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Miracles in Park Aakby Kur t Woo t ton

HABLA BEST PRACTICE HANDBOOK 2010visual arts

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HABLA BEST PRACTICE HANDBOOK 2010

Miracles in Park Aak

Habla works in partnership with Park Aak tooer ongoing literacy and arts workshops orthe rural community o Xcunya, just outsideo Merida, Mexico. Sarabeth Berk, a Colorado-based visual artist, was visiting Habla romAnderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, Colora-

do. She and Habla co-director Marimar PatronVazquez taught a Saturday workshop or kidsin Xcunya.

One o my rst encounters with milagros wasin the house o Frida Kahlo in Mexico City. Awall near her kitchen displayed a range oscenes painted on tin with a ew lines o textunderneath each. Since then Ive seenmilagros, also called ex-votos, in many

dierent places around Mexico: markets,antique stores, and traditional olk artmuseums. Although originally sacred objectsdisplayed in altars and shrines, now they arereinterpreted by contemporary artists as asignicant moti in contemporary Mexican art.

Traditionally milagros are small paintingdepicting a saint intervening in a difcultsituation amongst mortals. The milagro oten

combines a sense o the spiritual or magicalwith the day-to-day. One milagro depicts acar crash and then a saint descending romthe sky, the horric remnants o steel andmetal contrasting with the play o light andthe bright colors o the saint (see the examplerom the Museum o Folk Arts in Mexico Cityon the rst page). Typically a amily would pla-ce this milagro in an altar to thank the saint orsaving the lives o those involved in the crash.

ThPark Aak

Park Aakis an ecological park located inXcunya, a small town outside the city oMerida with primarily a Mayan population.

Together Park Aak and Habla host visitingartists and educators rom around the worldwho oer ree workshops or the community.

http://www.parqueaak.org/http://www.parqueaak.org/

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HABLA BEST PRACTICE HANDBOOK 2010

The students wrote stories about miracles,read the bookFrida by Jonah Winter and AnaJuan, and then created their own Milagros.

Procedure

1 Building Community and Reading.Creating always emerges rom a context. Inorder to oster an environment rich or crea-tion, Marimar acilitated a variety o ensem-ble building activities that worked to build asae space in the classroom and helped thestudents to think deeply about the theme omiracles and how we might see that word indierent ways. They explored many ques-tions: What are the miracles we see everyday? What are miracles in the natural world?What miracles are associated with yourreligion? What miracles have you witnessedin your lie? What miracles do you hope willoccur in the uture?

Ater exploring these themes, Marimar readthe story oFrida to the students, and askedthem the questions: What is the miracle in

the lie o Frida? Is there something in thelie o Frida that has a relation to you? andnally, What is the miracle in your lie orin your amily? The students each spokeabout miracles in their lives and then beganto create their own milagros

2 Creating.Sarabeth demonstrated a modelo her own milagro. Traditionally a milagrocan be made with any materials: tin, wood,or even cardboard. For this experience theteachers prepared paper that could beolded into a small box (see the accompan-ying photo or Sarabeths model). Otherpossibilities include a shoebox, a matchbox,or any variety o ound materials.

The students used a combination o crayons,colored pencils, and/or colored markers tocreate the image o their miracle inside thebox. They then added text to accompany theimage in the tradition o milagros. FinallySarabeth asked them all to take a piece oaluminum oil and illuminate a part o theirbox. The aluminum oil gave the Milagros animportant added dimension.

3 Performing.At the end o the class, thestudents sat on benches in ront o theiramilies. One-by-one the students stoodup and displayed their boxes telling theiramilies about the miracles in their l ives.

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Habla is an educational center and lab school based in Mrida, Yucatn, Mxico,

dedicated to ostering school environments that promote the success o all

students rom multiple cultural backgrounds. For teachers, artists, and school

leaders, Habla oers: cultural and language experiences, teacher institutes,

and an annual international educational orum.

www.habla.org

http://www.habla.org/http://www.habla.org/