"Students' mural there for all to see"
by Lou Ponsi - Orange Country Register
Feb 27, 2014
continued from PRESS
Katherine England, right, a local artist who teachers art programs in the Fullerton School Districts, oversees the placing of a mosaic mural at St. Jude Hospital. The mural was created by her students.
About 30 artistic youngsters from the Fullerton School District spent the past six months creating a 7-by-11-foot multicolored mosaic mural.
Anyone passing St. Jude Hospital along Harbor Boulevard can now see this labor of love installed at the base of the pedestrian bridge that crosses over Harbor from the hospital. The piece faces south and is in view of passers by and motorists heading north on Harbor.
The purpose of the mural is to encourage people to use the stairs instead of the elevator, said Katherine England, a local artist and instructor in the district’s All the Art for All the Kids Foundation. The nonprofit funds art programs in the district.
While the mural is already in place, an official ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. March 17.
Contained in the mural are 20 free-floating multicolored mosaic circles; the artwork resembles a kaleidoscope and all the children’s names are on the piece.
The students, who are in fifth through eighth grades, made a formal proposal to St. Jude and then received direction from hospital officials on what elements they want in the mural.
The artists, with the help of about 10 adults, then collaborated on a design and spent about six hours a week after school since September working on the piece, England said.
“The fact that the kids did all the designing and patterning, cutting and gluing is pretty awesome,” England said. “As we were cleaning … all the doctors, nurses and others that passed on the stairs were going crazy over it and couldn't believe it was done by kids.”