Functional

Objects: Quilts

8th Grade

Touching Sunburst Quilt, 1854
(https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/touching-sunbursts-quilt-578398)

Abby Miller
Field Studies
12/7/18



Introductory Information:

Grade level and class size: 8th grade, 20-24 students
Length of class period: 45 minutes, 4-5 classes

Lesson topic and description:
This is the first of three lessons on functional objects. The first lesson will focus on
quilts from different cultures. The students will look at quilts from both American
and International cultures. They will then make a paper quilt as a sketch, followed
by a small fabric quilt top. The fabric quilt they make will be based on the quilts
from other cultures and their own interests. Once the quilts are finished they will be
sewn together to make a whole class quilt that will either be displayed or used in the
art room.

Stage 1- Desired Results

A. Enduring Understandings:
Students will understand that:
• Connections can be made between different cultures.
• Artists make quilts to tell stories about their lives.
• Meaning is inherent in the use of materials artists use.

B. Essential Questions:
• What connections can be made across cultures regarding color, material, and
intent?
• How can quilts be used to tell stories?
• What turns a functional object into a work of art?

C. Standards/ Frameworks:
• 1. Methods, Materials, and Techniques. Students will demonstrate
knowledge of the methods, materials, and techniques unique to the visual
arts.
• 3. Observation, Abstraction, Invention, and Expression. Students will
demonstrate their powers of observation, abstraction, invention, and
expression in a variety of media, materials, and techniques.
• 6. Purposes of the Arts. Students will describe the purposes for which
works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and architecture were and are
created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings.

D. Acquisition/ Learning Objectives:
• Students will know that different materials have different meanings.
• Students will know that their stories can be used as inspiration to make
artwork.
• Students will be skilled at new techniques and new ways of using materials.
• Students will know that collaborative art can be created in many ways.

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

A. Performance Task as Evidence:
A successful example of a final product would be a quilt that shows growth in
sewing skill, development of an idea, and thoughtful material choice. I would like to
see an effort made to learn or improve sewing skills. In addition students should be
able to explain their reasons for material choice and the meaning behind their quilts.
There should be some level of connection between their paper draft and fabric quilt,
or they should be able to explain the differences. Some, if not all, of this information
should be in their artist statement. The final quilt should show some connection to
another culture and to the student.

Teacher Sample of Final Quilt Block (made by Abby Miller)

B. Other Evidence/ Continuum of Assessments:
• Students will sketch out ideas for their paper/ fabric quilt.
• Students will create a paper quilt.
• Students will create a fabric quilt.
• Students will discuss the meaning behind their quilts as well as write an
artist statement reflecting that.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

A. Materials and Equipment:
• Paper and pencils for sketching
• Colored pencils for sketching
• Colored construction paper
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
 • Fabric
• Thread
• Sewing needles
• Sewing machine
• Computer and projector for presentation
• Books on quilts

B. Resources: Visual, Text, Media, Web
• Visuals:
o Touching Sunburst Quilt. 1854. Retrieved from
https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/touching-sunbursts-quilt-
578398
o Amish quilt. 1920-1940. Retrieved from
https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2016/10/06/on-exhibit-
contextualizing-amish-quilts/
o Amish quilt. Retrieved from https://www.sewsos.co.uk/fabric-
shop/amish-centre-diamond-wall-quilt-kit-rachels-of-greenfield/
o Amish village. Retrieved from
https://www.discoverlancaster.com/members/amish-village.asp
o Map of Amish population. 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2012/nov-dec/article2.asp
o Gee’s Bend Quilt. Retrieved from
http://westcoastcraft.com/2017/09/22/go-the-quilts-of-gees-bend-
at-the-de-young/
o Gee’s Bend Quilt. Retrieved from
https://www.designsponge.com/2018/02/the-small-history-of-gees-
bend-quilts.html
o Mary Lee Bendolph with her quilts. Retrieved from
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/media/quilt-beauty-utility-history-
identity
o Gee’s Bend quilters. Retrieved from
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/gees-bend-quilts-and-quilters-
2820942
o Gee’s Bend quilters. Retrieved from https://timeline.com/gees-bend-
quilters-alabama-black-history-b23bb73ff327
o Map of Gee’s Bend. Retrieved from http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-
bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=66327
o Boro quilt. Retrieved from https://helmn.co/products/boro-futon-
cover
o Boro quilt. Retrieved from https://www.heddels.com/2015/08/all-
about-boro-story-japanese-patchwork/
o Map of Northern Japan. Retrieved from https://maps-
japan.com/northern-japan-map
o Boro Kimono. Retrieved from
http://www.fujikimono.co.uk/kimono/indigo-boro-kimono-
ranru.html
 o Faith Ringgold quilt. Retrieved from
https://www.crockerart.org/press/february-opening-announced-
faith-ringgold-an-american-artist
o Luke Haynes quilt. Retrieved from
http://www.lukehaynes.com/best/q3uwgrcqyul2jji6yynsw7hs0has8
z

• Text:
o Beardsley, John, & Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (2002). The quilts of
Gee's Bend (1st ed.).
o Beardsley, John, & Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (2002). Gee's Bend :
The women and their quilts (1st ed.). Atlanta, Ga. : Houston: Tinwood
Books ; In association with the Museum of Fine Arts.
o Silber, Julie, & The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. (1990). Amish
Quilts of Lancaster County. San Francisco, CA: Esprit De Corp..
o Ringgold, Faith. (1991). Tar Beach (Families All Matter).
o Boro history. Retrieved from https://www.srithreads.com
o Luke Haynes. Retrieved from http://www.lukehaynes.com/about-
ishimoto/
• Video:
o Faith Ringgold. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lia6SFTOeu8

