Along the walls of the 1st, 2nd and 10th floors, Mrs. Jeannie Chu’s Art Appreciation students have been working in groups to create 25 colorful tape art murals as responses to shared worries. These were produced to address the social-emotional realms of being a student at Stuyvesant, and the transition into in-person learning, after having had some form of isolation at home during a pandemic. Worries were addressed either in an imaginative or real way with the aim to acknowledge a classmate’s worry and exercise empathy. Group statements accompany each mural. We will add more each week, and hope you will enjoy them!
Photo 1 - The vision our group has is to emphasize the importance of time management. The divided clock represents how you can do certain activities at set times in order to maintain a consistent schedule and not feel stressed from an overwhelming workload/number of things to do. We are also trying to show our school community that emotions are valid and it’s normal to have different feelings throughout the day. We may feel ourselves feeling happy all day or at a certain time or we may just feel down the whole day, and that’s simply a part of life that we have to accept and cope with.
Photo 2 - Our group’s vision on this project was to combine all the different struggles we had heard from our classmates. We wanted to bring the stress of school, time management, and how a lot of times support is needed. We wanted to show that it is ok to need help and it’s normal to feel stressed. In our piece, we used books to hold up a clock which is how time balances on work, and then the heart and the arms symbolize support and positive items for the school community (seeing a pretty heart does wonders).
Photo 3 - At some point in our life, we have all at least once felt alone dealing with problems such as grades, depression, burnout, difficult relationships, and/or family issues. We expressed these feelings through our art, feelings we have either experienced or seen others experience. Contrary to what you might think, you are never really alone going through a problem, in a community such as Stuyvesant, someone is always going through the same or a similar problem as you.
Photo 4 - Our vision is to show the concept of maintaining balance between school and social life. We want students in the community to be mindful of the importance of maintaining a stable balance of personal life and work.
