Andrea Skyberg

After writing my second book, Squircle, I thought a lot about how I could create the artwork to elaborate on the idea of interconnectedness, which is a main message in the book, so I decided to work with schools around Milwaukee and have the students help me create the artwork.  I thought the best medium to explore the idea of interconnectedness would be applique because through stitching, two pieces of fabric are connected. During these artist residencies I taught students how to hand stitch and gave them the opportunity to practice the skill while they created their own applique banner.  This banner was theirs to take home.  After the students grew confident with the technique by practicing on their own banner, they created a smaller design which they embroidered.  These smaller pieces are components in the large 5 foot by 8 foot murals.  The murals will be photographed and used as page spreads in the book. The schools will keep the physical murals.  Each school worked on a page spread from the book which represents the five main anthropomorphic characters in the story.

Schools:
Fairview school created the artwork for the Squirrel character page
Waukesha Community Art Project After School Program created the artwork for the Deer character page
Cooper School created the artwork for the Fish character page
95th Street School created the artwork for the Caterpillar character page
St. John’s the Evangelist created the artwork for the Duck character page