Examples of an Amish Quilt, a Gee’s Bend Quilt, a Boro Quilt

(https://www.sewsos.co.uk/fabric-shop/amish-centre-diamond-wall-quilt-kit-
rachels-of-greenfield/), (http://westcoastcraft.com/2017/09/22/go-the-quilts-of-
gees-bend-at-the-de-young/), (https://www.heddels.com/2015/08/all-about-boro-
story-japanese-patchwork/)


C. Vocabulary with Definitions:
• Functional Art Object- Functional art refers to aesthetic objects that serve
utilitarian purposes.
 • Quilt- A bed coverlet of two layers of cloth filled with padding (such as down
or batting) held in place by ties or stitched designs.
• Amish- The members of a strict Mennonite sect that established major
settlements in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere in North America from
1720 onward.
• Gee’s Bend- The Quilts of Gee's Bend are quilts created by a group of women
and their ancestors who live or have lived in the isolated African-American
hamlet of Gee's Bend, Alabama along the Alabama River.
• Boro- Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together.

D. Instructional Overview
First Class:
• Teacher will greet class and begin lesson with slideshow. “We are about to
start a three project unit on functional objects. The first unit will be on quilts.”
• Teacher will introduce the first group of quilts: Amish quilts.
• Teacher will ask students what they see in the images, what are the types of
designs, colors, etc.
• Teacher will explain about Amish culture.
• Teacher will show the Gee’s Bend Quilts.
• Teacher will ask students what they see in the images.
• Teacher will explain about Gee’s Bend culture.
• Teacher will show students the Boro Quilts.
• Teacher will ask students what they see in the images.
• Teacher will explain about Boro quilts.
• Teacher will ask students what some similarities and differences are in the
quilts.
• Teacher will show and explain about Faith Ringgold and Luke Haynes quilts.
• Teacher will show Faith Ringgold video.
• Teacher will ask students what they found interesting in the video.
• Teacher will introduce the project of making a paper quilt sketch and final
fabric quilt and tell students about combining their quilts into a class quilt.
• Teacher will show students the teacher example of the paper and fabric
quilts.
• Teacher will explain about choices made in the paper and fabric quilt and
explain that it is ok if they are different from one another.
• Teacher will show students books with extra images.
• Teacher will tell students that they can either start with a sketch on paper or
jump into the construction paper quilt.
• Teacher will go over the list of things to think about: examples of quilts from
presentation, patterns/ images, how it can be made personal, and what the
meaning behind their quilt is.
• Teacher will tell students that they will have 1-2 classes to work on their
construction paper quilt and 2-3 classes to work on their fabric quilt.
• Teacher will tell students they can hand sew or use a sewing machine but
they need to try both.
 • At the end of first class teacher will ask students what ideas they have for
their quilts.
Second Class:
• In the next class teacher will show more examples of quilts.
• Students will work on their paper quilts.
• At the end of class teacher will do a check in and ask students if they’re
working on anything they want to share with the class.
Third Class:
• Teacher will do a demo on starting to sew. They will show students how to
prepare to sew and how to sew with a needle and thread and sewing
machine.
• Teacher will help students with sewing.
• At the end of class teacher will do a check in with the class.
Fourth Class:
• Teacher will let students continue to work on projects.
• Teacher will do a check in at the end of class.
Fifth Class:
• Teacher will let students finish working.
• As a class students will lay their quilts out together so they can see what the
whole quilt will look like.
• Students will have a discussion about their quilt blocks, what they mean and
what they learned.
• Students will write an artist statement.
• After class teacher will sew blocks together.

E. Questions to Generate Discussion:
• What are some similarities and difference between the quilts you’ve seen?
• What are some reasons these artists made quilts?
• What do the materials these artists used mean and why did they chose to use
them?
• How can you make your quilt personal?
• How did you incorporate your story into your quilt?
• What is the meaning behind your quilt?
• What are the similarities and differences you see between your and your
classmates’ quilts?
• Did your fabric quilt look like your paper quilt? What changed and why?
• What were some fun parts of this project? What were some challenging
parts?
• What was it like learning a new technique? What were some challenges and
successes you had?
• Why are there similarities between the quilts we looked at when they are
from such different places?
• What did you learn about other cultures through this project?
F. Learning Activities:
• Students will sketch ideas that incorporate other cultures and their own into
their quilt.
 • Students will create a paper quilt with cut construction paper.
• Students will create a fabric quilt.
• Students will lay their completed quilts out with their classmate’s.
• Students will look at their classmate’s quilts and discuss them as a class.
• Students will reflect on what they made and ask questions about the process
and their classmate’s projects.
• Students will write an artist statement about their quilt.

Example of Paper Quilt (made by Abby Miller)

G. Differentiation:
• Allowing students to sketch first or start with their paper quilt as a sketch.
This will help students who don’t enjoy sketching and could get discouraged
by having to draw before they start working.
• Visual examples of quilts to give ideas. This will help visual learners and ELLs
so they don’t have to read text to understand the project.
• Lots of class time to work so no one feels rushed. This will help learners who
work slowly so that they don’t rush through projects and they can put all the
time they need to into completing the project to the best of their abilities.
• Demos to show students how to sew. In addition to speaking the demo the
teacher will physically sew so that students can see what they need to do.
This will help ELLs and visual learners who may not understand or pay as
close attention to only verbal directions.
• Writing key points on the board so that if anyone missed anything it would
be visible. This will be helpful for ELLs and students who may not have the
attention span for a beginning of class meeting.
• Giving students the option between hand and machine sewing. This will be
helpful for students who have a hard time with one way of working, they will
be able to work in a different way.