Faith Ringgold Mural
Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930, in Harlem, New York City) is an African-American artist, best known for her narrative quilts. One of her most famous quilts is called Tar Beach, which Ringgold also turned into a children’s book. This story and quilt tells of Cassie Louise Lightfoot, an 8 year old girl who dreams of flying over her family’s Harlem apartment building and throughout the rest of New York City. It is based on Faith Ringgold’s childhood memories. After reading Tar Beach and analyzing the quilt, Kindergartners and Transitional-Kindergartners were ready to tackle creating a mural. First, they shared their own favorite summer memories. Then, we spent many, many weeks creating textured papers for the background, sponged paper for the sky, “altered” scrapbook paper to be used as fabric squares, and stamped lines and shapes to create buildings. Kindergartners drew pictures of themselves either flying or imagining themselves up on the roof.