Last evening, our local Public Broadcasting Station, WXXI, featured an interesting community project taking place in one of the outlaying towns. Based on a similar project which was organized in Sac County, Iowa, farmers in the upstate New York town of Kendall, are building community through quilting... barn quilting, that is.Barn quilts are large, colorful wooden blocks that are designed, painted, then mounted on the side of barns.Each family draws on their own family history, personal experience, or community pride to develop unique and individual "barn quilts." (One square, "The Farmer’s Daughter,” from a greenhouse at Partyka Farms is pictured to the right in a photo by Rick Nicholson.) Once painted, these pieces are then mounted for public display on the exterior of the owners' barn.
Given that four weeks(!) of my Summer Recess remain, I am hoping to use some free time to return to Kendall (I taught there as a long term substitute teacher nearly fifteen years ago) to experience the quilt first hand and snap a picture or two.
Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!
3 comments:
Enjoy your trip back to Kendall. Look forward to see some pictures of the barn quilts.
That is so cool! Are you going to make a piece of the quilt too?
thanks for stopping by and commenting!
i'm planning on taking some pictures and sharing them here...
although i guess i can't particpate in this barn quilt, i am trying to develop a natural way to share and participate in the spirit of the project in a meaningful way with my students... the "activity" itself (making representative panels) project is not the challeneg, but i'm now looking at the novels we'll be reading (Nightjohn, Tom Sawyer, etc.) and considering possible links...
cheers!
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