Art and Poems--A Great Combo!

Perhaps you remember that just about every kid at the Perkins School painted a tile to help decorate the new Tierney Community Center in the New Old Colony. If you don't, you can find out the backstory by clicking here and here.

Our tiles have been up for a while. Now they have company.



















Another community project had people in our neighborhood make tiles too. They sound like poems, don't they?
























These are only a few examples. We'll post more later, including some in foreign languages. We have people who all over the world living in our community and visitors from all over the world who our blog (from over 60 countries). So maybe someone will be able to read and enjoy them.

A while ago, we reported on our kids' contribution to the Old Colony renovation across the street. Just about every student in the school (and some grownups too) made tiles for the Tierney Learning Center, the new meeting place for people in the Old Colony community.









Now the tilers are doing their part. The tiles are being put up in the community center.




















Originally we thought that the tiles would all be together in a block. But the plan has changed into a better one.
















Now they are creating a path that leads you into the center. They are on the walls, saying, "Welcome. This is a nice place for kids."
















They walk alongside you wherever you go. They keep you company going up the stairs.







































They stand guard as people work and learn and meet to build a strong community.

Just ask the kids at the Perkins. They're glad they could help.

We're Artists, We're Builders

Phase 1 of Old Colony has given the Perkins kids a lot: a live demonstration of how to build houses for a year, a beautiful new view, a new playground, and a new community center where we can have programs and do our Lego classes.

Luckily we can give something back. The Tierney Community Center is up and running, but it isn't 100 percent finished. One wall must still be tiled, and the Perkins kids are going to help.


Nope, they aren't picking up mastic and trowels (tile glue and the tools you spread it with). Our students are MAKING the tiles, about 200 of them.

In fact, it has been very busy at the Perkins. Our art teachers, Ms. Robles and Ms Yazbeck, have had their own art factory with shifts of kids learning how to decorate tiles with glaze. There's a trick to it because the glazes look like one color, but once they are baked they turn into another. One looks blue on the brush, for example, and will later become clear!






Luckily the kids could use pencil to draw out their pictures if they wanted to. All those lines would be burned off when the glazes were baked onto the tiles. So Nalayja had no problem executing her design.


"I like to draw things that are outside," she said, as she finished painting her flowers. Another tile ready to be fired, just like the ones behind her lining the corridor floor.














Students aren't the only people at Perkins getting in on the act. Many teachers and staff members sat down for their turns at the art table. Check out Ms. McDonough's great technique!




The wall is going to be beautiful, isn't it?

We'll keep you posted about the next step in the process.