Middle school and
high school students collaborate with local artist Greta McLain
by Tesha M. Christensen
Students are adding a mural to the front entry of Roosevelt
High School.
Not only have they put time and effort into this piece of
art, but it’s one that captures who they are. The portraits of several students
are part of this mixed-media mural that combines paint and mosaic pieces.
The work in the entryway at Roosevelt caught the eye of
junior Jocelyn Pliego one day in early April 2014, and that same day she
decided to grab a paintbrush and lend a hand. She’d never worked on a mural
before.
What excites her about this project? “It’s going to be here a
pretty long time,” Pliego noted.
It was easy to recruit Gilles Mally for the project. “I just
love painting,” explained Mally, a junior, who added that he loves not only the
colors but everything about painting. “So, I decided to be a part of this
amazing art.”
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| Claudia Valentino |
STUDENTS ASSIST WITH
DESIGN
Over 44 middle school and high school students partnered with
art teachers and muralist Greta McLain and her assistant Claudia Valentino on
this mural. McLain (www.gretamclain.com) grew up in Minneapolis, and earned an
art degree from the University of California - Davis. She uses muralism as a
means of sharing with and drawing from her community. Locally, she created the
mural on the Mercado at Bloomington and Lake that was installed last fall.
Artists McLain and Valentino worked with Roosevelt students
to come up with visual ideas based on the International Baccalaureate (IB)
Program at Roosevelt. “Since Roosevelt is an IB School, the main inspiration
was to show students, families and visitors what the characteristics of an IB
student are,” explained Roosevelt art teacher Jaci Smolund. They include these
traits: responsible, principled, knowledgeable, risk taker, inquirer, open
minded, caring, balanced, reflective and communicator; as well as the Roosevelt
motto: Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve.
“Our principal Michael Bradley was looking for ways to add
more art to the school,” commented Smolund. “He saw some of Greta's other
murals and knew it would be a beautiful element to have at the main entrance.”
According to Roosevelt Principal Michael, the learning
structure around this project is an opportunity for Green Central and Sanford
students to use art to see themselves in the mission and vision of Roosevelt
High School and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program.
COLLABORATIVE PROCESS
In February, students drew their ideas out on large poster
paper and those drawings were then taken to Green Central and Sanford so that
the middle school students could add their ideas. Then, McLain drew up the
overall design and students used her drawings to assemble the mosaic parts of
the piece. Roosevelt students worked on it on Mondays and Thursdays, Green
Central Students on Tuesdays and Sanford students on Wednesdays.
In April, the drawing was transferred to the wall of the
front entryway and the painting began. The mosaic parts, featuring colored
tile, dishes, mirrors, marbles and glass pieces, were added next.
“The mural design has actual Roosevelt students posing while
portraying the learner profiles,” Smolund said. “For example a girl balancing
on a unicycle and a thoughtful student reading a text book. There are also
butterflies, a large bird, words and other symbols.
ART FOR EVERYONE
Sanford will be adopting its Middle Year Program next fall
and many of its students will attend Roosevelt in the future. “Students have
explored the themes of the IB Learner Profile through each stage of the
project, reflecting on its meanings and connections to their lives, and to the
artwork,” remarked Sanford art teacher Marlene Maloney. “The mural will be a
part of our community's daily visual experience of Roosevelt High School, the
artwork itself will be in communication with students and staff by underlining
the IB Learner identity and its link to a strong and successful school
community.”
“Greta is amazing at creating art for communities. She makes
it clear that the piece is for everybody to share and everybody is welcome to
help,” said Smolund. “The Roosevelt students are getting to create a permanent
piece of artwork and the middle school students can look forward to seeing what
they've done when they come to high school.
“Most importantly, everybody has been having a lot of fun
participating in making something really beautiful.”
Maloney is pleased that this project has given her students
the opportunity to work closely with a professional artist and older Roosevelt
students in a small-group environment in the after-school Art Club
program.
In March, about 30 parents and staff attended an open
workshop at Sanford to experience the process. They used cool cutting tools and
added their piece to the project.
“The event demonstrated the high level of engagement and excitement from
the students as they taught their teachers and parents about the process and
how to use the tools to create mosaic,” said Maloney.
“It has been an awesome experience for us so far and we look
forward to celebrate the unveiling at the end of May.”
The community is invited to attend the unveiling of this artwork
and the Connections Gallery (see sidebar) on May 28 from 5-8 p.m. (tentative
time).
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Connections Gallery to open this spring at Roosevelt
A second art project two and a half years in the making will
also be finished this spring.
The Connections Gallery by the front door at Roosevelt High
School will offer artwork and a bench to reflect.
In collaboration with Forecast Public Art and artist Randy
Walker, the Connections Gallery installation will be a permanent structure with
changeable components that Roosevelt, Minneapolis Public Schools and the
community can enjoy, use and access to make connections through art and across
curriculum.
In addition to a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board
and an anonymous donor, 152 community members donated $8,583 through a
Kickstarter Campaign.
In 2012, students at Roosevelt began exploring issues of
community art with artist residencies facilitated by Forecast Public Art, a
non-profit organization that connects artists to communities through public
art. As the discussions developed, students and faculty hatched the idea of
having a permanent public art installation at Roosevelt. Artist Randy Walker, a
fiber and mixed media artist who has created temporary and permanent
installations throughout the United States (including the rocket at Brackett
Park in the Seward neighborhood), was selected by students and staff to be the
lead artist on the project.
The final design shows 14 metal frames radiating outwards
like wheel spokes from a large circular open air gallery. Like a rice paper
screen or stained glass window each metal frame is divided into a smaller cells
of acrylic panels. Within these panels students will be able to insert
pictures, words or anything that they can create on paper. Attached to each
panel a strand of colored fiber will be woven through the top of the sculpture
connecting to another panel elsewhere on the sculpture. These fibrous
connections will be moved and rewoven to make different connections as the art
and content in the frames is changed.
It is designed for people to use it as an evolving and ever
changing gallery and record of art making and relationships among people and
ideas -- reflecting the community’s past, present, and future.
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This story was printed in the May edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.
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