Constructing Sacred Spaces

Sacred Spaces Postcard Assignment Instructions

 Objective  • Each student will identify and describe a personal

"sacred space" through a scripted visual construct –A Picture Postcard depicting specific elements- and short written narrative

Step I• Watch the multimedia lecture by Dr. Peggy Carr,

on Constructing the Good Life. Step II •  Choose a place that you consider to be “sacred.”

• You must have physically been there yourself. • It must be sacred to other people as well as you. • Spaces do not have to be churches or temples or mosques to be

considered sacred. • A sacred space is one that brings meaning to people’s lives.

Physically, a sacred space might be any public space, such as a park, a yard, a spot in a forest, on a bluff, in a famous plaza, a school courtyard, a space between buildings, even an empty lot.

• A sacred space might be an urban space, like the Mall in Washington DC, or it might be a natural space, such as a particular mountain peak that climbers come to visit from all over the world. It could official and organized, or informal and haphazard.

• An historic event may have happened there. It could be a quiet place of reflection, or it could be a busy place. It is a place that you and others strongly value. No monetary value can be put on the feeling it gives you.

What is a sacred place?

Step IIIMake a Postcard depicting the importance and use of your space.• Students will use a standardized method of visual

representation, “collage”, and a uniform size, the standard 4 x 6 postcard, horizontally oriented.

• Each postcard collage may be done physically, with cut and

pasted images, or may be done as a layered computer drawing in a program such as Photoshop, Powerpoint, iPhoto, etc.

• The finished product is a physical, double-sided 4 X 6 postcard

Each postcard must incorporate:   1. A main or identifying image of your sacred space. This can be a photograph or drawing that you find or make. It can be easy to identify the place from the image, or a more abstract image might give a feeling of the site 2. An element signifying place location such as a map, google earth photo, a photographic view, drawing or image. The location means the boundaries of your space, the ways to enter the space, and your visual definition of "within" the space. This is usually an overview looking down or plan view of the site. 3. An image of historical, social, or cultural significance to the site 4. A representation of a person with a relationship to the site

Property Boundary

Access

Memorial Garden

Garden Café: Space for sitting, eating, talking

My Grandparents’ YardMy sacred place

Key

Source: google.com/maps

Example 1

Example 2

Identifying image

A map, an image with a person in the site, and an image with a historical event are then added.

Part 5. A written component, such as a narrative about the selection of this sacred place, a description of the way the place is inhabited, a personal story about the place (could be on the back, as a normal postcard) You must include description of the use of the space: what happens here, what kind of activities, and how are they sacred to youDescribe the quality of the space (i.e. enclose, shady and cool, sunny and bright, etc.) What is it that makes this space sacred to you?

Part 6. A Stampan actual stamp, so the card might be mailed; a fictitious stamp related to the sacred place

… Part 7. An Addressto whom would this card be sent? A mermaidA politicianA diverAn artistA farmerA member of your family