ITE teacher educator session on using artefacts from different ethnic groups
in Art & Design
Focus: To equip student teachers and
trainees of Key Stage 2 with some of the
knowledge, skills and understanding
necessary to use artefacts from different
ethnic groups within the subject of Art &
Design, raising awareness of the effect of
ethnicity and diversity on arts and craft
practices in Britain.
About this session: It is envisaged this
session would run as a whole day workshop,
or two three hour sessions. It is a
practical session, so the room needs to be
suitable for art and craft activities.
Student teachers and trainees will also
need access to the internet for research
purposes. The session focuses on the
textile art kantha (pronounced kant ha),
which originates from Bangladesh and the
West Bengal region of India. It is a
running stitch embroidered art form. ITE
teacher educators will need to acquire a
selection of kantha textile artefacts, as
one of the purposes of this session is to
emphasise the importance of using
genuine artefacts with children (available
from www.brac-aarong.com the Bangladesh
Rural Advancement Committee).
Resources:
 A selection of kantha textile
artefacts;
 Colour illustrations of kantha textile
art (readily available on the internet);
 Old magazines with a good range of
photographs of birds, animals, flowers
and other nature motifs;
 Scissors;
 Paper glue, PVA glue;
 Paper, tracing paper, mounting board;
 Pencils, coloured marker pens or
crayons;
 OHT acetate and OHT pens;
 Easy access to a photocopier;
 Plain calico or cotton cloth;
 Needles and coloured sewing threads;
 Wadding;
 String or matchsticks;
 Printing ink and printing rollers;
 A selection of lifestyle magazines/shop
catalogues showing the influence of art
and craft forms from different ethnic
groups upon their products.
Prior learning: It would be helpful if the student teachers and trainees had already had
the opportunity to discuss issues such as multiculturalism, ‘race’, ethnicity and diversity
within an educational context.
Learning objectives:
Assessment criteria:
 To equip student teachers and trainees  Do the student teachers and trainees
with some of the knowledge, skills and
feel they have some of the knowledge,
understanding needed to use artefacts
skills and understanding needed to use
from different ethnic groups within
artefacts from different ethnic
the subject of Art & Design;
groups, confidently and knowledgeably,
 To begin to appreciate how ethnicity
within their Art & Design teaching?
and diversity has had an effect on arts
(assessed informally through student
and crafts practices in Britain.
teachers’ and trainees’ responses to
the session);
 Do the student teachers and trainees
have some appreciation of how
ethnicity and diversity has had an
effect on arts and craft practices in
Britain? (assessed informally through
students’ responses to task 4).
Structure of the session
Introduction:
 Explain the purpose of the session (learning objectives), to equip student teachers
and trainees with some of the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to use
artefacts from different ethnic groups within the subject of Art & Design. By the
end of the session they should begin to appreciate how ethnicity and diversity has
had an effect on arts and crafts practices in Britain;
 Remind student teachers and trainees that the NC for Art & Design requires pupils
at KS2 to be taught about the roles and purposes of artists, craftspeople and
designers working in different times and cultures (4c);
 The session will not be able to encompass everything they need to know, but by the
end of the session they will go away with ideas for a range of activities and the
pertinent teaching points which arise from them. They will need to build upon this
through independent research, appropriate reading and further experience on school
placements.
Activity 1 – introducing artefacts:
 In small groups, ask the student teachers and trainees to explore and discuss the
textile artefacts on their table. Circulate, listening to responses, to assess student
teachers’ and trainees’ current knowledge;
 Share ideas as a whole group. Pose questions such as who do you think made the
artefacts?, which country do you think they originate from?, how are they made?,
what is their purpose?
 Emphasise the importance of children having genuine artefacts to handle and
discuss. Distribute a range of colour illustrations. Ask the student teachers and
trainees to consider the differences between the illustrations and the artefacts in
terms of what we can learn from them. Briefly share responses. It should be evident
to all that far more information can be gleaned from the artefacts eg allows
children tactile experiences as well as visual, allows the art form to be seen to scale,
it promotes learning from first hand experience rather than secondary sources.
 Tell the student teachers and trainees the artefacts are examples of kantha work
from Bangladesh and the West Bengal region of India. Model the pronunciation (kant
ha, there is no ‘th’ sound in Bengali). Use this a teaching point to emphasise the
importance of being knowledgeable and accurate when using artefacts from
different cultures. With this in mind, ask the student teachers and trainees to
spend thirty minutes researching kantha textiles on the internet. The student
teachers and trainees should know how to use a search engine and key words to
obtain information, but remind them of this if necessary. Provide student teachers
and trainees with questions to consider when researching artefacts (see
accompanying support materials);
 As a whole group, share the research findings;
 Ask student teachers and trainees to reflect on why it is important to be confident,
knowledgeable and accurate when using artefacts from different ethnic groups;
 As a whole group, share responses emphasising points such as shows respect for
and understanding of other cultures, shows art forms from different ethnic
groups are equally valuable and worth learning about, it challenges stereotypes.
