MixedMedia

During the weekend of April 11-13, more than a dozen Twinfield staff, parents and students helped to sort, record, and mount the more than 450 “Peace Tiles” that would compose a new mural in the school’s cafeteria. The Peace Tiles – individual collages on 8-inch square wood panel – each responded to the question, “What is my place?” When combined into a mural, they produced single image representing the Central Vermont landscape where they live – a theme selected by the 2008 graduating class.

While the mural represents one of a few large works in the school, there is some concern that students will find the mural a ready target for vandalism. I am not so certain, for two reasons. First is that each student has a piece in the mural: everyone contributed to it, and as a result I would expect that it feels more “owned” by the entire student body. The second reason is that the mural should have some longevity: every student, from pre-K up to the graduating class, contributed to the mural – which means it could be up to 12 years before that bit of school history graduates. In my mind, that’s a pretty lengthy bit of time for a story to circulate. Both aspects of the mural I hope will garner students’ delight and respect for many years to come.

In any event, it was a pleasure to work with everyone at the school, and I certainly learned many good lessons for how to take the Peace Tiles mural project “to scale.”

[In the picture lower right, a Twinfield student places the last tile of the school mural]

Today marks the final day of my work with Twinfield students. All in all it was a lovely experience. The students were so welcoming, and most eager to experiment and “play,” which is a big part of what its all about. I think its fair to say that they are really excited to see what in the world will be done with all of the images. So am I

So now I will begin the long and detail intensive process of cataloguing all of the tiles, and arranging them into the mosaic. Workplan looks something like:

• Photograph tiles
• Work with school to develop “source” image (might be a tile to create a fun micro-macro “find the source” game)
• Create composite image
• Number tiles
• Create directory (so people can find their own, friends’ etc by name
• Install

Something else I have thought of along the way – which hasn’t been approved yet – is to “float” some really elegant quotations about place just off the surface of the mosaic. I am thinking they could be etched (sandblasted) or screened onto the narrow (8″ x 72″ say) plexiglass strips and fastened 3-4″ off of the surface using narrow metal risers – like bolts without the threads. We’ll see how far that goes.

[From the Times Argus ] High school students, parents and teachers worked side by side in Twinfield’s cafeteria Tuesday, absorbed in combining paints, bits of paper, lettering and treasures they had brought from home to create tiles that express their sense of place. In another part of the building, the elementary students were creating their own “tiles,” using 8-inch squares of plywood. Ultimately, 480 tiles will be used to form a huge mosaic – perhaps a river – on a wall of the cafeteria.

Swirls of color revolved around a dark center on Steffany Yasus’ tile. “In my English and physics classes, we were talking about the universe,” the Plainfield junior explained. Thoreau’s words radiated from the core: “The world is but a canvas to our imagination.”

Across the table from her, Darcy Brett, a mathematics teacher, fitted a small map of the United States on the left side of her tile and a map of Europe on the right side, on top of a blue sea filled with a pattern of white birds. “My husband is from France and I’m from Vermont, and the birds represent all the coming and going,” she said. Her tile remained unfinished at the end of the day: She was looking for a bright bird to put in the middle.

Nearby, Lindsey Fowler, her blonde hair pinned up in a clasp, worked on a collage. Tears filled her eyes. The words “Mike” and “Inspire,” stood out among pictures of a big, happy boy surrounded by friends. With letters cut from a magazine she spelled, “We miss you.”

Mike was extraordinarily friendly, Fowler said.

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Begins tomorrow morning. I’ve worked hard to develop a set of materials that I hope can effectively guide classrooms into thinking about the topic, “What is my place,” while not taxing teachers.

Tomorrow morning I spend the day making 45-min presentations to all of the grades. Its a bit like a charrette.

In K-4 we will read the book, “The Big World and the Little House,” and then discuss ways the house was connected to the big world, and how they feel connected to the big world. We’ll ask them to talk about what they think are special places and special people in their communities that make it feel like home. They’ll spend some time “bringing the book up to date” (it was drawn in the 50′s) by drawing their home, and what connects it to the world today. Then they’ll have the assignment of being anthropologists between now and next Monday when the tile-making sessions begin: they’ll have some bags for collecting “artifacts” that represent some aspect of place that is special to them.

The older students (grades 5-12) will be introduced to the global dimensions of the Peace Tiles project, we’ll take a really close look at some of the tiles made by young people around the world (I’ve found I really enjoy – and so do students – browsing the flickr gallery as a way to explore tiles in the classroom). We’ll talk about the materials used, and how they express an important idea. We’ll have them interview each other around important aspects of place for them, have a discussion, then close with a reflective writing activity that will help them to focus their thoughts as anthropologists as they set out to look for artifacts (BIG thanks to Roseline Koerner for showing me the value of reflective writing in the Peace Tiles process last summer at our workshop!).

Along the way, as I’ve worked hard to ensure this is a community-driven process (so hard, in fact, I didn’t think it would happen at times – I almost never “hard sell…” even though I’ve desperately wanted it to happen) – we’ve had half a dozen planning meetings with the Arts and Enrichment Committee (parents and teachers involved) as well as a presentation to teachers and Q&A session last week. I feel really good about the level of ownership the school holds for this – I’ve pretty much responded to their interest in the process, from what the “theme” will be (“What is my place”) to how the tiles will be used (a massive 400+ piece mural).

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The Global Peace Tiles Project has a new guide for educators aimed at generating reflection and dialogue around the topics of identity and place. The “topic pack,” which is 12 pages, includes six activities and several discussion starters. In addition to a look at the book, “The Big World and the Little House,” users of the guide are encouraged to think about place through the lenses of people, institutions and geography and to collect artifacts for use in collage that capture these and other personal reflections on place. The guide is free and intended for use as a precursor to a Peace Tiles project that explores place.

Click here to download the guide.