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Art and Technology, French and English Come Together as City Tech Partners with Lycée Français for Poster Show
Lycée Français students work on their posters at City Tech.
When 10-year-old art students and college-age technology students collaborate on a project, the result is an engaging poster show taking place at City Tech, from April 29 to May 5, in the first floor Atrium Gallery, 300 Jay Street, Downtown Brooklyn. An opening breakfast reception for the children will be held there on April 29, to which the public is invited starting that day at 11:30 a.m.
The 18” x 24” posters created by 68 fifth-graders from Lycée Français de New York (LFNY) were inspired by their art teacher Mireille Miller’s triptych, “Leading the Way: A Tribute to Women of the 20th Century,” which was a jumping-off point for an adventure in history, writing, reading, creativity and bilingual literacy.
Each child chose one of the notable women depicted in the painting and researched her biographical data, then drew a picture of the woman and wrote about why she was an important force in society. Finally, they picked one woman in their own family to write a tribute to. All the writing was done in both French and English.
“I conceived the triptych as a homage to women and to instruct, inspire and bring greater awareness of the vital role women play worldwide on behalf of humanity,” says Miller. “I’m excited to be using it with my students.”
Planning and research for Miller’s painting began in 1999 and the work was completed in 2008. It was exhibited at the United Nations in New York and in Geneva as a work in progress.
City Tech Architectural Technology students met with the youngsters on campus to learn about the process of printing large posters. Under Professor Joseph Lim’s supervision, the City Tech students clearly explained the components of the printing process to the children. The three French teachers of the three fifth grade classes involved with this project will come on campus with Miller to do the framing.
According to Anne Zissu, chair of the business department at City Tech, who was the liaison between LFNY and the College, “The greatest fascination for the fifth graders was to see for the first time – and it was first time for me, too – the humongous printer that can handle an 18x24 page. During the printing of the posters, the children gathered around that printer with great amazement and appreciation for the technology involved.”
For City Tech Architectural Technology Chair Robert Zagaroli, this kind of multi-disciplinary project has special meaning: “When Professor Zissu informed me that the 5th graders were working on an art history project that involved computers, portraitures by students, French/English translation and the desire to use printing technology as a means to display and celebrate the work, I thought, ‘This is exactly the type of cross disciplinary thinking we encourage at City Tech.’
“Seeing their drawings and watching their excitement when their artwork emerged from the plotters – that is, the large scale printing devices – reminds me why I decided to become an educator,” he added.
The public may view the artwork between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on April 29 and 30 and May 1, 2, 4 and 5.
04.20.09
