In the Tweed Museum of Art, eight children sit at a table and two stand behind the chairs and watch.
The children cut paper into long strips and then decorate them by using glitter and sequins, gold pens and ribbons. They are making Renaissance-style crowns, following the patterns that the kings and queens of England wore during the late 16th Century.
Why? To celebrate 400 years of Shakespeare and the Tweed’s exhibition of an actual First Folio, a collection of 30 of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
In October, UMD’s education majors, art education majors, faculty, staff, and others helped to teach families about Shakespeare by demonstrating calligraphy, and making crowns, masks, and Renaissance-style books. Cassie Bolen, an elementary education student who is taking art education classes, says the excitement of the children was infectious. "Their families were thrilled about seeing an original Shakespeare folio and the kids picked up on it," she says. "The creativity was stunning."
The day was active and fun. Children were guided through a variety of activity stations planned by the art education department. Over 460 visitors saw exhibits of costumes and theater artifacts. Best of all, they came face to face with the original 1623 book, opened to the page that contains one of the most quoted lines in the world, “to be or not to be” from Hamlet.