Arts and Education Programs
Community Art Inspired by the Ancestors
In February and March 2019 we worked with Redux Contemporary Art Center to explore Gullah ancestry, genealogy and stories through art. Using the results from the archaeological and DNA analyses as a source of inspiration, participants imagined ancestral spaces, cultures and stories. Free weekly workshops, facilitated by artists Dontre Major, Arianne King Comer, Nic Jenkins, Peggie Hartwell and Quadre Stuckey, were available for elementary, middle and high school students and seniors.
In workshops with Peggie Hartwell, students used collected materials, students to create textile art, where the fabric of their lives is literally woven into the work that they created and reflects their ancestry as much as their genetic history. Storytelling served as an audio backdrop in classes. Participants created meaningful public art that was displayed in the Community Art Exhibition at the Civic Design Center on Calhoun Street, in May 2019 and is now on diaplay at McLeod Plantation Historic Site (2021-2022).
Education Program
From February through April 2019, La'Sheia Oubré, visited twelve Charleston County School District schools to talk with students about archaeology, ancestry, and Gullah identity, with reference to the Anson Street African Burial Ground project.
The students created banners and murals that were displayed at a Community Art Exhibition at the Civic Design Center on Calhoun Street during the reinterment ceremony and now at McLeod Plantation.
