
Pittston Area first and second grade students took part in creating a mural with the guidance of the Pittston Area art teachers and the Artist in Residence Gina Rice. Shown are some of the students participating in the creation of the mural. From left, first row: Angelina Ferentino, Colson Webb, Jameson Cluberston, Willow Cotter, Theodore Evans and Aveline Morgan. Second row: Tiffany Ferentino, Pittston Area assistant principal; Gina Rice, artist in residence; Arianna Davis, elementary art teacher; Rita Greenwald, high school art teacher; Art Savokinas, school principal; Dr. John Haas, school district assistant superintendent.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
HUGHESTOWN — A student-painted mural, in a series of school district-wide mural projects, was completed this past week at the Martin F. Quinn Primary Center through collaboration between The Armature and Pittston Area School District with the Artist in Residence.
The approximate 8’x8’ mural was conceived from ideas from the Primary Center’s 400 children from first and second grade classes led by art teacher Mrs. Arianna Davis.
The high school’s elective art class students, under the direction of Mrs. Judy Greenwald, developed the design and provided a sketch outline of the mural.
The first and second grade classes then painted the mural in sections and eventually installed on a wall outside the cafeteria.
Mrs. Davis challenged her students to draw something that they liked about school, but when Mrs. Greenwald’s students received the drawings, what the younger students ended up doing was drawing items that interested them.
“The mural captures the spirit of kid’s art,” Mrs. Davis said. “It’s what they draw, they all like to draw rainbows and other objects.”
The elementary students submitted drawings such as an octopus, a chick, a tomato, a basketball, a butterfly and other objects including a large “PA.”
After the high school students sketched out the mural, the elementary students painted it.
According to Greenwald, the artwork was sketched in sections and eventually hung on the wall.
The Armature’s Artist in Residence, Gina Rice, has worked with students in several school districts.
“I will come into a school, we will have a set project, like a mural, and I will come to the school when I have time in my schedule to work with the teachers and help instruct the students,” Rice said. “We like to educate the students on what is art.”
Rice, of Tunkhannock, said the residencies are 10-day and 20-day program.
“I was actually amazed at what those kids could accomplish,” Rice added. “I never thought we could get it done in the amount of days allotted for the mural. Even the high school kids are pretty amazing on the work they did. I’m really impressed.”
Rice said what the students learned through the mural project is something they could take with them for the rest of their lives such as craftsmanship and organization.
The Armature is a partner organization of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and is supported by the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19 (NEIU).