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Watch the story of the CommUnity Youth Mosaic here:
siouxfalls.org/CityLink
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The Middle School CommUnity Mosaic Wall will be unveiled on Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 10:00 am. River Road is next to the parking ramp downtown and across the street from First National Bank Sioux Falls.
Be sure to stop by for all the excitement!
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The Comm
U
nity Youth Mosaic Wall
Katrina Mize, Mayor Dave Munson, Edik Onischuk, Richard Gonzalez, holding a copy of the elementary youth mosaic
back in 2005. This first 100' of children's art was installed as a mosaic in the Spring of 2006 along the river downtown.
"When they drive by the new colorful wonderful wall,
people will think of a new way to look at things."
Where We Are Now
It might sound odd to start at the end of a story to tell the tale. But hopefully you will already be familiar with the children's CommUnity Youth Mosaic
wall along the river in downtown Sioux Falls. (If you're not, skip down to the paragraph that starts "Who We Are" and read our story from the very
beginning!)
If you have seen our wall, then there is exciting news for you. Middle school students in Sioux Falls public schools have designed the next 170 feet of
the wall, and hope to see their design installed in May of 2007. All the tiles have been donated, the labor will be donated, the capstones for the wall will
be donated. We just need to pay the company that imprints the children's design onto the tiles.
How You Can Help
The total amount of this part of our project is $21,000. We have already received a grant for $5,000. And our parents and kids are working at bake sales
and other events to raise money. You can help become part of this project with your tax-deductible donation to the CommUnity YOuth Mosaic wall. To find
out more, call Deb at the Sioux Empire Arts Council at 605-977-2002, email at the bottom of this page.
Here are some of the Sioux Falls companies that have already given us their support for the 2007 Middle School project. We'd like to thank them from the
bottom of our hearts!
SF Area Community Foundation
"Marble Sponsor"
CNA Surety
"Glass Sponsor"
Citigroup
"Glass Sponsor"
Eide Bailly
"Glass Sponsor"
Mike Crane & Candy Hanson
"Glass Sponsor"
First National Bank Sioux Falls
"Glass Sponsor"
Koch Hazard Architects
"Glass Sponsor"
Memorial Middle School PTA
"Glass Sponsor"
Raven Industries
"Glass Sponsor"
Scheels
"Glass Sponsor"
Al Schoeneman
"Glass Sponsor"
Sanford Hospital
"Glass Sponsor"
Terra Cotta Sponsors
- Coca Cola
- Colorado Technical University
- First Premier Bank
- Horse Barn Arts Center Visitors
- Memorial Activity Fund
Stone Sponsors
- Architecture, Inc.
- First Bank & Trust
- Hawthorne School PTA
- Stacey Crane-Thompson & Brian Thompson
Tile Sponsors
- Susan Anderson
- Jerry & June Brantner
- Deb Esche
- Kevin Goff
- David Hajek
- Janelle Holsing
- Michele Huchtmeier
- Kimberly Lockwood
- Naomi Oltmanns
- Liz Thiner
Who We Are
Swirling color, images, children...! The Hawthorne Elementary School student population is rich with children from all
around the world... sharing their cultures, stories and colors. Art Instructor Lisa Brunick's creative challenge is to develop ways to teach and honor
individual cultures while bringing everyone together as a working family,
a tiospaye. While children work in the art room to create images which teach and celebrate who they are, the natural inclination of the students
is to reach out and share their work with others.
The Idea
During a fall 2004 walking tour of the downtown SculptureWalk, Lisa's fifth grade art students explored the layout of downtown Sioux Falls...
delighting over the new sculptures and commenting on other areas which they saw as "needing some color." A specific spot which they all agreed could benefit from
some art was the cement retaining wall along the river at 9th Street and 2nd Avenue.
Support
The students also noticed that all of the other downtown art was created by grownups. They began to feel very strongly about having their own
opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the city. These young Hawthorne students decided to find out if they create something for this wall.
In the fall of 2004, students and teachers at Hawthorne School began learning about the Circle of Courage. This is a teaching model which emulates
the Native American culture of peaceful living and the values taught in the Circle of Courage -- Independence, Mastery, Belonging, Generosity -- apply to everyone.
Lisa had also read about a similar concept in African culture: UBUNTU is an ancient South
African philisophy that teaches about who we are as people of the world. Prounounced, "oo-BOON-too", a rough translation
is "I am who I am because you are who you are." Lisa believed that since these two ancient voices of wisdom came from opposite sides of the world,
they must belong to the whole world collectively and that it is our responsibility to teach this "art" of being human.
The Art Process
And so, Lisa encouraged the Hawthorne children, from the three-year old preschoolers through the fifth graders, to paint images celebrating peace and diversity.
