“Quilts” Warm the Halls of Murray Avenue this December

by Ann LoBue

(December 15, 2006) Visitors entering the halls of Murray Avenue School from the cold outdoors this month will find themselves warmed by a display of colorful and lively “quilts” crafted by students.

Turning the corners, they might find a quilt made from thin rectangular strips of paper or from triangles of contrasting colored paper assembled into squares, or composed of patches created out of variegated cloth shapes with no particular design in mind. The colors are bright, the lines crisp, and the overall effect is frequently dazzling.

Students from Kindergarten through grade five created the quilts on display as part of the PTA’s Art Appreciation program. Teams of parent volunteers explored and discussed American Folk Art – and quilts in particular – with each classroom, then directed a hands-on art activity.

Each classroom decided as a group how to design its quilt. Individual students worked independently on their own paper or mixed media patches. In Ethan Rivel’s fifth grade class, the students concentrated intensely on their projects, only occasionally breaking the silence to ask for more glue or a different scrap of cloth. The resulting works of art were then assembled into a classroom masterpiece – much as a real quilt might have been created by a community of quilters.

In hanging the quilts outside their classroom doors, many teachers juxtaposed them against other art forms, such as poetry, or other classroom projects, such as math activities. Teachers noted how studying and creating quilts related to other aspects of the curriculum, from exploring patterns in Kindergarten to learning about the Underground Railroad in fifth grade.

First grade teacher Betsy Nolan shared her perspective on how quilts related to the academic program. “The focus on quilts relates to various geometry units across the grade levels,” she said. “Quilts often are also family heirlooms and serve as a springboard for discussion about traditions, a focal point in our social studies curriculum.

“Quilts serve as artifacts for historians, too,” she added. “It’s exciting to find out about how runaway slaves used quilts as maps to navigate their escape. Quilts made by circles of friends or as gifts to mark marriages and births help folk historians recreate the lives of ordinary people who lived long ago.”

The theme of this year’s Art Appreciation program is “American Art through the Centuries.” The American Folk Art session will be followed later in the year by sessions introducing the Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt and the Abstract Expressionist / Pop artist Jasper Johns.

The Art Appreciation program has been part of the student experience at Murray Avenue for more than 25 years. It’s not hard to imagine that one day, a parent first exposed to the study of art as a student at Murray will go on to share her love of art with her own daughter’s classroom. Much like quilts and quilting, Art Appreciation is an activity passed down from generation to generation.

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