Brown County community members and junior high school students used art to give homage to the Native American heritage through various educational disciplines. Brown County Junior High School students collaborated with community artist Joe Lamantia to create artwork dedicated to the environment.
“The students got a very broad spectrum of the constructive part of creating a project like this as well as the conceptualizing part,” says Patricia Bartels, an art teacher at Brown County Jr. High School. “There were students drilling, there were students sanding. At one point Joe even had students with a saw helping to cut out feathers.”
The feather is inspired by the school’s mascot, the eagle. The group created feathers from recyclable materials to promote sustainability and environmentalism. Lamantia influenced the project, which he says its rhythmic stance is an important part. “I tried to guide or facilitate as much as possible and just back up,” Lamantia explains. “It’s a dance. I come forward a little and back up just to see how things move.”
Bartels adds that Lamantia’s idea developed into a much bigger one as the students and teachers brought forth their own. She says that the students’ creativity surprised her.
