Rupprecht Matthies looks to the community for inspiration. In his work, he asked refugees from around the world to share their stories and experiences resettling in Denver.
Your Turn:
- Find creative ways to ask your community to share their experiences with you.
- What has surprised you about having to be at home?
- What did you leave behind?
- What word stays in your thoughts?
- What is something that you miss?
- What is one word that describes “home” to you NOW?
With their responses, pick out a few words that stand out to you and feature in a word cloud.
Materials:
- Scissors
- Markers/Crayons
- String
- Cardboard
- Clothes hanger
Related Creative Activities
Piecing it Together
Weaving with Various Materials
Collage with Glue, Paper, and Tissue
A Portrait of One’s Own
After spending time exploring aspects of the Ancestor Portrait and the importance of ancestor portraits in the Chinese tradition, students will create an ancestor portrait using mixed media materials and present it to the class.
Combining Human and Animal Forms
Students will use visual observation skills to carefully examine the Assyrian Bird-Headed Deity limestone relief and explore the movement, sounds, and traits of different animals. They will first explore these aspects in humans and birds of prey, as seen in the limestone relief, and will then do the same with “animals” they create from two or more animals. This lesson enables children to draw upon previous knowledge and imagination in order to act out the movement, sounds, and other traits of the animals they create.
If You Give a Man a Horse
Students will read the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, explore Charles Deas’ painting Long Jakes, and exercise their imaginations to create their own cause-and-effect story.
