The Tucson Country Day School Art Department creates their own curriculum, design, collect projects and work closely with their students to provide a rich art experience encompassing a wide variety of media. They have a strong emphasis on art history and world cultures. At Tucson Country Day School, Ms. Phelps,  Ms. Paradis and Ms. Lopez’s 3rd graders worked hard to create the “Arizona Youth Art Peace Pole”. Students created drawings of symbols that they thought represented Arizona. If you look closely at their Peace Pole you will see cactus flowers, cowboy hats, Native America symbols and more!! The students even painted the Peace Pole to look like the Saguaro Cacti that are seen all across southern Arizona especially in Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. These wonderful art teachers wrote the YAPPP to say “Our hope is for peace especially in our city of Tucson, after the tragedy of 2011. We appreciate the thoughtful artistry of our Third grade! Great work!”

To see the blog of the Tucson Country Day School Art Department and their “Arizona Peace Pole”.  Please put the following url into your browser:  http://tcdsartdepartment.blogspot.com/2014/05/arizona-peace-pole.html

Teachers Kala Phelps & Jean Paradis added “We had a wonderful time and the students want to continue to make one each year. Thank you for allowing us to participate!”

  

 

May Peace Prevail in Tucson, Arizona!

Students in preschool all the way to grade 6 worked under the direction of Rebecca Carleton  (RES Art) to create, not one, not three, but SIX Rainbow Peace Poles at the Randolph Elementary School in Randolph, Vermont. The Youth Art Peace Pole Project can’t thank Ms. Carleton and all the students at Randolph Elementary enough for taking on this project ON THEIR OWN. The students at Randolph Elementary  displayed all their Peace Poles at The Tunbridge Worlds Fair and  got a ribbon and  their six Peace Poles were  seen by thousands of  people at the Fair. Ms. Carleton wrote to say “Thanks for giving us this great project to work on and easy to follow directions.”

YAPPP would like to mention that Ms. Carleton won the the National Art Education Association  “Elementary Art Educator of the Year” for the Eastern U.S. Region. You can read the story in “The Herald of Randolph” at: http://www.ourherald.com/news/2014-04-10/Front_Page/RESs_Carleton_Wins_National_Award.html

It so happens that the YAPPP was announced to the world at the NAEA National Convention in 2012.

Well, Rebecca Carleton, you and all the youngsters at Randolph Elementary are amazing!!!

Angela Winters wrote to say “Thank you for the opportunity to represent the State of Wyoming.  The kids had a really great time and it was really fun to have a discussion about what peace is.”

The Student created a Statement:

I am quiet inside and silence is peace.  Sitting in the forest late at night we watch the stars.  There was silence and peace.  We wait for falling stars.  I find peace with friends.  We sit around and talk.  I want everyone to be kind and peaceful, right now, all the time.        By Taylor, Grace, Rachel, Tanner and Garret.

Marcia Shannon’s Art National Honors Society students at Mitchell High School created the South Dakota Youth Art Peace Pole and displayed it at the State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota on The International Day of Peace.

Following are some comments from students who worked on the SD Peace Pole:

“I am very impressed with how our Peace Pole turned out. It was great to see kids that I go to school with work together to create something so special and unique. What makes it even better is that it’s promoting a good cause and that it is going to get recognized outside of just our school. Needless to say, the Peace Pole project was a really amazing project to be a part of.”  – Alison Murphy

“Working on the Peace Pole was a wonderful way for artists, such as myself to express our desire for peace through art. Art is a great way to express yourself in ways you cannot put into words and the Peace Pole was a great opportunity to carry out that notion. The Peace Pole goes along with the saying, “Make art not war.” I think that is something we should live by every day. No matter how you like to express yourself, whether it is through dance, art, music there are ways to channel negativity into positivity that will ultimately make our world a more peaceful place. Working on our Peace Pole at Art National Honors Society was a great way for everyone to get involved, even the parents. After all, it’s teamwork that is going to make it happen.” – Bailey Eidahl

Here are a few photos of the South Dakota Peace Team preparing their Peace Pole:

 

 

These below photos were taken at the National Art Honor Society reception held at the Dakota Discovery Museum in Mitchell, South Dakota

West Career and Technical Academy is lucky to have Lisa Hinricksen, M.A.T. as their Visual Arts Teacher. Lisa shared some incredibly great news and also told us: “Our elementary, middle school and high school students LOVED the Peace Pole experience.  We are now working on Peace Flags and Banners for the ceremony on the 21st.

This collective experience, now more than ever, is a meaningful journey for many of our students.”

Nothin’ left to do but smile, smile, smile.

Senior art students at Kamehameha Schools Hawaii High School, under the supervision of Cyndi Bartels, M. Ed. Visual Arts Instructor, created a “Maluhia” (Peace) Pole in conjunction with the elementary students’ “Pinwheels for Peace” project. The Peace Pole and pinwheels were displayed for the International Day of Peace on the school’s campus in Keaau, Hawaii.

 

Laura Dant, the Art Teacher at St. Francis of Assisi School emailed the Youth Art Peace Pole Project to say:  These pictures are of the Peace Pole created by the students from St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School.  St. Francis is located in Louisville, Kentucky.  Our school has an enrollment of 243 students.  We are ‘A Small School With A Big Heart‘ and this slogan truly does describe our school.  We are a Peace Builders school and all the students participate in a program called HearthPaths.  In this program each grade focuses on a different theme for the year and the students learn about that category during the school year (example kindergarten studies animals, 1st grade studies the elderly, 7th — grade death and dying, 8th grade — refugees, etc.) and how to interact with the subjects of their theme in a compassionate manner.

For the Peace Pole, all the students used their thumb print to create our picture.  The Peace Pole contains a “garden” at the bottom with blossoming flowers and butterflies.  The butterflies symbolize peace and gentleness. The blooming flowers symbolize being open to accept the responsibility to be a peaceful and gentle person.

Our school will display the Peace Pole in our courtyard. We usually have a prayer service and assembly around the International Day of Peace and this upcoming school year this assembly will center around the placing of the Peace Pole in the courtyard.

That is a lot of butterflies!

 

 

Cynthia Bickley-Green, PhD, Professor Art Education and Coordinator of the Art Education Area at East Carolina University School of Art and Design in Greenville, North Carolina wrote: We finished our Peace Pole and displayed it in a closing exhibition our K-12 Art Camp in the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University. Although the Peace Pole will  be on view here at the University, we have tentative plans to hold a ceremony on September 21 at the Shepard Memorial Library. The library will temporarily display the Peace Pole in the youth reading room and create a program on peace for a month or more. The library has a Peace Garden.

Campers, parents, and faculty enjoyed working on the Peace Pole so much that we are currently planning to create more durable Peace Pole to be placed in the Peace Garden at the Shepard Memorial Library.

Approximately 24 campers planned and created this Peace Pole.