Helping Hands – Shannon Felder

Helping Hands
Shannon Felder

   Shannon Felder is a senior at Vanderbilt University studying Elementary Education and Studio Art. Her art explores topics of early schooling, community engagement, and childhood. Her primary medium is textile art that relies on collaboration and audience participation. Shannon is inspired by the resilience of children and the potential of public education, and she is passionate about using her talents to create positive change in child centered spaces.

About the installation:
Helping Hands is a project centered around a blanket knitted by my community. It is inspired by my experiences and beliefs as an elementary school teacher. In the corner of the space, the community blanket hangs from the ceiling to form an alcove. If the viewer chooses to enter the alcove, they’ll find a soft space to sit. Floor pillows, coloring pages, and knitting invite the viewer to stay and rest under the protection of the patchwork blanket that forms the walls and ceiling. Through knitting circles with friends, coworkers, students, and strangers, the blanket came together from the hard work of many helping hands.
This piece highlights the protective power of community, particularly in a classroom setting. For students with unstable or unsafe home lives, the classroom can be a necessary place of safety. The classroom itself doesn’t create that sanctuary, the community does. That community starts with the teacher and the students’ bond, but it is also shaped by administration, the government, parents, and local organizations. The blanket that protects the alcove could not have come to be without the collaboration of hundreds of people adding their positive impact. The classroom is a delicate, fragile space that can provide vital safety to students who need it most. This can happen only when many people add their small square to the community effort that a classroom requires.
My previous work has often centered around specific people that are meaningful to me. I make art to thank and honor people that have given so much to me. These people make up my community, and it is this community that inspires me to teach and to create. I hope to offer that kind of community to those around me, in my future classroom and beyond. My first knitting circle was born from this idea. Seeing people work together, struggle with a new medium, and be proud of their contributions, inspired me to repeat it. It made me realize how important it was for these circles to feel comfortable and safe for the participants, because trying new things and being bad at them requires vulnerability. I spend my days teaching in elementary school. The vulnerability of learning, the struggle of growth, and the community within classrooms, all drive my work. I bring these ideas together in Helping Hands as a visual representation of the ideas I’m grappling with and the impact I’d like to be able to have on my schools, classrooms, communities, and beyond.

The Installation: