Artwork including paintings completed by students from Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA), LP Brown Elementary, and NOVA private school will be on display in downtown Olympia beginning December 4.
The project will feature a colorful, glow-in-the-dark collage featuring the work of several hundred students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The display will adorn empty windows downtown as part of the mission of the
Olympia Artspace Alliance.
“I can’t wait to see all the colors light up,” said one LP Brown student in Divina Clark’s class.
Lea Mitchell, an art teacher at ORLA, is the mastermind behind the display, which she calls “A Peaceful Critter Community Living in the Light.” She was approached by members of the art alliance as a private artist but quickly decided this project would be even better for her students. She teamed up with teachers from LP Brown, Lincoln and NOVA.
“Although I’m an artist, I feel like my current art is teaching,” Mitchell said.
Students were inspired to make their work from the following prompt: “Imagine you were creating a creature for the community that would make it a more loving and peaceful place,” Mitchell said. Some of the students made dolphins, snowy owls, penguins or snow leopards, among other things.
LP Brown students recently commented on their artwork. “The animals (owls, dolphins, pandas, tigers, and turtles) bring peace, love, joy, play and protection to our community,” one student said. “Dolphins are playful and they bring joy. Dolphins are not predators,” said another.
The “Peaceful Critter Community Living in the Light” art installation will be on display downtown on the windows of the Goldberg Building, on the corner of 4th Avenue and Capitol Way through the end of January 2022.