GASP!
By Jay Gordon
Originally published in the Willits Nickel & Dime www.thenickelanddime.com
I love the acronym GASP: it stands for Get Arts in the School Program. Some of us remember when the arts were an integral part of the school curriculum that helped us become well-rounded citizens of the community. Thanks to the vision of the Mendocino County Office of Education some of that still happens. The Arts Council of Mendocino County administers the funding that provides area schools with artists and supplies for selected arts projects.
| La Vida Charter School’s project to build a mural for the Willits Skate Park and donate it to the City began in January. All 27 La Vida junior high and high school students, accompanied by their teachers, visited the Potter Valley home of internationally recognized mosaic artist and teacher Elizabeth Raybee. They were able to view the extensive collection of the mosaics on walls, floors and tables throughout her home. She gave them a brief overview of their upcoming mural project over lunch. |
(l. to r.) Art instructor Ann Maglinte, students Donovan, Sara, Lanie, Shannon and Emily; Project Coordinator artist Elizabeth Raybee; students Amanda and Maxx. |
Raybee showed them the materials they would be using and explained the process, followed by the opportunity for hands-on practice in the full regalia of goggles and earplugs. They took turns breaking ceramic tiles with a hammer before breaking up into small groups for a demonstration of cutting think strips of tile for their mosaics with a wet saw.
The process continued at their school as their discussion focused on “imagery that could portray what makes their lives unique and wonderful,” according to Raybee. She tells us, “The students worked in small groups, making drawings from some of the ideas listed. They each got to make an individual tile or two.” La Vida art teacher Ann Maglinte is working with the students to oversee the glazing of the hand-made tiles to frame the mosaics.
Raybee took the ideas list and the students’ drawings back to her studio and worked them into two 5X4 feet murals drawn on mesh. “They’ve got a skateboarding dragon, a white deer, a flaming red guitar, a peace-loving griffon and some extremely endearing frogs,” she says.
When I visited their classroom on a recent Tuesday afternoon, their regular day to work on the project, they were expertly gluing tiles to the mesh to complete the mural, “La Vida Means Life.” They expect to complete the project next week. Mark your calendar for Friday, June 1 at 3:30 p.m. That’s when there will be a ceremonial presentation of the mural to the City of Willits. La Vida students will present a program of music and recognition of students who contributed to the project. Refreshments will be served. See you there! (If you see me on a skateboard, have me arrested! I’ll be the old guy with arms flailing; the sound you hear will be a loud, pagan shriek. Don’t let it happen.)
For more information about Elizabeth Raybee’s work, visit her website: www.eraybeemosaics.com. Maglinte’s site is: www.midnightmoon-celtic.com. For more information about La Vida Charter School: www.lavidaschool.org. The Arts Council is at: www.artsmendocino.org. The Mendocino County Office of Education is at: www.mcoe.us.
It may be GASP, but it’s a breath of fresh air to the Mendocino County community!
www.eraybeemosaics.com
