Nov 20, 2018 4 min read

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Fish

Bentworth students chose fish as their subject, giving a nod to their passion for fishing.

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Photos courtesy of Pittsburgh International Airport

“Origin of Journey,” created by Bentworth students and artist Hiromi Katayama, is on display at the Pittsburgh International Airport through Dec. 3.

Photos courtesy of Pittsburgh International Airport

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The cranes got their start as lifeless squares of paper.

One by one, they were shaped into miniature symbols of hope by the hands of Bentworth students, who meticulously folded nearly 5,000 birds unique to their flock.

The colorful cranes are part of a larger art installation currently on display at Pittsburgh International Airport’s public art walking tour, made through the Rural Arts Collaborative (RAC) teaching artist program. In addition to origami, “Origin of Journey” includes four panels of Nihonga – traditional Japanese painting – that depict the agricultural roots of the area.

“Bentleyville is a bit more rural, so we see cows and fish. It really shows the landscape,” said Carmelle Nickens, founder and manager of RAC.

Artist Hiromi Katayama was in residence in Bentworth High School for the 2017-18 school year, when she and about 100 students worked on the installation.

“I told them, ‘What do you think about who you are and where you are and how you grew up?’ And I told them about where I grew up and my culture. They were mostly boys, and they told me they do a lot of fishing,” said Katayama. “I said, ‘That’s a great idea.’ Another boy said, ‘We have lots of cows,’ so we had a nice discussion about the imagery together.”

To create the large panels, Katayama had the students employ a traditional method of mixing the paint by hand with a collagen glue. She is one of several artists that have taken up residencies in schools throughout Washington, Greene and Fayette counties, and in West Virginia and Ohio.

According to Rachel Saul Rearick, airport arts and culture manager, the piece was selected by the airport’s Art Advisory Committee for the Art in the Airport program, which is dedicated to showcasing an array of local, regional and international artists.

Katayama’s sessions with the students included traditional Japanese painting techniques and discussions about her culture.

“They have a lot of great questions. Every school that I go to is curious. They want to know, ‘What is Japan?’ They are passionate to learn different things and passionate to teach me what they are all about,” Katayama said. “It’s always give and take. I always learn from them, too. It’s a cultural exchange, all the time. That’s the best part of the program for me.”

Nickens founded the program in 2014, recognizing that many school district going through budget cuts were eliminating courses in the arts.

“My mother was an art teacher, so I know how art impacts the students cognitively,” she said. “Hiromi talks about culture – that’s social studies. Calvin (Stemley) teaches students at Burgettstown rhythm and scales – that’s math. Michelle (Sabol) is teaching Washington students why glass turns different colors as it ages – that’s science. … It’s co-curricular in nature. I knew what I was creating couldn’t just be art. It has to reach the right brain and the left brain.”

RAC has served more 25 school districts and four alternative schools. The artist residencies usually last for a semester or a whole school year, during which the artists and students work on a public art piece that can be displayed, performed or recorded.

WashArts Cultural and Community Center in Washington was the original financial source for the RAC. When they were no longer able to continue, the Fayette County Cultural Trust (FCCT) in Fayette County took over.

RAC is now supported by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the program’s primary source of funding.

While Bentworth has two panels on display, Nickens is looking for a permanent home for the installation once it leaves the airport on Dec. 3. She’s also searching for sustainable funding for RAC, which she said is making a long-term impact on the region’s students.

“We know that art stimulates a different sensory mechanism in the brain,” said Nickens, “and when they do it themselves, hands-on, there is a tremendous impact on cognitive learning.”