I expect a lot of us struggle with whether or not to incorporate religious art into our curriculum, so I was excited to read about Marie Huard’s PAEA presentation – “From Hajj Paintings to Prayer Flags: Exploring Religious Art”. If you want to hear about how she engaged her students in a semester long study of religious art, check out her session Friday at 2pm in Sarah Peter 202.

From Marie:

I have never shied away from including a religious painting or two in the art curriculum, but last year, I decided to go all the way and engage in a semester long unit on the art of the five major world religions with my 5^th and 6^th grades.   I am so glad I did!  At Greene Street Friends School, we cherish the belief that people who are different from us are interesting and worth getting to know, so I knew I would have support from parents and my colleagues.  What I wasn’t expecting was the intense interest of my students.  They loved learning the stories that inspired the artwork that we looked at together and telling their own stories.  I learned so much about my students!

---

At the conference, I will share a crash course version of the unit.  I will give an overview of the basic tenets of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism as we look at paintings, calligraphy, stained glass, mosaics, mandalas, and contemporary comics.  I will also share the prompts I gave my students and show examples of their work.  It will be a lot to pack into 50 minutes, but participants will also receive materials to make a prayer flag with their own good “wishes for the world.”