• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Art Project Molds Youths: UA Apprenticeship Program Lets High School Students Create Clay Sculptures for Center in Cuyahoga Valley

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Aman Ali, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 28--Amanda Rager, a 16-year-old from Garfield High School, removed her chain necklace and stamped it into a slab of clay.

She pondered what items to try next, including the handful of lanky bracelets on her right arm and the studded straps on her pants.

"I'm just trying to give the clay some texture," she said. "And I have a lot of items to choose from."

She was one of eight Akron-area youths selected for Arts LIFT (Lola Isroff Fund for Teens), the University of Akron's annual summer apprenticeship for high school students.

From June 12 to July 6, the students will collaborate with ceramic artist Beth Lindenberger to create clay sculptures for the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center in Peninsula.

"The goal for these kids is to make their own public landmark," Arts LIFT director Elisa Gargarella said. "Thousands of people who walk through this park will be able to see their work."

The students also receive a $300 stipend.

"This program establishes confidence and self-esteem, not only in the arts, but in life in general," Gargarella said. "They won't get this kind of attention to the arts in school."

Arts LIFT is an endowment fund from Lora Isroff, a local folk artist who died in 2000. Since the program's creation in 2002, Gargarella has been reaching out to Akron-area public high schools to recruit applicants.

In the past, Arts LIFT students have painted murals for the Akron Zoo and crafted stained-glass butterflies for Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens.

Under Lindenberger's guidance, the students this year are constructing a cairn -- a Scottish sculpture used to mark sites, including burial grounds, navigation trails and mountain summits. The students will pile rocks made from clay on top of each other to create a 4- to 5-foot structure and encircle it with kerb stones, which are rocks with symbolic engravings.

The students spent their first week surveying the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center and then moved last week to the University of Akron Myers School of Art to toil with the sculpture.

Ed Holman, 17, a recent graduate of Firestone High School, carved three concentric circles with a diamond in the center of his kerb stone. He said the design symbolizes the Trinity model of body, mind and spirit.

"I dug up a bunch of old Celtic symbols and found one that meant something to me," Holman said.

Other students in the program -- such as 15-year-old Antonio Watson from Firestone -- designed their own symbols. With inspiration from Aztec symbols he researched, Watson created an alphabet using diagonal-line-and-dot arrangements.

"Nobody understands what these symbols are," Watson said while molding a cone-shaped slab of clay. "My design gives the rock a mysterious feel."

Once the students finish molding the sculpture, they will head back to the Cuyahoga Valley to lay out the arrangement. At 6 p.m. July 6, the group will celebrate the project's completion with a public reception at the Myers School of Art.

Aman Ali can be reached at 330-996-3495 or aali@thebeaconjournal.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

More News in this Category