Arts grant awarded for Corinth bicentennial banner

CORINTH, N.Y. >> Corinth Artist Kendra Schieber has been awarded a $1,800 Arts in Education Grant from Saratoga Arts for her 2017 grant proposal, “Signs by Hand–Corinth Celebrates 200 Years.”

Schieber will conduct a three-week residency with fourth grade students at Corinth Elementary School to teach them about the process of designing and creating a large-scale banner to commemorate the Town of Corinth Bicentennial in 2018.

The residency will be held for a half-hour every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning through May 19.

Schieber will teach art class children about the history of writing and the important role that signs have played throughout human history. The students will learn about the earliest petroglyphs and pictographs of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic people – perhaps the first signs made to inform others of their time and place.

Students will also learn about the lettering carved into the base of Tajan’s Column in Rome, Italy. This was the basis of the Times New Roman font that is commonly used today.

Students will have an opportunity to try out simple lettering styles after learning to make their own tools from papermaker’s felt and clothespins, pencils and rubber bands. They will use mathematics to determine lettering sizes and spacing and make their own ink with Chinese stick inks as well as ink from the indigenous black walnut tree.

They will also study local history in order to incorporate that into the designs they will create.

Students will have an opportunity to try out simple lettering styles after learning to make their own tools from papermaker’s felt and clothespins, pencils and rubber bands.

The residency will culminate with students working on their own ideas and designs for the large-scale banner that will be placed across Main Street in Corinth.

In addition, they will learn about the sign ordinance for the village and town of Corinth by applying for a permit to hang the banner and they will coordinate with local business owners where the banner will be displayed.

The Corinth Village Board presentation will be at 6 p.m. on May 17. The town board presentation will be at 7 p.m. on June 8.