Joanne Soroka is a Canadian artist who uses the mediums of tapestry, Japanese paper, and more recently digital imaging to weave together a celebration of the lives of her ancestors. Her diverse family history includes Ukranian-born and Lithuanian-born Jewish, Japanese and Scottish forebears. With visual images and accompanying narratives she interprets the emotions, dreams and struggles of ordinary people whose presence would otherwise be unmarked in history.
5 groups of pupils from Sgoil nan Loch, Pairc, Bayble, and Laxdale Schools visited ‘Unmarked Lives’ in October 2002. Island based artists Moira Macaulay and John Macleod guided tours of the show. They helped pupils explore the materials and concepts which the artist uses by looking at her work, completing question sheets and group conversation. Then they encouraged them to develop collage interpretations of their own local environments, using an extensive range of handmade Japanese and Himalayan papers. The tantalizing work the pupils produced was subsequently displayed in the exhibition ‘My Glowing World’.
An art teacher commented: "The P7 pupils who participated from Babyle school got a tremendous amount from the visit. I was really impressed by the work they produced and what they have learned and retained by the experience".
6th year pupils from the Nicolson Institute also visited the exhibition to hear a talk by and take part in a discussion with Joanne Soroka herself.
Each of the schools were given a resource pack comprising Teachers Notes with project ideas, pupils questions sheets, an exhibition catalogue and art materials to enable them to prepare for the visits and carry out follow-up work back at school.
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