|
"I am a classroom teacher since 1976, so welcome you sharing my ideas
and welcome hearing what others are doing! I am director of DeafArt Club, a
non-profit arts org. whose mission is to provide opportunities for Deaf and
Hearing to create, teach and exhibit DeafArt, also called De'VIA, which
incorporates American Sign Language, Deaf Culture and the Deaf Experience. Our
goal is to educate about and facilitate reflection of Deaf history and culture,
and promote increased positive relations amongst people of all backgrounds.
I am creating patches out of clay-raising the textures/patterns and
appliqués of handshapes (3-d), then I glaze them and have them available for
counters and laps so they can be touched. ...here are some of my notes as to why
I am starting with 1800 American patterns and adapting them to ASL/Braille:
1800's America Notes:
FIRST SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF OPENED IN 1817; 1864 LINCOLN SIGNED CHARTER FOR
DEAF COLLEGE; Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet (1798 - 1877) D
Alice Cogswell, (1805)-1830) D
Laurent Clerc Deaf died on July 18, 1869 D
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other
(EDWARD MINER GALLAUDET/AMOS KENDALL/MASON COGSWELL
CT Asylum for the Education & Instruction of Deaf & Dumb Persons,
(opened April 15, 1817) in Hartford, which was the first school for the Deaf. In
1864 (one year before his assassination) Abraham Lincoln, signed the charter
authorizing the conferring of college degrees (students could study higher
education and receive diplomas) by the Columbia Institution for the Instruction
of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, which became Gallaudet (Sr.) University in
1894.
Civil War (1861-1865)Why 1800's & CIVIL WAR QUILTS?
1. a fruitful time for advocacy & education for the US Deaf &
DeafBlind
2. the early American heroes of the Deaf who were Hearing, lived during this
time: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Gallaudet, Mason Cogswell, Amos Kendall, Samuel
Morse and Edward Gallaudet-"
Helene can share more information about the quilt blocks she chose to recreate
for the students. You can reach her through her website
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/aslclay/(be sure to read "Helene's Published
Story" about her amazing background as a young immigrant from Germany) or
through email at
deafartclubmn@yahoo.com. She tells me there will be pictures of the clay
quilt blocks online soon. I hope those of you reading about this club and its
project will pass the information on to teachers of the same in your school or
community. |