| |
|
Concrete Poetry Event
 An Intergenerational
event to learn about the Millennium Development Goals and What One Person
Can Do.
Background: St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, begins
a study of the Millennium Development Goals and What One Person Can Do. An
introduction for adults had occurred previously, with plans in the fall to
focus on MDG #1: Eradicating extreme Poverty & Hunger. An intergenerational
creative event was planned as a segui during the summer, to introduce all
ages to the MDGs. Two sunday school sessions were conducted-- one hour each.
So what are the MDGs? The UN got together back in 2000 and set a vision for
alleviating many of the world's greatest problems, with finite goals to accomplish
by 2015. We are at the halfway point now (July 2007). Read more about the
Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
In Concrete Poetry, where you put the words matters. Words may spiral like
a lollipop, or be interspersed in a pie chart. They can interweave themselves
amongst pictures, or be spread out sequentially across a room. Poetry often
deals with things of the heart, may be abstract, and need not follow a linear
path. Concrete is a thing of the modern world, and brings to mind texture
and weight.
 In Week 1, we
learned about the MDGs through images of poverty, sickness, and wealth, which
were displayed in loose clusters on tables. We made individual collage using
images, our own words, and a variety of collage materials. Materials for various
ages and backgrounds were included: sparkles, statistical charts, clippings
from nature, and metal gears. From the individual collage, we next made group
collage.
In Week 2, we worked as teams to decorate two paper banners. The first was
a road from wealth to poverty. Some focused on the story line, developing
vehicles, road blocks, and a food depot from legos and wood blocks, while
others added images and words to the banner to further illustrate the story
as it developed. With global partnership in mind, the second banner involved
people holding hands and textures of the world. Egg noodle people held onto
a tight rope which spanned from one end to the other.
From the two weeks, we made a group collage, which stood on display for the
remainder of the summer. The base is a discarded server rack-- relatively
light-weight yet sturdy, and with plenty of regularly spaced holes from which,
when complemented with wood dowels and fishing wire, were used as a grid structure
for hanging the individual pieces. Collage covers both sides, and at 7 feet
tall, it offers a 3-D structure to walk around, read and absorb.
 
|
