Schools
Harding School Yard Blossoms With Mosaic Mural
A former plain cement wall at Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito school is alive with birds, insects, fish, flowers, and trees in time for the Aug. 20 first day of school. Students, parents, after-school staff, and donors all had a piece in it.
A section of the Harding Elementary School yard will be a bit brighter when students return to school Aug. 20 thanks to the efforts of parent volunteers, students, after-school program staff, and donors.
Project leaders Marion Christ and Anja Hakoshima were among a few volunteers at the school Sunday, wrapping up installation of the last 70-foot stretch of a 300-square-foot made of tiles next to the kindergarten play yard. Birds, insects, fish, trees, flowers, and other plants and animals adorn what was once plain, low cement walls. The walls wrap around an outdoor seating area.
The project started during the 2010-11 school year in a class taught by Christ and Hakoshima as part of the Harding After School Enrichment Program. The two were looking to bring color and a nature theme to the yard, and involve students in an art project.
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This past school year they trained and provided materials to enable the staff of the city-run, after-school childcare program to lead students in making tiles. They also worked with kindergarten, first, and second grade classes, bringing in clay and having the students collect textured items like leaves and branches to aid in making impressions in the clay. Christ also found a second life for linoleum blocks cut by fourth-graders to print cards for Harding’s annual auction fund-raiser, using the blocks to make impressions in clay tiles.
Christ took on the task of glazing and firing tiles, and installed much of the project, assisted by Hakoshima and other parent volunteers. The project was supported by grants from Target, Dreyer’s and Clif Bar, as well as PTA funds and materials donated by Home Depot.
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Christ said kids are excited to see the project wrapping up and looking to find the pieces they made.
Although this project is completed, Christ and Hakoshima are already eyeing other potential sites on campus.
“I’d really like to do something on the front of the school,” said Christ.
More information about the project is available on its Facebook page.
