Search Observer-Reporter

Search Archive

11/4/2009 3:34 AM

Email this article • Print this article  

This article has been read 29 times.

By Sylvia Cavallo

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

A collaborative sixth-grade art project of dried cornstalks, wooden fence rails and colorful birds by students at Allison Park Elementary School recently was on display on Pittsburgh's South Side during Parking Day Pittsburgh '09.

Rate This Story:
1 the lowest - 5 the highest

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Current rating:

Parking Day is an annual worldwide event in which artists, activists and students collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into "park" spaces. The purpose of the project is to "promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play."

Robert Ferguson, a teacher in Chartiers-Houston School District, presented the project to his students and encouraged them to participate.

"I think the students learned from this that they could participate in a community exhibition with their work, and that art has a functional aspect in everyday life," Ferguson said.

The corn maize park was installed at 2332 E. Carson St., meter number S-183, and was on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., along with parks created by about 14 other groups, artists and organizations. Other projects were scattered throughout the city of Pittsburgh, occupying random parking spaces.

Jordan Simpson, Marissa Ransil, Olivia Bender, Grace Paver and Logan Bayer were five of the sixth-graders Ferguson selected to develop a theme for the project.

They said Ferguson asked them to visualize what they imagined a "park" to look like. They agreed that birds can be seen in just about any park, so they each created birds made from Styrofoam and plaster as the centerpieces.

"I made mine a Chartiers-Houston bird," Simpson said.

"And mine looked like a parrot with green and yellow feathers," Ransil said.

Bayer, whose grandfather donated the cornstalks and other materials to construct the actual space as the backdrop, opted for a bird with lots of feathers, colors and cotton balls.

"This was something out of the ordinary that we were really excited about," Paver said. "We are always happy to have our work displayed in the hallways at school, but to have it out in Pittsburgh is really exciting."

The day before the Houston Pumpkin Festival parade, students disassembled the space, and the cornstalks were recycled and reused on the sixth-grade float, which featured hand-painted masks hanging from the cornstalks.

Home

0 comments

All comments will be reviewed by administrators and posted to their respective articles within 24 hours. Comments deemed inappropriate will not be posted.

Subject:
Body:
Poster:

Enter text seen above: