NEWS                                                                                    Walnut Valley Unified School District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   880 S. Lemon Avenue

May 15, 2014                                                                        Walnut, CA 91789

 

Contact:                                                   

Kelli Gile, Office of Community Resources

(909)595-1261 ext. 31204

DIAMOND BAR, CA--The eagle has landed at Evergreen Elementary School. And it’s staying forever!

A beautiful tile mosaic of a soaring eagle, the school’s mascot, was unveiled during an assembly held on May 14.

For the past 20 weeks, eight Special Education students have been working with artist Robin Bott.

“All the students really loved creating the mosaic and were really excited to unveil it.  The collaboration and teamwork they displayed was amazing,” said Teacher Ashley Marshman.

The creative project was made possible through the Accessible Arts grant through the office of L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe.  

Several months ago, a school-wide contest was held to create the mural design.

1st grade student Elim Jiang was named the winner. She received a certificate of recognition during the assembly.

The 4-foot-by 3-foot mural depicts an eagle soaring above the clouds and through a rainbow. A golden sun shines over an apple tree.

Jiang said her favorite part was the plane with an Evergreen banner flying above the eagle.

Bott leads hands-on art projects with students throughout the county.

“First, the class started with paper mosaics and drew some eagles,” she said.

Then the class selected one of the drawings submitted for the contest.

“And it was so hard to choose because they were all so beautiful!” she said.

Bott then transferred the winning design onto the panel. Her artist father built the frame. And Bott cut hundreds of the colorful tiles.

“And then we started tiling!” she said.

First, students outlined the design with small tiles; then they used larger tiles to fill it in using a water-based glue.

Student representatives from several classes also glued pieces of the tile mosaic.

“It has been such a joy to see the mosaic slowly coming to life as students worked diligently and cooperatively on it.  Now it serves as a wonderful vision to everyone that our Evergreen Eagles SOAR!  Evergreen was one of only 13 schools in the state to be named a California Exemplary Arts Distinguished School, and this mosaic project is one of many examples of the beautiful and creative activities that our dedicated staff provide for all our students,” Principal Carolyn Wills said.

Artist Robin Bott and Teacher Ashley Marshman unveiled a mosaic during an assembly on May 14. Shown with Principal Carolyn Wills. 

Evergreen Elementary celebrated the unveiling of a new mosaic on May 14. The young artists were very proud of the finished artwork. 

Evergreen 1st grader Elim Jiang won the school-wide design contest.