Language Arts | Geography | Social Studies | Visual Arts | Folklife Activities | Science

"I just love children. I think they're, they're the best investment we can ever, ever find in the whole universe." Eva Castellanoz in an interview with the Oregon Folklore Society


To enhance classroom learning potential with our Guest Artist, Eva Castellanoz, CARTS offers the following interdisciplinary activities. We welcome your additions.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

Language Arts:

(Grades 8-12) Transitions

We constantly change and grow as a result of decisions, experiences, and actions we take. We also change during or after a single event in life. Most cultures have special ceremonies that formally help people through their transitions in status and identity-often seen as times of danger. The azhares that Eva creates are symbols of change and are used for protection as well as beautification.

(Grades 6-12) Compare the meaning of the following terms: Anglos, Latinos, Hispanics, Mexican nationals, Mexican-Americans, and Chicanos. (from "Oregon Story." download their guide for more ideas)

Geography:

(Grades 4-12) Oregon Geography
Analyze a map of Oregon to see where agricultural products are raised today. What land, water, and other natural resources are located on these lands? (from "Oregon Story," download their guide for more ideas)

(Grades 6-12) Geography & Agriculture
The harvesting and refining of sugar beets was a considerable part of Eva's life.

• What type of climate and land is needed to grow sugar beets? In what countries do you find sugar cane and/or sugar beet plantations?
  
  
• How would you go about finding what the major agricultural products of the U.S. are? List your reference sources, and then list the major products.
  
  
• Find out which agricultural crops are grown, harvested, and processed near you. In what ways are migrant farmworkers involved in the agricultural cycle? (from "Oregon Story." download their guide for more ideas)
  
  
• What is agribusiness? What are the major U.S. fruit growing companies, and where are their headquarters located? Do they have any offices outside the United States? If so, where? In how many states and other countries do they grow fruit? What is your favorite fruit and where does it grow?
  
  
• Not so long ago, only locally produced fruits and vegetables were available in supermarkets. Now, someone in Albany, New York, can buy mangoes in February—they're shipped in from Brazil! Go to your grocery store and find out how many different countries are represented in the produce section. Write down your answers.
  

(Grades 9-12) Nationhood & Citizenry

When Eva's father relocated his family to Texas, he told them that although he was taking them out of Mexico, no one could ever take Mexico out of them.

• What did Eva's father mean? If you were ever to leave this country for another, what American cultural values and beliefs would you take with you?

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Social Studies:

U.S.-Mexican War

The immediate cause of the U.S.-Mexican war was the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845. Other factors include the existence of long-standing claims by U.S. citizens against Mexico and the American ambition to acquire California.

In 1845, President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico to purchase California and New Mexico. When that failed, Polk prepared for war.

• What did Mexico cede to the U.S. in exchange for $15 million dollars?
  
  

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Native American Civilizations
Before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century, great Native American civilizations flourished in Mexico. These included the Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Olmec.

• Select one of these groups to research.
  
• Write an essay that includes the group's geographical location and the types of art and/or architecture for which it is known.
  
  

USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a federal executive department that was established in 1862 to administer all federal programs related to food production and rural life. The USDA assists farmers through its research, planning, and service agencies, and aids consumers by inspecting and grading many products. It also administers the Food Stamp program. Through library and online research, find out what, if any, policies or resources the USDA has on migrant labor.

César Chávez
César Chávez was an American agrarian labor leader who was born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona. When he was ten years old his family left Arizona to become migrant workers in California. When he was in the eighth grade, César had to quit school so he could work in the fields full-time to support his family.

As a migrant worker, César organized wine-grape pickers in California, and in 1962 he formed the National Farm Workers Association. Using strikes, fasts, picketing, and marches, he won fair labor contracts from major agricultural companies. He later launched boycotts against the table-grape and lettuce growing companies. His campaign was very well organized, and he was able to mobilize nationwide support.

• What were the working conditions and worker's rights that Chávez and his union were trying to improve?
  

• What are the names of the current agricultural unions of workers?

Migrant Labor
Migrant labor is a term applied in the U.S. to laborers who travel from place to place harvesting crops that must be picked as soon as they ripen. Although migrant labor patterns exist in many areas of the world, few compare in extent with the system in the U.S. American agriculture needs migrant laborers because the demand for labor at harvest time often far exceeds the local supply where crops are not machine-harvested.

The workers either travel on their own or are transported by a contractor. Some migrants live in cities and only travel to farms for the harvest season, but others are permanent migrants who follow the crops from place to place. Efforts to prevent the exploitation of migrants and to improve their working conditions have had limited success. An exception has been the organization of migrant workers under the leadership of César Chávez, whose UFW union has had some success negotiating contracts with producers in California and other states.

• Although knowledge, goods, and labor (people) have been traded across countries for thousands of years, the rate at which they are now moving has increased and the movement (especially in the area of telecommunications) is often easier.
  
