Wednesday, December 12, 2001
|
Wednesday, December 12, 2001 |
|
Graffiti Wall at Fayette Middle Gives Messages of Encouragement to Students When plywood construction partitions went up inside Fayette Middle School, about 150 students equipped with brushes and paint covered the walls in graffiti with art teacher Ellen Mitchell leading the pack. Now referred to as the "good message wall," an array of graffiti-type images are partnered with positive phrases such as "light one candle for the world," "never give up," and "loyalty is powerful." All messages relate to the wall's theme: "Fayette Middle School students celebrate life together." Although most people think of graffiti as a form of vandalism, many artists throughout the years have used it to convey positive messages about life and community. Mitchell's vision for the wooden construction wall was one that would embrace and celebrate life at the school while delivering positive messages to the student body. "When I saw the wall, I not only saw a great opportunity to teach my students a new art technique but also a chance for them to do something positive for their classmates," said Mitchell. Before the first sketch was drawn on the wall, Mitchell introduced her students to some of the great graffiti artists of the 1980s whose work reflected positive messages, including famous graffiti artist Keith Haring who is well-known for his artwork on the Berlin Wall. "His philosophy was that art gives us an opportunity to say something important about life. He believed that life is great and should be celebrated and that is how I feel too," said Mitchell. Working in teams of two, each group was assigned a character trait representative of a person with high morale values and qualities. Students researched character education words such as "caring," "responsibility," and "citizenship" and developed synonyms for each one. Using the words, their meanings and synonyms, students designed images that made positive statements about life. The graffiti that was painted on the wall incorporated both the words and images. "This turned out to be
a great English lesson. Students learned how to abridge sentences down
to just nouns and verbs for simple messages that have powerful ef So that the entire student body would understand what Mitchell's art students were up to, she videotaped the wall in various stages of development and aired it on Cub Vision, the school's closed circuit television morning broadcast. All students in Mitchell's sixth, seventh and eighth grade art classes worked on the project. It took them almost two weeks to complete it. Although most students admit that creating an image for the wall was the most challenging aspect of the project, they all say that they are proud of their efforts. "It's really neat how the wall turned out. I like the fact that we used a positive mood on it. I know it makes the other kids feel really good when they walk past our artwork," said eighth grader Olivia Garrett. Mitchell said she and her students plan to host a school-wide visit to the "good message wall" so that students can teach others about the positive messages on the wall and how they were created. Teachers will receive invitations from the students to bring their classes to the informational meeting. "This will not only give the students a chance to show off their work, but it will also give them an opportunity to practice their presentation skills," added Mitchell. After the winter holidays, Mitchell is planning to decorate another construction partition at the school. This time the theme will be centered on the benefits of reading.
Brittany Edmonds, left, and Isaac Payne place finishing touches on their portion of the "good message wall." Photo/Special.
Olivia Garrett is hoping for peace on earth as she completes the last petal on her colorful flower. Photo/Special.
|
||