Project Spotlight - Heron Rising
Greetings! This marks the first in a series of posts entitled “Project Spotlight”, where I will go into greater detail on a specific piece of mine - an installation, series of paintings, or one of our many Pomegranate Center Projects - from concept to concrete. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into my process.
Project Spotlight - Heron Rising
A young student at Medina Elementary sits in front of “Heron Rising”.
The Call
A dear friend of mine, Jeannine Rogel, was one of Medina Elementary School’s most beloved teachers. She called me to see if Pomegranate Center would be interested in working with the principal, teachers, and PTA volunteers at the Medina Elementary School. They had just seen the plans for the new school to replace the much beloved, but hopelessly inadequate old building. They felt the new design was fine, but they wanted to find a way that the soul of the old building, which had so much history to them, could be honored. She called me to see if Pomegranate Center would be interested in working with the principal, teachers, and PTA volunteers at the Medina Elementary School to integrate some different artistic ideas into the new building. I gladly accepted, and we ended up creating a series of projects for the school. Today I will focus on one particular painting - The Heron Rising.
The Concept
With the date for the demolition fast approaching, children, teachers and parents began to feel a lot of sadness. They asked me to help transform the sadness into something uplifting.
I’m always interested in finding connections with the natural world around each project I take on. Because the school was located near a lake and a park with a heron rookery, I suggested that we use the heron rising in flight as the theme. I also wanted to involve the children and teachers to make the painting, using their hands and fingers to create the image.
The Creation
After hearing everyone’s input and knowing we had agreed on the central concept, I created a sketch. I then measured the size of a child's hand, and calculated that we need a 12 foot wide and 8 foot high canvas. I drew a 12 X 8 grid on my sketch that I used to transfer my drawing onto the canvas, a technique used by Renaissance masters for transferring images onto the fresco walls. We were ready for the children.
My original sketch, with the grid to help me transfer it to the large size needed for the project.
PTA volunteers created a line of tables with paint and small rollers, and soap and water for what promised to be a messy day- this was a very hands on project for the children. Each classroom would have 30 minutes. I would call out which color was needed, parents would roll them on student's hands or fingers, and send them to the canvas where I would guide each child's print. We spent an entire day doing this and by the end every child, teacher, staff member and pta volunteer had added to the painting.
Helping a child make part of the heron’s wing.
When the handprints were finished, parent volunteers helped me to paint the background. We integrated Mt. Rainier, the iconic volcano, into the painting. This took another day.
My Pomegranate colleague Duncan Chalmers and a group of PTA volunteers assisted me in all phases of the project.
The Celebration
Just a few days before the scheduled demolition, our partners organized a ceremony in honor of the old cherished school. We unveiled the painting and asked the many alumni who attended to sign their names on the bottom. Their signatures made the impression of gentle waves on a lake.
Detailed view of the alumni signatures.
By the end, some 500 people contributed to this artwork.
When the new school was built, the painting was placed on the wall of the new library. When I last visited, I was told that on occasion the children, now in their 20's, visit and show their friends their handprint, where they proudly state: “I did this”.
An alum signs her name in the “waves”.
Stay tuned for more in the “spotlight” series. Be safe and healthy.
Milenko