Diamond Path Students Teach About Authentic Hmong Art

This week, docents are teaching students at about Hmong artistic culture, using an art exhibit that travels around the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district.

But these docents are a bit younger than your typical exhibit guide.

Twenty-five Diamond Path fifth-graders are working in pairs to explain and show ornaments, clothing and other artifacts to all the other K-5 students who attend the international studies magnet school.

“I think any time kids get a chance to do research and become, in this case, fifth-grade experts, it’s valuable for the kids that are doing it, to be in a teaching role and share that knowledge with their peers,” said Jane Eaton, the technology specialist for Diamond Path who also helped coordinate the exhibit.

“And it’s highlighting a culture that’s an important part of the Twin Cities community,” Eaton said.

The students applied to be docents, and more than a month ago began researching the artistic traditions of Hmong culture and approaches they could use to educate other students, and preparing presentations and questions.

They lead the show with presentations about different aspects of Hmong art, from the creation of useful objects to embroidery and story cloths.

“I thought, why would they have story cloths when they could just write something down?” fifth-grader Sophia A. said about first learning about the Hmong tradition. “And then I looked through the research and they have no written language, so I thought that was pretty cool and really creative.”

Because Hmong people had no written language prior to the 1950s, they practiced storytelling through colorful and detailed embroidered panels known as story cloths, which show struggles for freedom and are the focal pieces of the collection.

“It’s a way to keep their stories alive and remember what they did so that other people can keep learning,” said student docent Preston S.

The Hmong art exhibit has traveled to almost all of the district’s 18 elementary schools since Diamond Path art specialist Anne Landreman and colleages Nancy Schueller and Michelle deKam Palmieri piloted the docent program five years ago.

Some of the artwork is on loan from Landreman, whose husband, Tom Meersman, bought the items while he traveled to refugee camps in Thailand during the mid-1980s as a journalist for Minnesota Public Radio.

“It’s really important for kids to see that connection between why people make art,” Landreman said. “It’s like, ‘Why look at any art?’ It enhances your life. Art is sort of the heart and soul of any culture and you see what’s happening with the people through their art.”

The exhibit will be displayed for students at Diamond Path through Friday, with a public open house from 4 to 5 p.m. on Thursday.

“It’s a good sign when [the students] are just looking at the art and may not be even asking questions,” Preston said. “They just keep looking at the art the whole time and you can see their smiles and how amazed they are.”

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