Teamwork through Artwork - Hindman Settlement School

This program update was prepared by Sarah Kate Morgan, Traditional Arts Education Director.

Emmalena Elementary in Knott County is home to an enthusiastic group of budding young artists and craftspeople. For the last two years, about 20 4th through 8th graders have spent every Monday afternoon pursing creative endeavors as part of our Arts & Crafts Club, sponsored by Hindman Settlement School and South Arts.

Arts & Crafts Club focuses on fostering creativity, building basic art knowledge, teaching fundamental dexterity skills through crafting, and introducing young folks to the diversity of art and crafts in our Appalachian region. With the generous support of South Arts, we have been able to bring in special guest art teachers to share their craft. Students have done it all! Everything from corn husk dolls to leatherwork, watercolor and acrylic painting, sketching, ceramics, basket weaving and tapestry weaving. Individuality and creativity are always encouraged during our tome together meaning no two pieces ever look the same!

Another important component of Arts & Crafts Club is to encourage communication, collaboration, and cooperation between students and their varying grade levels. Older students in the 7th and 8th grade take on more of a leadership and help the younger students complete the more challenging projects. Everyone works together on our collaborative mural projects which regularly brightens the school’s hallways. Last spring we celebrated Earth Day with a mural students colored onto a grid throughout the semester and in the fall students ripped and cut colorful pieces from up-cycled paper and glued them together to create a unique rainbow mosaic.

Over the holidays, Arts & Crafts Club students had the opportunity to become entrepreneurs for the day! After creating some cheerful ceramic Christmas ornaments with the help of local artist Richard Kirk Banks from the Appalachian Artisan Center, students chose a few ornaments to sell at their school’s Christmas Market. Students were involved in every step of the process. They created the ornaments, helped determine a price, set up their table, talked to customers, and made change. Throughout the day, students were able to interview the other artisans selling their wares to learn more about each individual artist’s creative process and how they turned their art into a business.

If you have a student in 4th through 8th grade attending Emmalena Elementary School who would like to be a part of Arts & Crafts Club, please reach out to Sarah Kate Morgan, Traditional Arts Education Director, at sarah@hindman.org.

This project is a component of the ‘In These Mountains: Central Appalachian Folk Arts and Culture’ initiative and supported in part by South Arts, a nonprofit regional arts organization. South Arts advances Southern vitality through the arts. The nonprofit regional arts organization was founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts. South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South. For more information, visit www.southarts.org.