“Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions,” states Linda Naurman in her book, Creativity at Work. A new and creative class at Mt. Healthy High School invites students to tell their stories by showing their creativity in visual form as well as poetic form. Students in the Fiber Arts and Poetry Infusion classes are in the process of creating quilts and writing poetry that focus on their personal and individual experiences. They are learning to be creative through exploration, experimentation, questioning assumptions, using their imagination, and synthesizing the information they are acquiring.
Ms. Maude Haeger, Fiber Arts teacher, explained how she designed the class and her reasons for wanting to offer the class. “Being allowed to take the time to create something validates students as individuals and to be respected for who they are,” she said. She added that it offers students a change of pace and the opportunity for them to discover themselves through finding their truths. The class helps students to express their truths that may be hidden within them. During first quarter of class, roughly 95% of the students have completed or are close to completing the top layer of their quilt. During the second quarter, students will complete the bottom half of their quilt and add filling. Ms. Haeger further defines her reasons for offering the quilting class as providing an outlet for student voice using the book Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer. “Thus we quilt to change the world by helping students discover they are more amazing than they may have realized.”
Additionally, as part of this class, is the poetic voice aspect. Ms. Celine Quinn, district consultant for Poetry performance/Student Engagement, developed the class to provide students the ability to tell their truths through Hip Hop Poetry. In collaboration with Elementz, a Cincinnati Hip Hop Cultural Art Center, Mt. Healthy High School students have the opportunity to create and perform their own poetry. As Mt. Healthy’s community partner for 2021-22 school year, Elementz is providing enrichment opportunities once a week for the students as they create their quilts and write poetry. Spoken Word professional, Kim Bolden, visited the classes through a workshop to offer students first-hand listening to Hip Hop poetry, and the process of how they might create their own, while continuing to meet with the students in-person. Several students even signed up to participate in an extracurricular event of performing their poetry at two competitions this year.
Furthermore, in September, students visited the National Underground Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati for a traveling exhibit of quilts that tell personal stories of the creators in conjunction with a social justice facet. The We Are The Story: A Visual Response to Racism exhibit, curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, provided students with an up-close visual of the art they had been studying.. The exhibit left positive and powerful impressions on the students as they analyzed the textures, colors, and stories of the quilts in person rather than just pictures. They developed a better understanding how quilt making is not only artwork but can be a pipeline in expressing social justice.
Mt. Healthy High School students taking the Fiber Arts and Poetry Infusion class will have the opportunity to display their final creations and perform their poetry later this school year.