Stories from Community Arts: Connecting Students & The Community
Community Arts projects inspire students across Port Chester and beautify our village.
Through afterschool programs, long and short-term projects, specialized workshops, and one-time class partnerships with organizations across the county, Clay Art Center is dedicated to making clay accessible for students. Some of the most rewarding collaborations result in public art that brings color and clay to our town, and helps students leave their mark on their community. Below you can read more about recent projects with the Thomas A. Edison School and our Around the World in Clay classes.
The Clay Art Center Community Arts team has been working with the first and second grade classes at Thomas A. Edison School in Port Chester to create mosaic stepping stones for their pollinator garden. Over the course of the spring, students made and painted tiles that fit together to create unique stepping stones, each representing a different pollinator. The mosaic designs were created by Community Arts Fellow Stephanie Perez, and depict bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, all surrounded by beautiful flowers. Both Stephanie and Maria from the Carver Center Youth Employment Program led the first and second graders through the process of making and decorating ceramic tiles, and are so proud of the students’ hard work.
“This was my first time leading a mosaic project, and I’m so proud of the students and how their work came out.” - Stephanie, Community Arts Fellow
“I’d never done a mosaic project before, and it’s so nice to see the kids have a part of them in the school. They were all so excited to present the work to their school, and they were so happy with the final result. That stuck out to me the most, and it was so rewarding.” - Maria, Carver Center Youth Employment Program
Staff were able to attend an unveiling ceremony for the stepping stones last week, which featured pollinator themed music and poetry from the students, as well as a message of thanks:
“We’d like to thank our friends at Clay Art Center again for being with us today and for sharing your talent with us. You taught us new skills and have helped inspire us to bring more art and joy to our garden.” - Thomas A. Edison School Student
We want to thank our friends at the Thomas A. Edison School, who put so much time and imagination into the stepping stones, and the Common Sense Fund, who partially funded the project.
Our amazing Community Arts team has also been working on another community beautification project, this one with elementary students in the Around the World in Clay classes, our free afterschool program for Port Chester students. Building developments that are going up near the Port Chester train station are currently surrounded by tall safety fencing. Developers reached out to Clay Art Center about how those fences might possibly be decorated with student work, and Around the World in Clay rose to the challenge! Students made drawings of local landmarks of their choosing, which could then be scanned and printed onto the fencing. After finishing the drawings, the kids then brought them to life in clay! They found inspiration in places like the post office, JFK Elementary School, and the Capitol Theatre. In addition to getting the opportunity to see their artwork displayed for the whole town to see, students also learned valuable lessons about ceramic design and drafting ideas through drawings.
Around the World in Clay is funded by the Common Sense Fund.