Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Día de los Muertos...

As part of my daughters high school art class they had a big project to do this semester for Día de los Muertos, (Day of the Dead). Emily choose to do her project on her Great Grandmother, Grace Durland. She was able to spend a lot of time with her Great Grandmother up until she passed away a few years ago and has very fond memories of her.


She used a lot of creative materials to make all the items in the "House" she built. The couch was made from Popsicle sticks and upholstered with fabric and cotton balls. The table and chairs were made out of balsa wood, with the tableware coming from the miniatures section of the craft store(this was allowed). She made the basket for the balls of yarn out of fimo sculpting clay, made the knitting needles and rolled all the balls of yarn herself. She used a small gift box to create her television and even found a picture of Sesame Street on the internet to put inside, since that is what she would have been watching while Granny lived in this house.

She used sculpting clay to make the table lamp, made the remote control for the T.V. and included a copy, handmade of course, of a crossword puzzle on the coffee table. It was something Granny did everyday! The stairs and the fireplace were made from both wood and cardboard, then painted. She even found a picture of a fire for the fireplace to make it look authentic. All in all, it was a very accurate representation of My Grandmothers house. It is amazing all the details Emily remembered all on her own. I don't think she asked for any help on what to put in the house. The only help I gave was with finding construction materials to make some of the items, but she built everything all by herself.

I went to the school to see her finished project along with the other items done by her classmates. It was very interesting the array of subjects that were chosen to be honored. Grandparents were very well represented, as were pets, followed by celebrities such as Patrick Swayze, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, but by far the best represented celebrity/musician was Kurt Cobain. I was somewhat surprised by this. There must have been 6-8 different kids doing a piece in his honor.

I think Emily really enjoyed this experience and the opportunity to remember her Great Grandmother in a special and unique way.

 
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