Students Get Creative For Hispanic History Month

MT VERNON – Nearly two-dozen fifth-graders at Hamilton School spent a class Friday stitching Mexican embroidery as part of Hispanic History Month – and they were hooked – literally!

The young artists in Jenny Vaccaro’s class watched her nimbly weave a wool thread into a rustic fabric, which she displayed on a screen using a small camera, as they embarked on the project.

“Otomi embroidery, also known as Tenango, is created using brightly colored threads and fibers and usually depicts icons from nature such as flowers and birds native to the region where they are created,” read a description on the screen.

Miss V, as the teacher is affectionately known, helped students individually when they struggled with the wayward yarn.

“In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are learning about different art forms and different artists,” she said. “So this is a traditional folk craft from Mexico – Otomi. A lot of the symbology in it is rooted in stories that have legends that have been passed on for generations.

“We’re trying to be very respectful of the meaning of all those things, so I kind of asked the students to pick something of their own,” Miss V continued. “We’re not just copying, but we are borrowing the idea of the embroidery and learning about the bright colors and the inspiration.”

The teacher, a former auction house photographer, said she has not yet decided if the project will result in a single work or individual pieces by all the students.

“That’s going to unfold organically. I wanted originally for it to be one big piece but I’m seeing now that some students are definitely going to want to take theirs home, so if that’s the case, then I will simply back them,” she said.

When asked what she enjoys about her project, student Dayanara Davis said, simply, “The sewing” – adding that Miss V “is nice!”