Thursday with Ghana! Art with Africa!

This semester has been INSANE but I have some really great professors who want nothing but positive experiences and opportunities for me, so I am really lucky :) 

About a month ago my Students with Special Needs teacher invited me to participate in a Skype classroom call with Ghana. OF COURSE I jumped at the chance! The call pertained to doing a traditional craft from Ghana and a 'walk-along' lesson to do with the students. We had a hook up with NMU and then a bridge caller on the East coast and then FINALLY we were connected with Ghana. 

I took detailed notes and typed up a transcript of sorts from our call :) Here goes:

Creating decorated Calabash containers

Calabash tree

Calabashes are used to store shea butter, water, and/or wine

The calabash is dried to remove the seeds and then sanded to smooth the surface and insides.

Supplies needed:

Calabash

Sand paper – rough and smooth

Paint brushes

Carving knife

3inch brush (for larger areas)

India Ink/Acrylic paint (paint would be more economical and vibrant)

Lacquer, shea butter, or olive oil (for sheen)

Beads

*Ghana representative offered to send us calabashes from their area – craft day rescheduled until after break

Process:

Sand with rough paper until off white in color

-       whole calabash should have even coloration

Each student chooses a symbol

Student creates a stencil for their stencil and draws it onto the calabash

Students decorate stencil using paints and create designs on the calabash

-       students should utilize the whole surface of the calabash for decoration

-       Colors: colors are traditionally not applied; the traditional process requires using a heated knife to make burn marks and create designs and symbols

-       Beads can also be used to decorate the calabashes

Assignment for students: choose 2 Adinkra symbols (or more) to use on calabash design

Q &A:

Is your education free or do you have to pay?:

            Public schools are free – private schools are paid for

Do you do a lot of arts in your schools?:

Yes! (The building we were seeing was their local community center where they go to do traditional crafts)

Do you have English language classes?:

English is the national language of Ghana. French is also prevalent because of the colonies and local languages are common as well.

What time is it there? What is the temperature?:

            6:05pm, 27degrees Celsius (89degrees Farenheit)

How big is your school?

            50 students

School hours/school day:

8:30am – 3:00pm. The students were staying after to talk with MAHS and gathered in the community center

What do you do for fun after school?:

Play outside and indoor games, help in the kitche, talk (and talk and talk and talk), listen to music, play volleyball, play soccer

And here is a slideshow of all the photos I took!

I was able to take some video, too.. They're youtube videos because I FINALLY bit the bullet and created an account. They're pretty quiet, but they show some great interactions between students.




I think the best thing about the whole experience was the reactions of the students. You could tell the conversations were the same on both ends, " WOW, I just talked to Africa/Michigan. Never thought I would do that!" The connection was made and students were running out into the hallway to tell their friends about the experience.
Students could sign up to do the craft in the future and the list was almost full by the end of the hour! I can't wait to paint a calabash with our new friends in Ghana :) Only time will tell what the results will be... in the mean time I am going to see if I can find any calabashes in Illinois while I'm on break. Being an art teacher means weird and random grocery shopping trips. ALL about that haha

Until next time -- Ms. K