4th grade Tile Project 2020

 

Annelise, Mrs Moyer's daughter helping with the tiles 

    If you have had a 4th grader at Memorial School (or if you were a 4th grader at Memorial) then you are familiar with the tile project. I volunteered in Mrs Moyer's art room while my kids were at Memorial, so I remember my 3 kids tiles very well.  I saw how much time and effort went into each tile. Not just by the student, but Mrs Moyer and volunteers that came in every week to help with touch ups, clean ups and much more. 

    Due to Covid and school being closed, students were not able to see the completion of the tile project, nor was Mrs. Moyer able to fire them and get them hung for the traditional reveal at the Memorial Arts Festival. That being said, Mrs. Moyer, who is moving to the Middle School in the Fall, didn't want to let her students down, so she brought all the tiles home this summer to clean and prep for firing. Just the students who indicated their tiles were finished and ready for clean up had their tiles worked on and only 13 students in the whole grade still needed to complete their tiles. Mrs. Moyer will contact those families to arrange a time to do so.  All-in-all, it took 83 and 1/2 hours of work with the help of 4 volunteers to clean up tiles and add names.  During this process, workers were meticulous about removing unwanted drips, repairing cracked and flaked glaze, matching colors precisely, and any other instructions the artists requested help with.  As conservators, they preserved the artist's vision for their tile and prepared them for  clear glaze which will give the tiles a shiny finish. This process could not be rushed and work happened as early as 8:00 am to as late as 2:30 am, but always it was a joy to help the students get closer to having their gallery opening.  Thanks to Covid, arrangements will have to be made at a later date, but families will be notified sometime this year on how that will look and when it will occur.  Hang tight families, it might not happen until spring of 2021.  AND, in case you are wondering, the theme this year was influenced by Jim Dine's Heart Series more info here on Jim Dine so that they could hang the tiles in the lobby (the heart of the school) for 2020.  Who knew it would mark a year where everyone would pull their hearts together to get through it?  

Thank you Mrs Moyer for all your hard work! The Memorial School will miss you.

Mrs Moyer would like to thank these volunteers for time to help complete the tile project:

Meghan Olynciw (Medway parent)
Karen Regan (Medway senior volunteer)
Annelise Moyer (Mrs. Moyer's daughter)
Chris Lazar (neighbor)
and Penny Moyer (Mrs. Moyer's dog who always kept them company)

Megan Olynciw working outside on a nice day

Karen Regan working outside on the patio with a curtain to protect from the sun. 

Notice the fans to keep the workers cool.

The basic set up with unfailing support from Penny, always under the table, over Mrs. Moyer's feet.

With such hard work, sometimes a snack was in order.

We look foward to seeing these finished tiles in person. Lots of heart went into them!