Activity 2 – how to use artefacts as a starting point for art work:
 Ask the student teachers and trainees to re-examine the artefacts looking for
common themes or motifs;
 As a whole group, briefly discuss;
 Ask the student teachers and trainees to assemble an ideas board on A3 paper as a
starting point for a piece of kantha work of their own. The ideas board can contain
sketches of motifs from the artefacts, images of kantha designs downloaded from
the internet and photographs of nature motifs cut from magazines;
 Ask the student teachers and trainees to choose one motif from their ideas board
to turn into a kantha design. Using a motif cut from a magazine, OHT acetate and an
OHT pen, demonstrate how to turn the motif into a running stitch design by marking
small dashes around the outline and main features of the motif. Explain the OHT
acetate allows the motif to be seen underneath and the outline to be followed easily.
Place the OHT on an OHP so that the design can be seen. Explain the important
design features, that the running stitch/small dashes replaces the function of the
pencil line in drawing. Explain how a running stitch is made, the needle and thread
being pushed through the fabric from back to front and front to back with regular
intervals in between;
 Ask the student teachers and trainees to create a running stitch design using OHT
acetate, an OHT pen and their chosen motif;
 As the student teachers and trainees finish, photocopy their OHT acetate and ask
them to plan their colour scheme, using coloured marker pens or crayons, on their
photocopy. Ensure they understand they are only planning the colour of the stitches;
the motif is not block coloured in kantha design;
Activity 3 – making art and craft:
Using their kantha designs, give the student teachers and trainees the choice of making
a padded wall tile using traditional kantha embroidery techniques, or making a printed
paper border.
Instructions for padded wall tile:
 Using tracing paper, trace your kantha design;
 Pin or tack traced design to a 20cm x 20 cm piece of calico, placing it centrally;
 Thread a needle with the desired colour thread and knot at the end;
 Starting at the back and using running stitch, stitch through the calico and tracing
paper, following the design on the tracing paper;
 Change the colour of your thread when necessary, following your coloured design;
 When the stitching is complete, carefully tear away the tracing paper taking care
not to damage your stitches;
 Cut a 15cm x 15cm piece of mounting board and 15cm x 15cm piece of wadding;
 Lightly fix the wadding to the mounting board;
 Place you finished embroidery centrally on top of the wadding. Carefully turn the
whole thing over and tightly glue the overlapping calico to the back of the mounting
board. Glue parallel sides at the same time;
 Leave to dry.
Instructions for the printed border:
 Using tracing paper, trace your kantha design;
 Glue the tracing paper to a suitably sized piece of mounting board;
 Cut 1cm lengths of string or matchsticks;
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Using PVA glue, glue the string or matchsticks down following your traced design.
This will be your printing block. The string or matchsticks will represent the stitches
of traditional kantha work when printed;
Leave to dry. As this may take some time, student teachers and trainees could move
onto Activity 4 while they are waiting;
Cut A2 paper into strips 15cm in width;
Prepare a shallow tray with a small amount of printing ink. Roll the ink ensuring the
roller is evenly covered. Apply the ink to your printing block using the roller. Position
your block over your paper border and press firmly down to print;
Repeat this process until you have printed several paper border lengths;
Leave the borders to dry.
Activity 4 – finding evidence of the effect of ethnicity and diversity on arts and
craft practices in Britain:
Student teachers and trainees can move onto this activity independently as and when
they finish their practical activities. Ask the student teachers and trainees to examine
a range of lifestyle magazines/shop catalogues to see what evidence there is of art and
craft traditions from different ethnic groups moving into the mainstream of
contemporary British life. Ask the student teachers and trainees to consider the
following questions:
 How did art and craft traditions from different ethnic groups come to be known
about in Britain (immigration, global travel etc)?;
 What range of arts and crafts from different ethnic groups are available?;
 Is there any evidence that art and craft traditions from different cultures have
fused together to make new art forms (eg henna tattoos)?
Plenary: Ask the student teachers and trainees to reflect on the usefulness of the
session and whether it has equipped them with some of the knowledge, skills and
understanding needed to use artefacts from different ethnic groups within the Art &
Design curriculum. Ask the student teachers and trainees to reflect on what they have
learnt during the session and what they still need to know.
Independent study task: Ask the student teachers and trainees to research another
textile art form e.g. traditional English cross stitch samplers, Indonesian ikat. They
need to acquire sufficient knowledge to be able to teach about the chosen art form
confidently and competently. They need to find out where they can obtain artefacts
from and to consider art and craft activities suitable for KS2. This will encourage them
to build up a portfolio of ideas and raise their awareness of what might be taught and
how it might be taught. The following might be of use to them:
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass
www.quiltethnic.com
www.qca.org.uk/1575.html – Respect for All in Art & Design, ideas for activities and
examples of good practice in valuing diversity and challenging racism within the subject
of Art & Design.
Fiona Jamieson, University of Sunderland