All-School Art Project Seals Campuses Together

Cassandra Ratzlaff, Staff Writer
May 31, 2012

Have you noticed the tile wall when you enter the Arts Center? It’s immediately to your left when you walk in, and that’s where it will stay forever! One of the reasons for creating this project, explained art teacher, Ms. Paula Kozak, was for former graduates to return to ODA twenty years from now and visit their piece. The infamous tile wall was a collaboration of both the Lower Campus and Upper Campus’ art teachers. After every tile from both campuses were complete, Mrs. Leslie Garasic, the Upper School photography teacher, and Ms. Kozak, another Upper School arts teacher, compiled them into one giant structure.
If you have studied the wall, you might have noticed how the wall was organized. The tiles are placed in order by advisory, with seniors in the middle and their Lower School buddies surrounding them. The borders are mostly faculty.

When looking at this masterpiece, you may see some recurring themes. There are some “meme” faces, such as the Cereal Guy and Yes Sir. Also, have you noticed all of the cats? Apparently ODA is big on cats because there are about ten tiles with cats on them. If you look towards the bottom right corner, you can see one of the most interesting tiles. This particular one is made by the librarian from the lower campus, where she took an actual shell and imprinted the tile to make a “bubble” effect. It’s pretty cool.

In a desire to share this original project with others, Ms. Camela Giraud, tenth grade English and Journalism teacher, and her sophomore classes created a miniature version of a tile wall that they presented to this year’s subjects of her annual Biography Project. This year, Ms. Giraud had pairs of her students paired up with a student from Easter Seals, a school for disabled kids. Each student being interviewed made their own tile that was framed with the others. The framed piece was then presented to the group on May 17, as a thank you for allowing the students for their role in the Biography Project.

Being such a great and unique idea, both pieces turned out beautifully and are real eye-catchers. Take a peek at ours in the Art’s Center if you haven’t already.