Cloth As Metaphor Exhibition

Posters (24"X36"each)
Sample cloths
Sample calabash stamps

This exhibition can be loaned for a period of time.

Sample poster (pdf). This ample size measures 11"X8.5"; the full size measures 24"X36"

Kente Cloth Exhibition

For more information contact:
Click here to submit online form

KENTE WEAVING DEMONSTRATION
by Master Weaver Ekooba Gyasi from Bonwire, Ghana

Heddles and Beater of a narrow loom
 

Master Weaver Ekooba Gyasi, from Bonwire, Ghana demonstrating his skills in kente cloth weaving. Invite the master weaver to give a demonstration at your school, college, community center, etc.

For more information about Kente Cloth Weaving Demonstration contact:
Click here to submit online form

High School and College Graduation Ceremonies and Kente

Kente Donning Ceremony - Marshall University - 2007

For more information about using kente for your graduation ceremony or sorority/fraternity initiation ceremony contact:
Click here to submit online form

AKAN CULTURAL SYMBOLS PROJECT

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM

Ghana in the Curriculum

This kit focuses on the symbols to be found in the textiles that the Akan produce by weaving, block or screen-printing, and by the appliqué method. The making of a cloth brings together beauty and practicality, as well as history, community, and culture. Throughout history people have pursued the desire to create by putting together pieces of cloth for the purpose of bringing color and beauty into their lives as well as keeping their bodies warm. Cloth has also been used to express one’s status and to evoke certain meanings. The process of weaving and/or printing a cloth involves skill, time, and patience on the part of the individual and the coming together of a community of people who share in the construction of meanings while sharing each other’s stories.

Kente cloth is a type of woven fabric formed from cloth strips. Adinkra are symbols common to Ghana that represent important concepts or have cultural meanings. They are used on fabric or in other ways expressed, often by stamping or woodcut printing with dyes and inks.

A curriculum unit on Akan cloths has broad potential for teaching many things: history—how the cloth was woven, printed and developed into pieces of art; mathematics—in putting together of geometrically fitting patterns; language arts—how cloths are used to communicate certain messages as well as tell stories and weave poems; science and technology—textile technology and invention, the science of dyes: natural and synthetic fibers and dye; culture—the use of symbols in cloth designs to commemorate significant events in the life of a family, community or society; and organizational structures of art—elements of art and principles of design and how they affect the overall beauty of the cloth.

In our outreach program we assist educators through workshops to weave arts – using Akan textiles-  into their curriculum in the areas of language arts, social studies, and art. We do classroom and community presentations where participants get the opportunity to design their own “cloths.” We also have a master weaver from Ghana who gives demonstration in weaving the kente cloth. There is also an exhibition - Cloth As Metaphor - that can be loaned out to schools, universities, and galleries and museums.

 

Diversity	Community and Schools Project: Symbols of Ghana
	"Allita Legg knows how to keep her fifth-graders happy. Students gladly closed their books Friday and learned about another culture with George Arthur, education professor at Marshall University." "Originally from Ghana, a country in Africa, Arthur let students at West Teays Elementary School try on authentic native dress. He also took with him a press and die so students could cut out native symbols to print on T-shirts they brought with them to school." "Arthur gave the students an assignment to research the American flag and find out the meaning of the blue background behind the 50 stars." The Putnam Herald, May 3, 1997.
	"I teach Kindergarten and First Grade in a multi-age,  school here in Michigan.  We are traveling (albeit in our minds) this year, and we are presently in Africa.  The children are fascinated.  Last week we worked with some stamps with symbols and did "rock art".  We made cartouches out of Egyptian hieroglyph stamps.  This week we are learning about Ghana and the symbolism in textiles." "I was researching the net for some interesting photos, examples, and text when I realized I was looking at YOUR WORK." E-mail from a teacher in Michigan, October 16, 2005

WORKSHOPS/ACTIVITIES

A middle school student showing her designed t-shirt

Adinkra stamps

Naming and Outdooring Ceremony,
Marriage and Weddings,
Proverbs
Storytelling for Children and Adults
Traditional Cultural Arts (Stools, Adinkra Cloth, Kente Cloth, Kente Weaving Demonstration)
Chieftaincy Structure (Judiciary System, Conflict Resolution, Enstoolment of Chiefs)
History and Geography of Ghana
Traditional Religion, Traditional Healing (Herbal, Spiritual)
Traditional Prayers (Libation Pouring)
Ghanaian Social and Ethical Values
Family and Community System and Ghanaian Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
Programs also include a participatory demonstration of Ghanaian music.

Another aspect of the Project has been presented as photo exhibitions, hands-on activity, and/or lecture/presentation. The photo exhibition has been of two types: one on textile symbols and the other on the language of the Akan gold weights. The following is a partial list of the places the Project  has been taken:

EXHIBITIONS

CLOTH AS METAPHOR: TEXTILE SYMBOLS FROM GHANA

2.    THE LANGUAGE OF AKAN GOLD WEIGHTS

                  Morrow Library, Marshall University

                        October 1-31, 1994

                  French Art Colony, Gallipolis, Ohio

                        February 5-26, 1996

An elementary school student showing her work

STORYTELLING