Lafayette Journal & Courier

Students find the message in Ice Pie

April 18, 2008

Kids who approach the mosaic mural across from the gym at Cumberland Elementary School will notice and take away something different. That's the idea.

Since October, local artists Linda Vanderkolk and Amanda Carmer, have been slowly gluing thousands of glass beads on the wall in elaborate patterns based on color and size to form rings fanning out from the center like a colorful solar system.

"You can stand back and look at it and see something new each time," Vanderkolk said.

The "Ice Pie" mural will be unveiled during tonight's International Art Night at the school.

Unused beads from the mosaic will be for sale to benefit local the environmental group Northern Indiana Citizens Helping Ecosystems Survive, or NICHES.

The clear beads show through to individual images of and words about nature, which are clipped from magazines and other publications.

Many of the beads were created by Cumberland students, which is where the mural's name of "Ice Pie" came from, Carmer said. It's a play on the children's game I Spy.

"We gave them a bead and said, this is your lens to the world," Carmer said. "What do you spy in nature? And ice, because space is cold."

Included among the beads are ceramic tiles with letters forming a crossword out of the school's life skill words. Words including "Caring" and "Friend" are spelled out on ceramic tiles inside the mural.

The letter "I" falls directly in the center of the mural -- a nod to kids seeing themselves as the center of their universe, but also that even they can affect change, Vanderkolk said.

"We started with the life skill words," Vanderkolk said. "Then we decided to go with the nature theme. They may not know what global warming is, but they can understand birds and trees."

Principal Kim Bowers said the art installation began with the suggestion from the parent council two years ago because the school is trying to build an artist-in-residence program. She said the project was especially successful because it included the students' own work.

"They love to find their own work on the mosaic," Bowers said.

Vanderkolk said that inclusion gave a big lesson to the kids as they watched the mosaic come together this year.

"Little things really add up if you have patience, which is one of their life skills."