Written by Jaymie Meyer, Direcor of Youth + Education Programs, GreenHill
GreenHill’s Artist-in-the-Schools program has been bringing NC artists to 4th grade classrooms for over 40 years. Our longest-running educational program is supported by Guilford County Schools and gives students the rare opportunity to meet and work with a professional artist like nationally renowned Haliwa-Saponi potter Senora Lynch. For the past 16 years AIS has enabled Senora to teach children about Native American culture through her whimsical clay pieces. Her work intertwines intricately etched decorative elements with Native American symbols and stories. Her signature works are her clay turtles, which students learn represent long life in the Haliwa-Saponi tribe. After hearing stories and learning about Senora’s creative process, students get to make their own turtles out of clay.
In 2007 Senora Lynch was awarded for the NC Folk Heritage Award for her work in promoting and preserving the culture of the Haliwa-Saponi people. She has also been the subject of a book, The Contemporary Southeastern Pottery of Haliwa-Saponi Artist Senora Lynch. You can see Senora’s work at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of History in Raleigh and on the campus of the University of North Carolina where she was commissioned to designed a walk way and create a permanent installation of art at the university’s American Indian Center.
We are proud to offer programs such as Artists-in-the-Schools as a means of educating our community about the rich artistic culture here in North Carolina.
