Malcah Zeldis Self-Taught Artist.

Teaching at a Mennonite school that has a strong pacifist tradition, I find "peacemaking/piece making" to be an appropriate theme for my eighth-grade students. Within this thematic unit, three separate lessons provide students with a variety of ways to write about art and see how artists and their communities--both past and present--are interrelated and interdependent.

The first lesson presents two folk artists, one from our local past, Edward Hicks, and one from the present, Malcah Zeldis. Both have depicted the Peaceable Kingdom. The second lesson compares contemporary fine artists, Christo and Jean Claude with contemporary folk artists (quilt makers) in their approach to the use of fabrics. The third lesson gives an overview of artists in Images for Survival, a poster project in which contemporary Japanese and American artists share their vision for peace. This third lesson coincides with the eighth-grade social studies topic on World War II. Throughout the unit, students are involved in oral discussions and written observations on a variety of issues and artworks. In the culminating activity, students design and paint their own peaceable kingdoms.

In appreciation of the inspiration that her work brings to my classes, I sent some snapshots of the students' work to New York artist Malcah Zeldis. She responded by inviting me to bring students to her home in New York City. It was an unforgettable experience.

Zeldis is a self-taught artist whose primary purpose in her paintings is to tell a story. Many of her pictures have Biblical or autobiographical sources. She combines twentieth-century events (My Lai massacre, Holocaust, and Hiroshima) and "heroes" (Gandhi and Martin Luther King) with Biblical characters (Moses and Joseph) and family members. The walls of her home are covered with original artwork stemming from four generations (her father's, her own, her son's, and her five-year-old grandson's). She spoke of her life experiences and how they are represented within her work, both symbolically and literally. This does not happen consciously as she is painting, since she works very quickly, but is apparent to her afterwards. In explaining her own work, she encouraged the students to, "tell your own story." It is authentic, and no one can take it from you. She graciously answered questions and related to the students as fellow artists.

We returned to our school from the memorable experience renewed and inspired to write about the work of Malcah Zeldis.

Malcah Zeldis' Peaceable Kingdom

I think that the subject matter is a collage, a collage of many things from the past and the future. She uses mostly warm colors, and most of her lines are curved, hardly any straight lines. The big orange-ish lion is the first thing you see because it's so big and bright. This is a painting of many things; there are numerous people, many who are famous, like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, and possibly Eve from the Garden of Eden. It also has lots of animals, like lions, tigers, deer, sheep, cheetahs, and many more. There is a big building, a pond, and many trees.

I think there is a very serious mood to this painting because all of the people and animals have straight faces, and none of them are smiling. I think her message is that it doesn't matter how different we are, we can still become friends. What leads me to believe this is that there are a lot of people holding hands and animals snuggled up to each other.

I think the artwork is good. I like the color scheme and the way she fit everything into one environment. I think that Martin Luther King would tike to see this because he's in it and it's probably the way he wanted the world to be.

- Lauren Pupillo, grade 8 Penn View Christian School 

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students analyze contemporary and historic meanings in specific artworks through cultural and aesthetic inquiry.

Alice S. W. Keppley is a middle school art instructor at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pennsylvania.