Photo Credit: Sentinel/Dennis R.J. Geppert
Black River Public School, works on an
85-foot replica of the human brain that
students in Peter Middleton's Thinking Big
class put together at Centennial Park
Wednesday night.
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Creative Learning Programs
Thinking Big 2005
Black
River Public School
Holland, MI USA
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Class has art on its brain
By JOHN BURDICK Staff
writer
Photo Credit: Sentinel/Dennis R.J. Geppert |
BRAINIAC: Jamie Wernet, a 10th-grader at Black River Public School, works on an 85-foot replica of the human brain that students in Peter Middleton's Thinking Big class put together at Centennial Park Wednesday night. |
Centennial Park was awash in soft light late Tuesday night as a large glowing orb, anchored to the ground near 10th Street, stretched 85-feet long and 16-feet high into the night sky.
Inside the radiating balloon were white figures jumping and dancing.
But there was no need to worry. It wasn't an illusion or an unidentified flying object.
It was Black River Public School's Thinking Big class project.
The glowing orb was a large inflatable balloon-like object. The white figures were 22 Black River Public School students dressed in all white clothing with white masks.
The students were participating in large-scale environmental performance artwork for their annual project term class.
The event featured dance, sound composed by the students and a structure they built out of polyethylene -- a clear plastic material -- to represent a human brain. Each student played the part of a brain cell.
"It's about the birth, life and death of the brain," said Peter Middleton, director of the project and teacher at Black River Public School. "We worked a whole month for 111?2 minutes."
It was worth it for the students and the couple of hundred or more who watched the 10 p.m. performance.
"It was grueling, fun, frustrating and exciting all at the same time," said Aaron Schippa, 16, a junior. "It's extremely stressful and extremely relaxing at the same time."
During the preparation, Western Michigan University professor Rich Cooper and retired WMU professor Lou Rizzolo helped the students to understand hemispheric brain function.
Hope College dance professor Linda Graham worked with the Black River students on structured improvisational movement to express brain functions.
"The students were a joy to work with," Graham said. "Because they're not trained dancers, their approach to movement has been raw, refreshing and imaginative."
The play started out with all the students inside the large inflatable object. They rose up to signify the birth of a brain.
Then gradually they left through a tunnel-like exit to go outside where they danced and ran around. When they were outside the cells got "polluted," explained Middleton, so when they went back inside tumors formed and the brain died.
Contact John Burdick at john.burdick@hollandsentinel.com or (616) 546-4275.