Art Exhibit: Art From many Cultures

Online Art Show Part 1 -”Art From Many Cultures”

The following exhibit is brought to us by a group of students ages 10 and 11 living in the Miami Florida area. Each child painted a picture of what they knew about their culture. And then another picture the next day reflecting the stories they were told by family and friends. Although the "lead characters" of my research has been the Cuban American students, the "supporting cast" of classmates and their stories resulted in an “Emmy” worthy performance. It reminds of the quote from Twila Tharp. “Leave room for the un-expectant.”  This project turned out to be a mutual sharing of cultures. What a wonderful group of children! Thank you parents and Divine Savior Academy!

Ana Sofia

“My drawing is of a Puerto Rican beach party. There is home made music.”

“My great grandmother wanted to wash clothes in the river like an Indian. But she did not know how. So, in conclusion, all the clothes went down the stream.” 

Regina

“My grandma and grandpa live in Mexico. My dad and mom are from Mexico too. I was not born there because my dad had to move to Florida for his job. My Grandma has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is very nice and always smiling. My grandpa is bald and also very nice. He likes football a lot.” 

Mexico City

Skyler

“Painting of Christmas. My family is from Germany. Our family tradition is to go to church and open gifts on Christmas Eve.”

“My mom and her parents had two twin puppies. The puppies names were Bear and Bella. Katy, my mom and her parents loved them very much.”

Juan Suavrez

“My great grandpa had horses - old and boney.” 

A battle in Columbia

Juan Daniel

“One day my mom was playing and fell down and broke her arm and her leg.”

Chris

Food we eat in Columbia -  Eating Empanadas. 

Chris's mom stayed and was inspired to create art from her culture. Her is her work.

“ I am from Germany” This is a picture of me. 

Isaiah

"I am from Germany. This is a picture of a war."

Interview: "What I have been told about Cuba" by Mariel Garcia
“ There is not a lot of food. People eat lots of bread and drink lots of coffee.”
“The ocean is beautiful.”
Food - “Totades, croquettes, La Carreta.”

croquettes

“There are working cars but they are not new.”
“I have lots of cousins, aunts and uncles in Cuba.”
“They have no telephone.”
“My grandma came over from Cuba a long time ago. My Grandpa had to stay behind in Cuba for a long time. Grandma left late at night, got on an airplane and flew to the United States. She paid money to fly. She brought my mother over hidden in a sack. My mom was 6 years old.”
I would someday like to visit Cuba.”

"This is a picture of a street in Havana with an old car and a fruit and vegetable stand."

Mariel is working on more art work describing the stories told to her by her relatives. She is also is documenting her cultural demographics with photography.

The paintings are being displayed in the hallway of the children's school so that they can be view by friends and family. The paintings also offer a springboard for discussion of culture between classmates.

Findings During my research:

 Finding #1 - I found that students were excited to talk and illustrate stories depicting their culture.  

Finding # 2 - According to the students their relatives enjoyed the experience of sharing their stories with a younger generation.  The students really enjoyed hearing stories told to them by their relatives. 

Finding # 3 - In the large group discussion that took place towards the end of class, the students showed great interest in learning about the each others cultures within the art room. Students enthusiastically asked questions of each other.

Finding # 4 - Using cultural stories proved to be an exciting means to generate discussion that leads to a clear examples of what culture is rather than stereotypical examples of cultures. The story making project resulted in meaningful art that can be shared with future generations.

One additional story: As I was setting up for the art class,  a high school student of Cuban descent. She mentioned that her mother came to the United States by traveling to different countries first and then crossing over into the United States through Mexico. Interestingly she told me the story of her mother never seeing a balloon. Someone had once described a balloon to her mother but that was it. When her mother arrived in Florida, she was on the beach and saw a jelly fish. She picked it up because she thought it was a balloon. She ended up getting a rash all over her stomach. 

Art Show Part 2 - Coming later this week shows the art work of Cuban American students from the Port Orange, Fl area.