A FIFTH GRADE STUDENT from Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School works on his tile for the “Exploration” mural with some help from Teaching Artist Randy Fein.
About 180 fifth graders at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School worked with Lincolnville muralist Randy Fein to create a 15-by-four foot mural titled “Exploration” to be unveiled Friday, April 8 as part of Science Discovery Night.
Fein, in conjunction with Arts are Elementary, worked with students as they created six-inch square tiles to be fitted together for the final mural. Kristi Hatrick of Arts are Elementary said Fein sets up time to come into schools, looks at things like time, budget and space and comes up with amazing ideas.
ELLIS NOETZEL, a fifth grade student, works on her version of a space orb for the mural “Exploration.”
Hatrick said that because they are running the program in the schools, they try to come up with creative art projects that tie in with fifth grade curriculum.
Going into the process, Hatrick said they looked first at the social studies curriculum and colonization but at the end of the day, westward migration is what westward migration was — the creativity didn’t seem to be there.
“Instead, we looked at the science curriculum and astronomy leapt out at everybody as being a tie in where there could be room for the study of science but also for some creativity in there,” Hatrick said.
That’s when, Hatrick said, serendipity kicked in as the fifth grade teachers received a grant to take half of their students to the Challenger Center in Bangor as part of their astronomy unit early in March. Then, a second grant was secured, ensuring all fifth graders would get the chance to walk through a mock space shuttle launch.
Hatrick said it was an intensive period of science for the fifth graders, working on astronomy for their science class and then transferring that knowledge into visual works of art.
“They started by doing whatever natural sphere they wanted to do, whether a star or a planet or a nebulae. Once that had dried they had the chance to go back and add on some sort of human made object if they wanted to — a satellite, a rover, an astronaut,” Hatrick said.
The four corners of each tile come together to form a complete planet, moon, star or nebulae.
The mural will be permanently displayed in the hallway between the dining hall and the gym and will be dedicated to the memory of Melissa Valliere, mother of an HBS fifth grader and substitute teacher.
Arts are Elementary is a 35 year old nonprofit that provides free artist residencies to elementary students in Brunswick. Professional visual artists, writers and performing artists are brought in to work with the students on projects like the mural at HBS.
Randy Fein is a sculptor, painter and potter who has taught and travelled throughout New England for 30 years creating hundreds of clay and painted murals with kids.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
