A Southeast Asia Project at DBTA

Art Teacher Patty Kaminski and Art Professor-in-Residence Triada Samaras collaborated to create an arts integration lesson at Don Bosco School that integrates art making, religious/spiritual traditons, technology and the culture of Southeast Asia.

Above: Ms. Kaminski's Mehndi Lesson in Google Slides

In this lesson the concept of Mendhi Design was presented to the students. "What is Henna Mehndi?," Ms. Kaminski asked her students in Google Classroom.  At Don Bosco Technical Academy many students originate from Bangladesh and are familiar with Mehndi. 

                          Above: Image of Mehndi on the back of the hands

In Google Slides, students learned that Mehndi is a form of art that traditionally uses dried leaves of the Henna plant to make a paste that is applied to the body. Mehndi is a form of body art and skin decoration that dates back to Ancient India. LINK

Above: Image of Mehndi on the inside of the same hands

 Mehndi is still a popular form of Body Art in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, Africa and the Middle East. Mehndi has roots in spiritual and religious tradions in these regions.  For example Mehndi is often used on the hands of Hindu and Muslim brides. LINK  

Next, Ms. Kaminski showed her students Mehndi designs in Google Classroom.

Students began their artworks by tracing their own hands. Inspired by Mehndi images and designs placed in Google Slides for them, they created unique designs into their traced hand shapes.  Later they used black sharpie markers were to outline and highlight their designs.

This arts integration lesson utilised culturally responsive teaching strategies as well as social emotional learning and global perspectives.  

Some student artworks can be found below: