OTIS "MOVING ART" 2018

OUR ENTRY IN THE WESTCHESTER 4TH OF JULY PARADE

COMMUNITY PARADE THEME:  "U.S. CITIES"

      
           
   

OUR INTERPRETATION:  SHARING OUR LOVE WITH U.S. CITIES THAT EXPERIENCED UNTHINKABLE TRAGEDY THIS YEAR

Mayor's Choice Award Recipient

In lieu of selecting one city, as the community guidelines suggested, we chose several cities. This enabled the class to present several socially and politically relevant issues related to each of the cities represented, that have been in the news this year. Our big colorful flowers represent the love we share with all affected.

      
           
 

The cities we depicted & the tragedies they experienced are:

CHARLOTTESVILLE, NC - KKK demonstration murdered a woman

ORLANDO, FL  - Mass shooting killed LBGTQ in dance club

PARKLAND, FL - Mass shooting killed students at school

FURGUSON, MO - Police killed unarmed black youth

SAN JUAN, PR - Grossly inadequate U.S. response to hurricane damage

RAINCOAT worn by First Lady visiting children taken from parents:  "I really don't care, do you"

FAIRBANKS, AK - Habitat destruction killing native animals

FLINT, MI - Government caused & did not remedy polluted drinking water

SHASTA, CA - Global warming destroying crobs

EVERY CITY, USA - Landfills overloaded

DENVER, CO - Denial of same sex wedding cake

MC ALLEN, TX - Immigrant children taken from their families

The music we played and invited spectators to sing along was: Michael Jackson's "We Are The World"

    
   
     
           
   

Our use of flowers to symbolize love developed from a one day public art mural project that the class did as a fieldtrip.  As part of "Venice Flowerfest 2018" we painted flowers on a graffiti wall, to add a layer of happiness. The students created stencils and painted freehand flowers that are found in Venice, CA.