  

• "Globalization" and "the new global economy" are conditions that have created a lot of debate. They refer to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and financial flows. The term sometimes also refers to the movement of people (labor) and knowledge (often technology) across international borders. There are also broader cultural, political, and environmental dimensions of globalization. Research and then discuss or write about the cultural dimensions of globalization.

Labor Unions
A labor union is an association of workers created to improve their economic status and working conditions through collective bargaining. Historically, there have been two major types of labor unions: the horizontal, or craft, union, in which all the members are skilled in a certain craft (carpenters, for example); and the vertical, or industrial, union, composed of workers in the same industry, whatever their particular skills (automobile workers, for example).

North American Free Trade Agreement
Create a quick-reference fact sheet on one of the most significant trade agreements of the 20th century, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

• What is NAFTA?
  
• Which countries signed the agreement?
  
• Why was it drafted?
  
• When was it ratified?
  
• What are two major arguments for and two against NAFTA?
  

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Visual Arts:

Azhares
The azhares that Eva makes symbolize the values of purity and chastity. Other artists, such as Georgia O'Keefe and Judy Chicago, have created paintings of flowers that many people interpret to be female reproductive symbols. In response to this interpretation, Georgia O'Keefe said that the magnification and detail in her work wasn't about women at all, rather it was her attempt to view the world from a bee's point of view!

Choose an object that interests you. If you like, pretend that you're a bee; land in or on the object, and look for the detail that you want to magnify. Take a close-up picture, or draw a close-up sketch of your object.

Paper
Paper is the medium Eva chooses to use for her art. Paper art is very common in Mexico. In addition to paper flowers, Mexican artists also make papel picado, paper cuts, and papiêr maché. But Mexicans aren't the only ones with elaborate artistic and ceremonial uses of paper. Find out what the paper arts traditions are in the following cultures: Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Nigerian.

Murals
In the western U.S., especially in California, Mexican Americans have expressed their culture and their stories through public murals. Although the majority of murals are in California, a handful can be found in Oregon, mostly in Portland. What are the steps in creating an enlargement?

Arte Popular
Read this statement about Mexican folk art then think about the role of art in your own community. Explore the range of locations and types of art in your life. Art is found everywhere—in a local museum, in grafitti on your block, and in the way you and your friends dress. Write an essay that contains your substantiated opinion on whether or not art is an effective way of communicating cultural values—whatever those values may be.

"Folk art, or arte popular is widely practiced throughout Latin America. Since pre-Hispanic times, folk artists have helped to establish and maintain the cultural traditions of their people through the decorative, ceremonial, and utilitarian objects they make. In this way, they play a vital role as chroniclers of the community. Latino artists who have moved to the Pacific Northwest have brought with them this common emphasis on the public, celebratory nature of art as well as the cultural traditions of their various societies. In Oregon, Latin American folk artists—many from Mexico—serve as caretakers of artistic traditions from their hometowns. As such, they provide an important link between the past and present and a reaffirmation of their community's Latino identity." (Gamboa and Buan. Nosotros: The Hispanic People of Oregon. 1995: 97)

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Folklife Activities:

Life Passages
Eva identified four different passages in life: birth, First Holy Communion (coming of age), marriage, and death.

Write an essay that explores the four major life passages that we—as cultures and individuals—mark with traditional art, rituals, and stories. How do we use these artforms to communicate knowledge about transitions from one phase of life to the next? Use the Oregon Historical Society's virtual exhibit, Masters of Ceremony: Traditional Artists and Life's Passages to frame your exploration of birth, coming of age, marriage, and death, guided by the experiences of Oregon's traditional communities and artists.

Much of the Mexican-American experience has been shaped by borders—physical and psychological.

• Which borders surround your life—borders that you know you cannot cross?

• Think of a rite of passage that you've gone through. What did you have to give up? What did you gain?

Science:

The Hidden Agenda of Flowers
It is no coincidence that a flower—the reproductive organ of a plant—is in a quinceañera—a girl's coming-of-age ceremony.

List the parts of a flower and the reproductive functions of color, scent, and nectar. If you can, dissect a lily or other blossom, and identify its parts.

Wax
Wax is a yellow plastic substance secreted by bees for constructing honeycombs. People use beeswax for making candles and polishes and as a medium for modeling sculptures. How do bees make wax? How is commercially made wax made? What are the differences?

Refining and Processing

Eva's family was able to settle down in one place because family members found jobs in a processing factory in Nyssa. What does it mean to refine a food? What is a refinery? Name two plants that sugar come from. What are the differences between the refining and processing of these two sugar sources?

Pigment and Dyes
Colored ink for paper and fabric originally came from natural pigments-plants, nuts, and berries that were processed in some manner. Many artists, like Eva's parents made their own paints. Research the ingredients and manufacturing process of oil, water color, and acrylic paints.

Language Arts | Geography | Social Studies | Visual Arts | Folklife Activities | Science