A Long term STEAM / Collaborative Art Project Reaches Three Quarters-Completion

Since the Fall of 2019, School 21 Art Teacher Raquel Ford and WP Art Professor in Residence Triada Samaras have been working on a large-scale clay tile installation piece that will become a permanent art project on a wall in the lobby of School 21 in Paterson. Funded by the WP Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Arts Integration Grant.  This piece was interrupted during the pandemic. 

Since the fall of 2022, Ms. Ford has been reviving this work even as the WP Arts Integration Grant ended in the Spring of 2023 after ten years in the Paterson Public Schools.

Ms. Samaras and Ms. Ford conceived of this enormous art installation in several stages with the theme of honoring School Principal Joanne Riviello in mind first. Ms. Riviello is an enormous arts enthusiast at School 21 and has encouraged many projects in the school building in all arts media including visual arts, music, theater, dance  for a wide variety of occasions and celebrations. PS. 21 students, families, staff, and teachers have benefited greatly and the spirit of the arts can be seen, heard, and felt everywhere in the school building. Principal Riviello is celebrated at School 21 for her consistent arts passion and support.

To begin this project, Ms. Samaras and Ms. Ford photographed Ms. Riviello's hands forming a heart leading to the inspiration for the large-scale grid art piece that has emerged from that idea.

Next they created a grid on the floor in paper as a mock-up for the final composition.  Math and technology were used to calculate the squares, explore different possibilities for the composition and explore color combinations. 

Next, the process of glazing the tiles began.  Ms. Ford experimented with several materials provided by the Dodge grant to paint/glaze the tiles. Eventually she settled on glaze and each student contributed a handprint to a tile working within the framework of the idea: "Unity Through Diversity" which is the title of the piece.

Then, Ms. Ford learned how to use the kiln at another Dodge funded middle school, the Joseph A. Taub School.  This school building, a new facility, has two brand new kilns.  Taub School Art Teacher Patty Kaminski welcomed Ms. Ford into the school and helped her to get started using the kilns and firing the tiles: 166 tiles in all 6" x 6" each.  Ms Ford transported unglazed and then glazed tiles back and forth between the Taub School and School 21.   Ms. Ford and Ms. Kaminsky learned how to use the new kilns together.

Ms. Ford explains the tiles with the diagonal division between the warm and cool colors were the hardest to create.  "For the split tiles I had the students do a base coat, then handprints, and then I used the projector and traced the lines in pencil, square by square. Then I used masking tape to cover up the portion I was keeping, then washed off and "erased" the outside glaze.  Then I painted those areas with the opposing color, had the students place their hands on it again, untaped it, and used a thin paintbrush to paint the black lines on the top.  Next was the clear glaze and the last step was baking them in the kiln."

Finally in the spring of 2024 a finished art work emerged!  Principal Rivielo's hands can be seen forming the heart shape.  The hand prints of the students are surrounding her hands..

The final step in this process will be the installation of this art project onto the wall in the lobby of School 21.  This will require the help of the Buildings Department in the Paterson School District.  Ms Ford looks forward to this process and will provide photos of the installation as it happens. Stay tuned!

 "Unity Through Diversity"

School 21, Paterson NJ

166 Ceramic Tiles- 6' x 6"

Glazed Tiles, Fired

Here are some other grid art projects done in the Paterson Public Schools during the ten year Geraldine R. Dodge funded WP STEAM / Arts Integration Grant. 

WP Art PIR Triada Samaras was involved with all of them as well..

1) Einstein Comes Alive at NRC  2016

2) A Founding Father Comes Alive at a Science Fair at Don Bosco 2017

3) New CAHTS Grid Art Display Case 2015

4) Art Math Integration at New Roberto Clemente School and Don Bosco Technical Academy 2019

5)   CAHTS Students Study Grid Art and Chuck Close  2015