This week in Art Club we took a "trip" to Haiti, briefly talking and learning about the detriment and destruction of the earthquake in 2010. I told them that my brother is part of a Club ("just like we are!"), The Haiti Solidarity Club, through Los Altos High School. They are going back to Haiti coming up this February 2013 to contribute to the re-building projects. Here is a snippet about the student efforts in Haiti. This project is dedicated to my brother's voyage as well as the efforts of the teachers! and other students of the Solidarity Club. The project I did with the kiddos was talking more about the Tap-Tap Cars as a part of Haitian daily life, and how we can learn about a culture through visual arts.
I started off opening a conversation about what these Tap-Tap cars are, who might ride in them, where they transport people to, and discussed their extravagant designs. We learned that Haiti is not the only place that has such "Art Cars", as I deemed them, explaining that India, Pakistan, here in the US (the VW busses!) and other countries also decorate their means of transportation.
We learned that Tap-Tap cars got their name because passengers will "tap-tap" on the side of the vehicle when they are near their stop and want the driver to pull over. We also learned that many passengers include farmers and vendors who are going to the Farmers Markets bringing their harvested produce, breads, crafts - an amalgam of goods. These people will be carrying heavy loads and can pile it on top of the car.
I set up 3 stations - decorating using line patterns in oil pastel, another for cutting and decorating 2 wheels to adhere with brads onto their car, and another station for gluing cut pieces of bright construction paper. Some students named their car based on what they learned, for example, "Tap-Tap of Hope and Love", "Tap-Tap of Awesomeness", and other mindful words.
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