The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

This year, we worked with Amanda Martínez, an artist who recently had her first solo museum presentation at The Aldrich, Canta y no llores. Comprising a series of wall reliefs and sculptures referencing adobe construction, the works reference earth-building techniques using mud and straw indigenous to New Mexico.

This year’s Common Ground program ran in April, kicking off with a visit to the Museum by the 7th graders from Side-by-Side Charter School, in Norwalk. The week began with Martínez and Museum Educators leading a tour and guiding the students through an in depth analysis of her work. With Martínez onsite, the students were able to hear first hand about the personal details relevant to the work, her process, and the material elements she uses.

For the rest of the week, I led lessons at Side-by-Side Charter School, with the goal of each student creating their own sculptural relief inspired by Martínez’s work. Each work of art would need to fit inside a shadow box frame. Museum Educator Devin Long and I created examples, using recycled materials as well as one item from our home in order to personalize the work.

Each student was asked to bring in in their own personal item to use in their relief. Martínez had shared with us that she occasionally adds secret special touches to her work. For example, deep inside the stucco and straw covered wall relief entitled Nicho, is a tiny, crumpled paper containing the coordinates of the home of her grandfather in New Mexico, who had been an adobero, or adobe craftsman and builder.

The process of teaching the students how to create their own personalized reliefs was so fun. The students were deeply engaged and wonderfully thoughtful during these creation sessions! We even had a midweek check in, where each student met virtually with Martínez. Acting as a mentor to the students amid their gathering of ideas and materials, the artist spent about 15 minutes per student listening to their themes, personal stories, process, and choice of materials used in their reliefs.

Mary Newbery, the Principal of Side-by-Side Charter School, stated: “The seventh graders at Side-by-Side had another highly successful, inspiring experience with Common Ground this year. Their projects enabled them to integrate objects from their personal histories into three-dimensional projects, leading them to draw connections across the curriculum as well as helping students develop confidence and find alternative expressions of voice.”

Martínez came to the school to assist in the final day of constructing the students’ projects, to provide feedback on their work, and to celebrate the completion of the week-long experience. When reflecting with the artist afterwards, she was so impressed with the thoughtfulness of the work and said it was an “overwhelming honor to work with the students that week,” an experience she said that “would really stay with her for a long time.”

From meeting Martínez at the Museum, to putting the finishing touches on artworks-it was a deeply meaningful week filled with personal and creative growth for all!