Category Archives: current events

Contemporary Monument Project: The Statue of Liberty Reimagined in 2018

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Title: Kneeling for Freedom

Artists: Sebastian, Harley and Macy

Medium: Papier Mache, Wood, Wire, and Paint

Date: April 4th, 2018

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Our sculpture represents a Statue of Liberty in 2018 because it shows that everyone should be treated equally. For example, we made a sign that had a mixture of a “female symbol”, and “male symbol”, often used as a bathroom sign, to show gender equality. There is a necklace on the person’s arm that says “Welcome all people” and that means that anyone can come settle in the country.

There are a few things that symbolize liberty on our sculpture. Some of these things are that  the person kneeling is holding up a torch. There is also a LGBTQ+ flag to show that people support people in the LGBTQ+ community. The necklace, (mentioned in the previous paragraph), represents that immigrants are welcome into the country. The head is an eagle, which is America’s national bird, and to some people, america is a free country.

We used a lot of symbols but this one I think stands out and it’s that the person is kneeling. This was a big deal in the NFL because of Colin Kaepernick. He started kneeling in October for racial injustice. It has been one of the big, important protests in 2018. Also, the person who is kneeling is holding a torch, which was inspired by the current Statue of Liberty. We think he should start kneeling for gun control too.

People need to calm down sometimes and look at something peaceful. Can you find something that symbolizes peace in your home?

 

The Cage of Countries Needs American Freedom within its Wings

By: Giselle Molaei & Palma Schwab

paper mache and wood

2018

Our sculpture represents a good statue for 2018 because it expresses the freedom that some people do not have and wish to have. We are trying to show the immigrants that if they need a place to stay for freedom they can always come to America (Well, not always because of Trump.)

What we put in our statue to support the idea of liberty was we used the idea of freedom. We made it so the other countries would be the cage of no freedom, by the bird escaping the cage we made it so the bird was fleeing and was going to America which is represented by putting an American flag on the outside of the cage.

The symbols we used was a cage with a bald eagle in it. The cage represents non-freedom (slavery, unfairness and in a country.)

 

Imprisoned Warrior

By Sonia Stomberg-Firestein, Saffron Zeff and Celia Binn

Thursday, April 5, 2018

When you look at our project you may notice that there is a symbol of barbed wire at the top. This represents refugees stuck in camps with nowhere to go. This sends a strong message out because only 10% of refugees resettle in camps.

As you can see there are posts around the edges of the platform. T hose posts symbolize being caged in your home country with no way out. This is a problem for a lot of people in countries like Syria and Venezuela. One problem with the Venezuelan refugee situation is that  25% of whites in the world don’t know what is happening in Venezuela at the moment. There are a lot of countries in the Caribbean and South America that people don’t really think about. We feel that this is true in these places because they are of a different race and some people think that this particular race is of a lower class.

As you continue to observe our project you may notice that the cage only has three caged sides. The open side has a woman walking out, she symbolizes opening the refugee camps and letting people get away from what they are fleeing. Another thing that the open side of the cage represents is freedom so people can be free and go where they want.The woman walking out represents women rights and how not only men are powerful and strong. I think this is one of the most important parts of the monument because it represents freedom and people (refugees) who can’t do a lot of things that others can.

If you look at the very bottom of the monument, you can see there is a mashup of all the flags mixed together. This represents that no matter who you are, or where your from you are welcome to New York. We got this idea from Emma Lazarus who wrote the poem The New Colossus wich now stands on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty.

Also, we choose to name our moment “Inspired Warrior” because she is standing up for herself by walking away from her “bad life.”  One minute she’s stuck in a refugee camp, the next minute she’s out in the real world with a feeling of pride.

 

 

The Collaborative Flag

Created by  Bayo and Libi

The materials: Paint, paper and cardboard

Started on Feb.31, 2018

Finished on April.11

The way it is the Statue of Liberty of 2018  is because of the current situation with Donald Trump and how he has been banning certain countries. It shows everyone is welcome no matter where they’re from.

We included the literal idea of welcoming people in different languages and the kind of metaphorical idea of a bunch of different countries’ flags to show that here everyone is welcome even though our president might not think that. We also did it to restore hope in those who are not allowed to leave their home countries.

 

Liberty Kneeling

Hanako Gibersztajn and Sarah Mehl

Papier Mâché, paint, paper bags, newspapers, fabric, yarn, fake leather, and wood

2018

Our monument represents a Statue of Liberty for 2018 because there is a football player kneeling, which is a recent protest about racial injustice. It supports the idea of liberty because there is a football player and a goddess kneeling and pulling a chain apart together and an eagle with its wings majestically outstretched. They are on a base that has the words,

“We the people work as one”

The symbols we used are a kneeling football player, a goddess, a broken chain, and an eagle.  They represent power, strength, and freedom.

