Piece by Peace

As an advocate for social justice education in the arts, I believe it is critical to sow the seeds of sustainable development in the elementary classroom. As they grow through the creative process, art students will learn to value themselves, respect the diversity of the world around them, find their voice, and develop a love for humanity.

A Mural of Peace
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of seventeen interconnected goals designed to be used as a shared plan for achieving global peace and prosperity. The United Nations created these goals which are meant to be achieved by 2030 (see Resources).

Our graduating fourth-grade class embarked on a journey to learn about these goals and create a permanent art installation symbolizing them. The resulting mural installation, titled Piece by Peace, was created in collaboration with the Seward Johnson Atelier and funded through a grant from the East Brunswick Education Foundation. The installation consists of one hundred relief sculptures cast in aluminum. The mural was mounted on a movable structure, allowing it to be placed inside or outside the building.

Flipping the Classroom
We often use observation or imagination as our guiding force in creating a work of art. For this lesson, I wanted the power of the artist’s voice to be our inspiration; I wanted to let students take the lead and “flip” the classroom.

To start the project, we sat on the floor in a large circle, and each student had a chance to read a page from the United Nations children’s book Frieda Makes A Difference: The Sustainable Development Goals and How You Too Can Change the World (2019).

Accessing prior knowledge about the SDGs empowered students to lead, ask questions, and create a more student-centered discussion. Some of the more popular issues students wanted to talk about included our oceans, hunger, climate change, and poverty.

I found video content to enhance the lesson on Netflix and YouTube, which are packed with sustainable development films like Down to Earth, Chasing Coral, and Brave Blue World.

Designing and Carving
Students chose an SDG to represent in a relief design. Those with similar SDGs were paired together to conduct research, provide feedback, and bounce ideas off each other before deciding on a design. Students drew their designs in a 6 x 6" (15 x 15 cm) square and traced them onto the sand mold (provided by the Seward Johnson Atelier) with transfer paper.

Students used unconventional materials like shish kebab skewers to start carving their lines, a nail to dig deeper, and a fork for the background. The classroom soon filled up with sand, and a beach party was in the making.

Collaboration: A Sense of Community
I am fortunate to have an amazing team of colleagues and a traveling art teacher, Michelle Lynch, who loved the project and connected her fourth-grade classes with our initiative. The principal, aids, and teachers from various subjects were also asked to become part of the collaboration.

On a global level, students reached out on Flipgrid/Gridpals with a welcome video to students in France. Teacher Anne-Sophie Saint Suplice and her elementary students were amazed by our project and excited to see it develop.

Live Zoom Pouring
The pouring of the aluminum into the sand molds was shown during a live Zoom meet with the entire fourth-grade class and the Seward Johnson Atelier. Watching the big screen in the cafetorium, students had an opportunity to see their art as it progressed to the next step, ask questions, and receive answers from professionals in the field.

Painted Facts
The finished installation was returned to the school, and on a different day, students painted an informational mural on the back, listing and explaining each SDG and the concept of sustainable development.

Documenting and Exhibiting
The art-making process from start to finish is sometimes overshadowed by the finished product and exhibition of the work. Creating an iMovie allows viewers to see the effort and skill that went into the work and helps to clarify the objective of the lesson. I created a video of our collaboration and embedded a QR code on the mural signage so that parents and viewers could easily access it (see Resources).

I also created a slideshow presentation featuring each studentʼs relief design (see Resources). These efforts helped to unify the experience and acknowledge everyone’s efforts. Students were proud to be part of a permanent installation that would reflect their ideas for years to come.