Ephesus Elementary CHCCS 100 Totem

This 7 ft tall sculpture was created for the 100th anniversary of Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools in NC.  I was selected for the Artist At Work Residency (Town Of Chapel Hill Arts Commission), and proposed the idea of the 100 totem sculpture as a collaborative project with the 4th grade students of Ephesus Road Elementary, and their art teacher.  We had 3 lessons together: learning about how to make a scale model, small groups of students making 100 piece designs, and finally the students applying their mosaics to the sculptural pieces of the totem.  I made the numeric components with polystyrene foam, fiberglass mesh, and custom cement mixes with a PVC insert in each piece to slide on a central pole support.  I also highlighted each of the student's art with various mosaic application, and did the lettering and final touches to complete the project.  We dedicated the sculpture totem on the 100th day of school, in the 100th year, Feb 4, 2009, on school grounds with students, faculty, parents, community in attendance.  It was a wonderful project!