 

 

Freedom Escaping                                                                       

Made with wood, cardboard, wire, papier mâché and paint.            

Theo, Bo, Cy and Alejandro

2018

This represents the Statue of Liberty today because it shows a bird breaking free from a cage (freedom). We think it represents freedom as the bird flies out of the cage but it’s also connecting to the Statue of Liberty because they are both breaking out of chains.

This has a powerful meaning that we need to use now of all times because the numbers of immigrants coming in are getting smaller and smaller because of Donald Trump.

 

Title: The Welcomer (new modified Statue of Liberty)

Medium: Paper Mache and Cardboard

Artists: Henry and Arlo

Date: 2018

  1. Our monument is the Statue of liberty except it has signs about modern problems.
  1. I included a sign that says “Up With Freedom.
  1. The sign that says “Boo Donald Trump!” symbolizes that the USA has a bad president. And it has a big welcome sign that show immigrants are welcome here.

 

We Join the National School Walkout #Enough

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Cars honk in agreement.

We can stand up for what we think.

We have a voice.

We can affect people.

We can make a difference.

#ChangeStartsHere

From Sarah, a poem:

The Walkout

With silence

Strong silence

Using our silence

As our weapon

Peaceful weapon

Unlike the weapons we protest against

Guns

All guns

Used to kill

Out here on a cold March day

Think about ones lost

Selfless in the cold

Huddle together for warmth like lost penguins

With signs hanging limply from our frozen fingers

Connect

Cold on the outside

On the inside warmth spreads

Pride

We are together

One community

17 dead

17

Countless injuries

Many witnesses

Signs hoist slogans like

“The world is made of life, not guns. #LREI”

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin

“We can get gun control!”

“Make art, not guns. Make poems, not guns. Make music, not guns. You get the idea.”

“Love = love. Guns = hate. *Why add more hate to this world?!?”

“We certainly don’t understand why it is harder to make plans with friends on weekends than it is to buy a semi – automatic weapon” – Emma Gonzalez

“We’re children. You guys are the adults. Get something done.” – Parkland Shooting Survivor

Cars honk in agreement

We can stand up for what we think

We have a voice

We can affect people

We can make a difference

“#ChangeStartsHere”

From Harley, a report:

Almost all of the Fourth Grade and Middle schoolers at LREI were at the walk-out, exactly a month after the Stoneman Douglas School shooting. They were holding up signs that said things like “Make art, not guns, make poems, not guns, make music, not guns, you get the idea.”, “Love=Love Guns=Hate. *Why add more hate to the world?” and, “The world is made of life, not guns. #Lrei”. We stood at Little Red Square in silence. But, other people participating chanted things like “Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today?” We went outside at 10:00 AM and went back inside at 10:17 AM (some students stayed out for an extra minute to show support for the people that witnessed it and for the people who were injured).

The reason we went out was to show that children can make a difference, and to show support for anyone who has been through a shooting. Some people driving past Sixth Avenue honked the horns of their cars and trucks to show support. It felt really good to know that other people agreed with us and that people cared about what we had to say.

I really like that the teachers gave us the opportunity to participate. In some schools, children would be suspended if they chose to walk out. But some of those students walked out any way. I hope that the government will change gun laws so that a school shooting like this never happens again.

From fourth graders during a discussion after the walkout: 

“Every time I felt cold I thought to myself I am freezing then I remembered the families who lost someone in the shooting.”

“I was happy that we actually got a chance to protest.”

“We were showing the world that even kids in the fourth grade can say what they think.”

“I felt happy it affected people walking by.”

From Sebastian, a news report:

On Wednesday, March 14, fourth graders walked out of their classrooms and onto the the sidewalk of Sixth Avenue. They were the youngest kids protesting too. Fourth graders fought for safer gun laws. They were representing the younger kids at LREI. A fourth grade student named Sebastian declared, “We shouldn’t have to go out of the school day to protest for safer gun laws.” That was very powerful and meaningful and most 4th graders agree.

Students saw random strangers taking photos of the peaceful protest. “It was amazing!” said Theo, another fourth grader. The signs were well-made and made sense. There were a lot of cars and trucks honking as they drove past the young protesters.

The walk-out was very emotional. Some grown-ups, like Sebastian’s mom and Deborah, the head teacher of DS4, were crying at the sight of all of the students protesting.           

One fourth grader, Bo, came up with the idea to stay out for two more minutes to honor the people who were injured in the Florida shooting. His classmates agreed, so they stayed outside for two extra minutes.

Not only the fourth graders protested, LREI middle school and high school students participated too. Also, students all over the United States of America protested for better gun laws.

The next day, fourth grade teacher, Deborah read a news article about a girl in Wisconsin who was the only student in her school to walk out. She sat outside under a flagpole for 17 minutes by herself. Deborah said, “It reminded me how fortunate we are to be in a community that is actively engaged in social justice issues.”