From left: artist Sarah Haskell, parent volunteer Alison Thornton, and HES art teacher Cindy Harris. (Courtesy photo)
For the past few months, Hildreth Elementary School (HES) art teacher Cindy Harris has had piles of fabric scraps, ribbons, and yarn spilling out of corners and from shelves all over her classroom. The textiles, all donations from the community at large, are now being used by second-, third-, and fourth-graders at HES to create unique works of art in collaboration with visiting visual artist Sarah Haskell.
Haskell, who hails from Maine, was trained at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her impressive resume is filled with countless awards, grants, and exhibitions. Each year she travels throughout New England conducting weaving workshops in hospitals, libraries, and schools. And now, thanks to efforts of a group of townspeople, she is serving as artist-in-residence at HES until March 1.
Haskell’s joint venture with Harris and her students is titled “Weaving Together: Threads and Voices,” and under her guidance, HES students will create three woven mandalas, one to represent each participating grade. The visit, which has been partially funded by a STARS (Students and Teachers Working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars) residency grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, came to fruition through an application submitted by the PTO Curriculum Enrichment Committee. The project was designed to encourage students to celebrate the meaning and importance of differing cultures and their historical significance.
The mandala—which gets its name from the Sanskrit word for circle—was chosen for its circular design, a perfect way to represent the concentric circles of friends, family, and community. Children were encouraged to bring scraps of fabric that related to their families, and these are being woven into the center of each mandala. Each child also created a “clothespin person” to represent a particular cultural background, which will be fastened to the perimeter of the grade’s weaving.
Raising awareness of Harvard’s diversity
The primary advocate for the artist-in-residence project was PTO Curriculum Enrichment Committee member Alison Thornton. Thornton, a three-year committee member, worked tirelessly to write the grants and coordinate the effort that brought Haskell to Harvard.
“We invited Sarah here to increase awareness of art as a tool of expression and to raise awareness of the history and cultural diversity of Harvard, achieved through the integration of indigenous peoples, settlers, and immigrants,” said Thornton. “This project was meant to teach the children creativity, innovation, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and global awareness.”
“The Harvard Schools Trust awarded money for supplies,” Thornton told the Press. “Young Audiences of Massachusetts provided the artist, reducing its rates for us to make the project work. The Hilton Garden Inn at Devens donated lodging for Haskell to use during her stay. The Harvard PTO is funding any remaining expenses.”
Guidance counselor Christine Reale has been pulling together comments from the students that will be written on ribbons that will surround each mandala. Principal Linda Dwight, Associate principal Gretchen Henry, and HES teacher Maryann Cheveralls have supported and encouraged the project and helped integrate it into the school’s curriculum. In addition, many, many parents have given their time, coming into the classroom and helping with individual weaving projects or manning glue guns. And many families have donated fabric and yarns, which not only enhance the richness of the projects but lend a sense of community to the entire enterprise. This has truly been a weaving together, in more ways than one!
A powerful metaphor
This sense of collaboration is the outcome artist Haskell says she strives for with her projects. “Weaving is a powerful metaphor for community,” she says. “Anytime you do a creative project in a community, you learn a lot about yourself and those around you. You learn tolerance and how to work cooperatively. Putting these strips of fabric together to create a pattern is a metaphor for a school. Our mandalas were made together. At the end, everyone shares in the sense of pride, and everyone sees a little piece of themselves as well as their whole community in that circle,” says Haskell.
Haskell’s spirit and message were so well received by the students and the staff at HES that Principal Linda Dwight decided to have her staff create their own mandala.
“When Sarah shared her slideshow with the students,” Dwight said, “I thought, what if the adults that work in the school created a symbolic mandala as well? What a beautiful way to create something together that would last and show teamwork. Every person who works at HES will be invited to create a clothespin person representative of themselves and add it to the circle. We will encourage HES staff to contribute strips of cloth from their families. The finished artwork will hang in the office or faculty room as a visual reminder of how we are working together for students and families.”
The public can view the mandala project along with other student art at the annual Festival of Cultures held at HES on Friday, March 22, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Visiting artist Sarah Haskell can be reached at www.sarahhaskell.com.
