
Office of Education Outreach, 1050 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706
608-262-4650
The Quilters’ Stories
The Quilters' Stories is a series of slide shows that features
twelve different Wisconsin quilters. Choose a block and meet that artist.
Current artists are:
▪Danna Swenson, Superior
▪Jean Hennessy, Superior
▪Mary Jane Frog, Siren
▪Rosi Ramsey, Shell Lake
▪Sandra Thomson, Superior
▪Grace Forseth, Superior
▪Margaret Brilla, Superior
Artists to be added are:
▪Seng V. Lo, Milwaukee;
▪Nancy Daly, Madison; ▪Velma Seales,
Milwaukee; ▪Rick Kagigeb,
and ▪Norma Klotz, Superior
Student Design Featured
in Wisconsin Folks Poster
The
results of the Wisconsin Folks Poster Contest are in! A design by Rachel
A. Horvath, a student at Richfield Elementary school, has been chosen to be
featured in the Wisconsin Folks poster that is being
distributed throughout the state to libraries and schools. To
see larger versions of Rachel’s drawing and the front and back of the finished
poster, just click on the pictures.
If you would like a copy of the 18" x 24" double-sided poster, please stop
by the Wisconsin Arts Board, or send $3.00 for postage and we will mail you a
copy.
In
Rachel’s artist statement she says:
“I chose to draw what I did because I wanted to share and expose all the different cultures and art related traditions. I wanted to show how other people draw and do art according to their heritage. I drew what explains a reunion of all traditions, cultures, and heritage showing how all can demonstrate each and every one and their way of expressing their art. I hope my pastel poster that required days of effort explaining that of all heritage coming together impresses you. Further more, I’d
like to say how much fun I had creating this poster. I really enjoyed your
website, it was incredibly inspiring!”
—Rachel A. Horvath, age 10,
Richfield Elementary
How did the contest work?
On February 6, 2004, three Wisconsin Folks artists (Annabelle
Argand, George Ray McCormick, Rosa
Zamora) and UW-Madison professor of textiles and design Beverly Gordon, met to select one or
more designs from the 40 that were submitted by K-12 students from throughout
Wisconsin. They selected Rachel’s because the figures in the design were compelling, very well drawn and conveyed ideas of action, excitement and
fun. They were also impressed with how well the design communicated the multi-cultural and multi-genre content of the website. The panel chose
the second winner, Angela Mathisrud’s design, because of its strong graphic sense,
excellent lay-out, vibrant border, impressive use of color, and solid communication about the website’s content. Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rachel’s design
has been made into a poster that has been distributed to schools and libraries in Wisconsin. Angela’s design will be used to make a
set of bookmarks that will be distributed to libraries and at conferences.
Do you want to see all the submissions to the contest? Go to www.artsboard.wisconsin.gov/static/folkartsed/posters.htm. We appreciate all these student artists!
For more information about the poster contest, Wisconsin Folks, or the Wisconsin Arts Board’s
folk arts in education programs, please contact Anne Pryor at 608-266-8106 or
anne.pryor@artsboard.wisconsin.gov.
(posted 11/21/04)
Updated:
August 04, 2009
)
)
)
Fax: 608/267-0380