Visiting artist Darrell Wilson stands with Eldrige Park students Gillian Kibbey, Fedor Shcherbakov, Alexandra Perez and art teacher Melissa Panter.
Visiting artist Darrell Wilson (center) stands with Eldrige Park students Grace Dowd and Andrew Cook, who hold their “buffalo hides.”
Eldridge Park student Chloe Davis, art teacher Melissa Panter, students Alexandra Perez, Ryan Huang, principal Kathy Robbins and student Colin Pecht hold the quilt they made with artist Gabrielle Kanter. (Photo by Patty Nalbone) Eldridge Park Elementary School was awarded an Adopt-A-School grant from Young Audiences of New Jersey, funded by ETS. EPS art teacher Melissa Panter welcomed professional artists Darrell Wilson and Gabrielle Kanter to the school. Wilson visited the third grade art classes and shared the arts and traditions of some Native American cultures. Students designed and colored miniature totem poles. Wilson also instructed students how to create Plains Indians’ “buffalo hides” using brown paper and drew pictographs to tell their own personal story. Kanter from Young Audiences educated the children about the history of African story quilts of Harriet Powers. Students then helped make a quilt that illustrated the eight Pillars of Characters celebrated at EPS — trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship perseverance and self control. Each student drew and colored their own piece of cloth to illustrate what the character traits means to them. Kanter quilted the pieces of cloth together.
