DEIB-log: All Together Auction!

Hello Greene Towne,

I hope everyone who came out to the Gallery Walk this past Saturday had a wonderful time! In case you were unable to attend or were curious about the meaning behind our first all school auction project before this year’s event here is a breakdown of the thoughts and process to our communal art piece. 

Our auction art this year was heavily inspired by the quilts of Gee’s Bend. Traditionally these quilts have been crafted by women and their ancestors in the African American community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama (otherwise known as Boykin, Alabama). Many in the community can trace their roots back to the enslaved population of the Pettway Plantation and their tradition of quilting was not only born out of necessity but grew as an expression of community and art as well. Inspired by the celebration of hope, community, and art our paper “quilt” project came together as a communal piece created and shared by the entire school. 

If you’re interested in reading up on the quilts of Gee’s Bend you can find more information here: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

To reflect the diversity of our beautiful Greene Towne community each classroom was assigned a specific color to create a rainbow effect once pieced all together. For each of the respective 9 colored squares: Red – Patrick Sutch’s classroom, Green – Anne Williams’ classroom, Indigo – Desiree McNeill’s classroom, Orange – Jen Bonwell’s classroom, Teal – Primary ADM classroom, Purple – Katie Brown’s classroom, Yellow – Cherise Sistrunk’s classroom, Pink – Michelle Nowacky’s classroom, Blue – Toddler ADM classroom. Every child in each classroom had the opportunity to paint their own patch for our quilt making up a total of 136 patches. While everyone contributed a small piece to the overall project together the end result is big, bright, and colorful just like Greene Towne! These are the highlighted collection of books from our Diversity Library that tied in to the auction project as well with an emphasis on culture and community art: 

I hope everyone who attends has a lovely time at the auction tomorrow and everyone has a great weekend!