Art students at Kentwood High School this past week were hard at work putting their thoughts about peace onto small pinwheels, which were displayed Sunday as part of International Peace Day.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of the small, paper peace offerings were set up in Foss Circle near the school Saturday evening and taken down the following night, an apolitical statement in support of a more peaceful planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not meant to be political,\u201d art teacher Leslie Armstrong said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a beautiful gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong said she discovered the project this summer while doing \u201cusual teacher stuff\u201d: searching the Internet for ways to put a \u201cnew spin\u201d on her projects, no pun intended.<\/p>\n
Armstrong stumbled across the Pinwheels for Peace Web site, which called for students around the planet to \u201cVisualize Whirled Peace\u201d – pun intended this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw it and it intrigued me,\u201d said Armstrong.<\/p>\n
Armstrong said she offered it to her students, although the project is not being graded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re doing it because they thought it would be fun to participate in something important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Working from a template, the students decorated one side of their pinwheels with colors or designs and the other side with words encapsulating their feelings on war, peace, tolerance and harmony.<\/p>\n
Sh-nae Legras, 17, decorated her pinwheel with her favorite colors and covered the back with the words \u201cfaith,\u201d \u201chope,\u201d \u201cpeace\u201d and \u201clove.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like fun, peaceful words,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Legras said she hoped people would see the display and stop and think about International Peace Day, Sept. 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think participating in it is really important because we need more peace in our world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kara Yamaguchi\u2019s project includes the words \u201cpeace,\u201d \u201clove,\u201d \u201cjoy\u201d and \u201charmony\u201d repeated over and over in bright colors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you think of a world without war, those are the words that come to mind,\u201d Yamaguchi, 15, said. As for the colors, Yamaguchi changed her mind for her original concept, picking pinks and purples.<\/p>\n
The swirling purples and oranges of Allen Newby\u2019s pinwheel were inspired by Jimi Hendrix and the language on the other side was from the Bible\u2019s 2 Corinthians.<\/p>\n
Iman Khorrami, 17, went in a different direction, choosing an American flag as the motif for his pinwheel, with the words \u201cpeace\u201d and \u201clove\u201d repeated over and over on the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it kind of represents peace,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what America is trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong said getting the kids thinking about peace and how to represent the concept gets to the heart of an artist\u2019s role. She noted that making art helps contribute to peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arts are the thing we do that separates us from other creatures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of activity, when done, contributes to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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