CYAG creates artful welcome for DIS students!
Third and fourth grade students returning to Daniel Island School on August 19 will be greeted with new sidewalk art designed to enhance their time on the school’s playground. The colorful paintings were completed by the Charleston Young Artists Guild (CYAG) using ideas submitted by teachers, who were seeking a more engaging and interactive outside experience for their students.
“It was so fun,” said Kristine Peterson, president of the CYAG. “Community-building is the term I would use.”
Completed late last month, the two-part project (the group painted new sidewalks for the kindergarten students over spring break during the last school year) involved collaboration from members of the CYAG and the North Charleston Artists Guild.
“The goal of this project is not only to bring beauty and imagination to a once empty space,” stated a CYAG press release, “but to show CYAG members and the community the importance and value of having youth art seen, appreciated and used.”
“During our first meeting of the year, all the guild members submitted design ideas,” added CYAG member Morgan Nuss. “And then we pretty much took ideas from all of them and made them into the design.”
The guild members were tasked with creating something that included a few teacher-suggested elements, such as a hopscotch and four-square area.
“We needed a theme for this one – and we liked the idea of having them travel,” added Peterson. “And the teachers had given us ideas about games…so the question and the challenge became how do we get the kids to know about the games and go to the games?”
So they created a journey to a treasure that includes paintings of animals, such as an osprey, an octopus and a whale, a rainbow cornhole, an area for students to create their own art, lily pad stepping stones, and a space-themed area.
“It was really neat for our members to see their art actually come to life and be a part of the community, which is one of the goals of the CYAG - benevolence and charity for art,” added Peterson.
A few of the CYAG members who took part are either current DIS students or alumni of the school.
“What I hope is that they go back into school with a sense of ownership,” continued Peterson, “and that it ties the different grade levels and ages together.”