Taan's Moons project - Session two

During the month of October, Alison Gear and I spent one full day at each of the six elementary schools of Haida Gwaii for the Taan's Moons project. We brought lots of different activities to the classrooms to make the children familiar with different elements of the Taan's Moons story. It is a story of the traditional Haida way of telling time, told through the eyes of a bear. 

The students also created many different felted elements, such as berries, roots, seaweed, branches and felted squares to be used in the large felted moons we will create during our next sessions at the schools in November (stay tuned for another post). 

Following is a largely visual overview of our days, photography by Jason Shafto.

Alison created flash cards and a memory game to introduce the Haida names of the moons (months): 

'Cedar Bark Weaving Moon' - September

Goose Moon (February), Raw Berry Moon (June), Bear Moon (January), etc.

We 'warm up our imagination' by literally moving through the months and the story:

Flying like a hummingbird for Raw Berry Moon

Autumn winds shaking Cedar trees for Cedar Bark Weaving Moon

Introduction to different types of sheep and samples of the different kinds of wool:

 Felting berries:

 

A felt board story of Taan's Moons created by Alison: 

 

Tyler Crosby and four students from the Haida youth dance group taught bear, eagle and raven songs, dances and let the children drum:

Outdoor games:

Noisy Goose Moon

Taan

Making felted roots, branches and seaweed:

 

rich harvest of felt seagrass and seaweed

Making felt squares with designs of bear prints in the snow, blossoms, crab and salmon: 

 

"And then I saw this bear, and he stood up on his back legs like this"

End of the day 'Show and Tell' of a intertidal felt piece that I created for Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve (thank you for letting us use it with the children!):

A special thanks to all the students, teachers and volunteers who made these days a success!

This artist residency is partially funded by an Artists in the Classroom grant, disbursed by ArtStarts in Schools. It is supported by School District 50 and Literacy Haida Gwaii

Photography by Jason Shafto. Please do not use photos without permission of the artist.