Nearly 400 children created over 500 paintings! As the paint flowed, similar threads of bright colors, fun as well as tranquil lines and peaceful shapes emerged. The
children did not need to be told how or what to paint ... they created at will. As the paint dried, Lisa spread the rich images all over the art room, shuffled them
around, and lived with them for many days. Gradually, she sketched them into a horizontal space, each image flowing into the next ... with the final design a
wonderful surprise! The students were all able to discover a small part of their own ideas somewhere in the design, with the centerpiece of the design
being the symbol Hawthorne has adopted to celebrate learning and living -- the Circle of Courage and UBUNTU.
Lisa enlarged the sketch onto 4' x 8' pieces of brown paper and hung them in sections along the length of the
school's hallways. After the students had painted in Lisa's sketch of their work, Dave Syverson from Syverson Tile came to visit. He called a friend of his, Kirby Schulz from Henkin
Schulz, to come by and take pictures of the work. These photos were sent to a company in Lansdale, PA, called American Olean. This company could create
tile grids in 1 foot sections to be assembled as a 4'high x 100' long mosaic design on the river wall in Sioux Falls.
The Funding
The final step of this project was to raise the funds needed to make this dream a reality. Almost everything was donated
except for the amount owed to American Olean. The final budget amount was $13,000. Several community businesses and individuals*
committed funds, and American Olean was able to create tiles for the wall. On May 20, 2006, the unveiling of this beautiful work of art by 400 students
from Hawthorne Elementary School took place with much fanfare and celebration!
A Cap Was Needed...
Now a stone "cap" was needed to protect the mosaic from water and snow. And as had happened so many times before, there were many people willing to help. Quartzite paver stones were donated by the City of
Sioux Falls. The labor to install the stones was donated by the Sioux Falls Bricklayer's Local #1, including bricklayer apprentices, journeymen, tenders,
and laborers. Mortar donations came from Twin Cities Concrete Materials and Hebron Brick. And nourishment for the 16 or so men on the job site was
happily provided by Hawthorne Elementary School!
The Future
It was such a wonderful thing to have elementary students create art to brighten up the first 100' of the river wall, that Lisa Brunick, Dave Syverson,
and the Sioux Empire Arts Council
have committed to work with Sioux Falls Middle School students to create art for the next 170'; and with Sioux Falls High School students to create art for
the final 170'. This will illustrate over 400' the evolution of children's art from 3 to 18 years old. Hopefully, the Middle School
portion of the wall can be installed during the Spring of 2007. But for this to happen, more funds will need
to be raised. Funds are being directed to the Sioux Empire Arts Council for distribution, so all questions regarding this ongoing project. Inquiries
can be directed to director@siouxempireartscouncil.com
When this wall is finished, it will present a strong statement about the pride Sioux Falls takes
in her youth and their future; and depict the tremendous value that our City places on the arts.
Thank You All Who Helped Us
Build Our Wall in 2006!
Glass Sponsors
- City of Sioux Falls
- Eide Bailly
- First National Bank Sioux Falls
- Howalt McDowell
- Al Schoeneman
- Dave Syverson, Syverson Tile & Syverson Volunteers
- U S Bank
- Wells Fargo Foundation
- Xcel Energy
Terra Cotta Sponsors
- Bricklayer's Union
- Canfield Office
- Fred & Karen Gage
- Hebron
- Brad & Ann Randall
- Bender Real Estate
- Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation
Stone Sponsors
- Bender Real Estate
- Lisa & Dennis Brunick
- Hawthorne Elementary Students & Families
- Staples
- Wal-Mart
Tile Sponsors
- Dick & Sue Brown
- Telly & Gail Pappas
- Morning Optimist Club
- Brian Thompson & Stacey Crane-Thompson
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"The Circle of Courage is like a circle of friends working together to get
something done."
"It's a peaceful circle that reminds you to not be violent."
"The point we are trying to make is we are trying to get the world together."
"The mosaic wall will show that Sioux Falls has a lot of generous people."
"I think we should put the mosaic wall up because it will light up Sioux Falls!"
"Every time you look at the rainbow of UBUNTU, it reminds you to be respectful and responsible, also grateful to be yourself."
"I think some colorful art on this wall will make people happy when they go by."
"Grouting..."
"Sanding..."
"Putting art on this wall is important because it will give us something FANTASTIC to do!"
"The art in our mosaic wall is important because when we are older we can look at it and say, "I did that!"
"We need to protect our wall from the rain..."
"We had the help of so many people!"
"Sioux River quartzite pavers were used to protect the wall."
"What a TEAM!!! Thank you to everyone who helped us build our wall!"