AFRICAN PROVERB COLLAGES.

Elementary

Writing assignments are usually a part of the motivation or closure process in most of our art lessons. In this lesson, however, students were to use writing as an inspiration to the art piece. We observed Asafo "war" flags created by the Fante people in Ghana, Africa. Meant to be a sort of warning symbol to possible enemies, these flags created by the Fante people illustrate African proverbs. The flags are visually stunning, many complete with bright colors and alternating geometric patterns. The fourth grade students selected African proverbs to illustrate using collage, The Fante artists use fabric for their designs. We used Tru-Ray fadeless construction paper for ours.

After selecting and deciphering a proverb, students used pencil and paper to create a thumbnail sketch of their design. They would be working on 12 x 18 (31 x 46 cm) black paper for the background color, and would also be required to create a geometric pattern for the border. I asked students to limit their color selections to four colors in addition to black and white. They cut and glued the geometric pattern first. After completing the pattern, they worked on the proverb composition. The composition was to be simple, without depth or an overabundance of detail. The last step was to add the illusion of a stitch mark around the edge of each glued shape in the design. The "faux" stitches really add an interesting element of surprise to the paper collage.

The students enjoyed visually interpreting the African proverbs for their own designs, inspired by a long standing tradition in Ghana. For wonderful information about this artwork we looked to the book Asafo: African Flags of the Fante by Peter Adler and Nicholas Barnard, published by Thames and Hudson press, 1992. We loved our results!

ClipCard submitted by Eileen Palarnountain and Kim Turner, art teachers at William Fox Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia.