Curriculum Corner: ‘Threads of Connection’
This fall, Blue Mountain School students have been part of a learning collaboration with Radford University and its art museums.
This fall, Blue Mountain School students have been part of a learning collaboration with Radford University and its art museums. The project draws on the yarn paintings of Northwest Mexico’s Indigenous Wixárika people, the work of beloved Floyd artist Starroot, and the generosity of longtime collector and curator John Bowles.
It all started with a conversation many months ago, and the vision kept growing. Radford University is home to one of the world’s leading public collections of Wixárika yarn paintings, much of it donated by John Bowles in 1992. Blue Mountain School was delighted to host John Bowles for a tour of the school during which he spent time with older students, leading a meaningful talk connecting art, history and life.
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Wixárika yarn paintings are made by pressing strands of colored yarn, one by one, into a board coated with beeswax. Up close, you can see every single strand. The art grew out of a much older tradition of devotional offerings made with yarn, beads, and wax. For weeks, students studied images of these intricate works in art class and created pieces inspired by them.
In conjunction with the two exhibits which opened at Radford University this fall, “Wixarika Art” and “Starroot’s Visions,” students at Blue Mountain School looked at Wixárika paintings and Starroot’s paintings side by side, comparing their similarities and differences.
Starroot, a Floyd visionary folk artist, has been inspired by Wixárika art for many years. Students discussed what it means to make art inspired by someone else’s work, and then began making their own art inspired by images of Wixarika yarn paintings.
The rich exploration and inspiration that students now had from looking at images of Wixarika art was then deeply enriched by a visit to see the work in person. All Blue Mountain School elementary-aged students visited both museums and exhibitions on the Radford University campus.
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Along this journey of learning about Wixarika art and customs, John shared with students yet another artistic tradition of the Wixarika people, the tsikurite. Some readers may have grown up calling this colorful textile art “God’s Eyes.”
In Wixárika tradition, these diamond-shaped woven objects are sacred offerings with meanings that reach far beyond their beautiful colors and patterns. The name tsikurite translates to "the power to see and understand things unknown.” These were traditionally made as offerings, meant to stay where they were placed allowing weather and time to take hold.
Blue Mountain School students led by Lore Deighan, have created tsikurite of their own, which have been installed and offered to the elements of nature along a sculpture trail adjacent to the Selu Nature Conservancy in Radford, on the property of John Bowles.
Blue Mountain School has open enrollment for select classes. Email contact@bluemountainschool.net to learn more.
Blue Mountain School is a progressive, contemplative school in Floyd, where intentional curriculum planning is part of the everyday. “Curriculum Corner” is a bi-weekly column written by Blue Mountain School teachers to share insight and school happenings.