The Floral Folk Art Project

It can be difficult to talk about race and culture, perhaps even more so when those issues are weighing heavily on our studentsʼ minds. I faced challenges growing up as a child of mixed race, and I occasionally process those experiences through my personal artwork. I feel the same outlet helps my students meaningfully engage with their thoughts and emotions about cultural conflict.

I hoped to facilitate this engagement through the Floral Folk Art project, which I created four years ago for my level one Computer Graphics classes to provide a segue from line into shape and color. Since then, this project has evolved to become a vehicle for my students to profoundly explore what we all have in common rather than what makes us different.

Introducing Folk Art
I start by describing folk art as having a highly decorative design aesthetic, using bright bold colors, a flattened perspective, and strong forms in simple arrangements that express an immediacy of meaning. Next, I show students a slide presentation I put together from which they learn about folk art from around the globe.

I emphasize that every country has a form of art that adheres to the definition of folk art, thus linking these different cultures together through a similar style of visual communication. We discuss how folk art is typically created in cultural isolation by untrained, often anonymous artists, or by artisans of varying degrees of skill.

The question becomes, how can artists who are isolated or haven’t had extensive artistic training create works that are so similar throughout the world? The conclusion that students often come to is that humans have had to rely on nature and their immediate communities for survival. All humans throughout time have wanted to document that experience using shapes and colors that are easy to make from raw materials and simple tools.

Introducing Contemporary Folk Art
To make the concept of folk art more relatable, I show examples such as antique baskets, furniture, sculptures, and paintings. Even more importantly, students are shown how folk art is currently being woven into modern life. I warm them up to the idea by introducing a few contemporary designers who incorporate traditional Mexican Otomi embroidery into fashion and home decor. Artist Clairice Gifford, whose work graces book jackets, magazine covers, and other items, offers a graphic design perspective on this tradition.

Investigating Personal Heritage
To make this art experience more personal, I have students complete a worksheet based on their own heritage. I allow flexibility because I realize that some students are mixed like I am or might be unsure of their roots. A few years ago, I showed the class examples of the completed worksheet using my Indian half. The piece I selected to showcase was part of an online article entitled Gods in Face Masks: India’s Folk Artists Take on Covid-19. It had to be kismet for this timely article to fall into my lap.

I ask students to locate a piece of folk art from their heritage to share with the class and ask them to respond to the following questions: From what country is the piece of folk art you selected? What is the name of the artist who created it (if available)? What is the title of the piece (if available)? What do you see in the artwork? What elements of art can you identify in the artwork? What is the meaning or message behind the artwork? and Why did you choose to share this particular piece?

One last bit of fun I have in store for my students involves floriography, since the connecting theme for the project is “the language of flowers.” Students learn that flowers can convey meaning or a message, and that this is true throughout all cultures. I share a humorous look at floriography from Horrible Histories (see Resources). You might want to share the work of artists who use flowers in their work, such Geoffroy Mottart and Vicki Rawlins.

Working with Illustrator
Now that their brains are packed with folk art knowledge, students use Adobe Illustrator to create a floral folk art piece of their own. I provide them with a step-by-step tutorial and instructional videos. Students are asked to include three to five main flowers, stems, leaves, at least one flower bud, and decorative dots. The finished composition should be symmetrical and show visual variety.

Once students learn their way around the Illustrator toolbar, they can follow the tutorial or include personal symbols by adding custom flowers and/or modifying the composition. One student created a red poppy flower to symbolize his grandfather’s military service. Another depicted a dahlia to represent her Mexican heritage. Some students invented imaginary flowers to represent who they are as people.

I am always astonished at how involved students become when given the opportunity to share bits of themselves that extend beyond the classroom. I hope this project brings peace, beauty, and a different perspective to the topic of race and culture.