East St. Louis students celebrate their town, school through art

East St. Louis High School students recently completed a project titled My Town, My School. The art project was made out of brass and copper and installed in the lobby of the school.

Each individual piece was the students’ interpretation of the theme. The students designed and created the metal pieces with assistance from their art teacher Kim Jaoko and Craft Alliance artist-in-residence Jessica Andersen.

“Each student made their own metal piece,” Jaoko said. “The students had to decide what they wanted to represent from their school or East St. Louis.”

Some of the metal pieces designed by students addressed serious topics like guns and the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Others were of sports including a basketball.

Senior Qairra Blue said her piece was about the school mascot, which is “Flyers,” so she designed a plane.

Students began working on the project in November.

“There is a lot of school spirit,” Jaoko said.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 12:52 PM with the headline "East St. Louis students celebrate their town, school through art."