MOUNT GILEAD — Students at the Park Avenue Elementary School joined the international art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace on Sept. 21 by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace.
This project is an art installation project that began in 2005 by two art teaches of Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for students to express their feelings about what is going on in the world and in their lives.
It has grown from groups participating in 1,325 locations throughout the world spinning 500,000 pinwheels to last year, the 10th year of the project, when there were over 4.5 million pinwheels spinning in over 3,500 locations, including the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America.
This program was coordinated locally by Robin Conrad, Park Avenue Elementary art teacher.
Park Avenue students created pinwheels of all shapes and sizes and then wrote their thoughts about “war and peace/tolerance/living in harmony with others” on one side and on the other side they drew, painted, created collage, etc. to visually express their feelings.
The students assembled these pinwheels and on International Day of Peace, they “planted” their pinwheels at the school as a public statement and art exhibit/installation. It’s added slogan this year is “Imagine…”Whirled Peace.”
