Maryland Folklife @ UMBC recently presented screen paintings resulting from a unique collaboration led by MD Traditions Artist-in-Residence and master screen painter Michael Seipp and Linehan Artist Scholars Program Director Stephen Bradley.
The work began in late September when Mr. Seipp worked with 3rd grade students at Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School in East Baltimore. The final painted screens were inspired by the 3rd grader’s drawings, who responded to the question “what makes your neighborhood important?” They looked both to the present and the future, thinking of the nature that’s already in their neighborhood, the friends and family that are important to them, and the changes they’d like to make as they grow up. Professor Bradley and Mr. Seipp next led first-semester Linehan Artist Scholar students to translate the drawings into designs for the final painted screens. Working with Seipp, the Linehan Artist Scholar students used traditional techniques that honored the history and meaning of the screen painting art form.
A display and reception was held in the basketball court at Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School in east Baltimore on Friday, October 28. Thanks to Tench Tilghman faculty and staff for their collaborative efforts on this project, especially Assistant Principal Monique Harding and art teachers Breea Williams and Ms. A.
