Art is alive and well at GFW schools

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

GIBBON -- Adding splashes of color to an otherwise drab white wall in the west entrance of GFW Elementary School has been the goal of second grade teacher Steve Voschell and a dedicated group of six fourth graders.

The students, all part of the GFW Art Club, have spent the past 10 weeks learning everything about art, and the mural is the culmination of their efforts.

Within the next few weeks the students will sign their names to the mural, forever immortalizing their efforts as long as there is a school building in Gibbon.

The mural, entitled Friends Around the World, features paintings of 12 children, dressed in costumes representing their rich culture and heritage, holding hands across the globe, with the United States beneath them.

The mural is designed to not only add color to the stairway, but is also designed to promote cultural awareness and ethnic diversity, Voschell said.

Each student was responsible for two of the children on the mural and all the students helped paint the globe. To prepare the wall, Voschell sponge painted the area with white and blue paint to represent a cloud-filled sky. The letters, faces and arms were completed by Voschell, because of safety issues involved in the needed scaffolding.

The idea for the art club developed near the beginning of the school year when Voschell decided students needed some way to carry their creativity to a level above and beyond what they were able to get in the classroom.

"We had an art program, but we lost it at the end of the year because of budget cuts," Voschell said. "Each teacher teaches art in their rooms, but there needs to be a way to reach beyond that. We no longer have a separate program and that is an important thing to have in elementary school."

Voschell determined that fourth grade was the best level to reach with the art club, because that was the age at which their talents really began to develop and evolve.

"We worked on a variety of basic skills to start with, such as mixing colors," he said. "The goal of the club was that students would take away one skill after each session."

The students chose the people they wanted, then they traced them and determined what color they should be. The students colored them using magic markers and crayons prior to making final decisions on the color scheme. The pictures were then enlarged and traced onto the wall, where the students did the painting.

The students paid a $3 fee to belong to the club, which helped purchase some of the paint needed for the mural. They spent one hour per week in the club and spent some time designing a logo for t-shirts that will be sold to buy playground equipment.

"They are really excited about the entire project," Voschell said. "The shirts are entirely their design."

The shirts, which come in red or gray, say GFW Elementary Athletic Department above the school's mascot, a thunderbird in flight.

The wall used had some type of wallpaper mural for years that had started to peel and fade, so Voschell decided that was an ideal place for the students to display their talents. Principal Thomas Magoris was excited about the idea and gave his support for the club to use the space.

"One of the students saw a similar mural in Glencoe that she liked and it just so happens that I knew the teacher involved in the project," Voschell said. "He is a student in the class I'm taking to get my principleship and he gave us the pictures to use."

Voschell spent part of Christmas vacation preparing the wall for the mural by adding a white base and removing the previous mural. The club began meeting in January.

"It's quite a project for our first try, but it turned out really well," Voschell said. "I hope to be able to build the interest in the art club and get more students involved next year."

Voschell, who doesn't expect to be in the district next year because of proposed cuts, said there are plenty of spaces in the building where a mural could go, providing someone keeps the interest going.

"It is a good program and we have established a good base," he said. "Throughout the process, I have learned what would work and what should be changed in the future."

Those involved in the project were Michael Lehrke, Brittany Black, Morgan Losure, Megan Sjostrom, Sarah Lee and Samantha Fischer.