RSCJ and the Heart of SHP
Don't miss the student art installation in front of the new William V. Campbell Academic and Arts Center
Head on the path between Sacred Heart Preparatory’s (SHP) Homer and McGanney buildings, and you can’t miss the new art installation on the construction fencing for the new William V. Campbell Academic and Arts Center.
Large-scale, black-and-white portraits of RSCJ (Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) create a stunning visual on the wall; the work of 25 photography students in Media Arts teacher Moshe Quinn’s Photography 1 and Advanced Photography classes.
The project was inspired by the work of 36-year-old French photo muralist and multimedia artist, JR, a pseudonym for the acclaimed artist, whose identity is unconfirmed.
“Creating site-specific photographic installations, JR's art work reveals and celebrates the nature of community,” said Quinn, “which mirrors the students’ goal with this project.”
To prepare, students watched a documentary on JR's work, Faces Places, about the oversize portraits the artist creates of people during his travels, and then plasters across surfaces in public spaces.
Students then spent time getting to know the RSCJ at Oakwood, the retirement community on campus, and returned another day to take portraits of them. The Sisters, for their part, also watched the documentary on JR to understand where the students were coming from.
After the portraits were taken, students spent time selecting which images to use, processed them in a special way to produce multiple sheets of printable paper, then cut out and assembled the sheets to create a large, contour composite of each Sister.
Following a recipe many street artists use, the class made a wheat paste with which to plaster the composites on the construction wall, arranging each element to create one large “mural portrait collage.”
The site for the art installation was chosen carefully to represent a “Beautiful Past, Bold Future” theme. “Using the construction wall, we associate the mural with the new building, connecting our school's powerful heritage of the RSCJ with an innovative future full of promise,” said Quinn. “Secondly, the Sisters in the photo mural are facing toward the heart of our campus. A message the students wish to convey is that we function as a community under their loving influence.”
Would you like to see the art installation and check out the progress on the new William V. Campbell Academic and Arts Center? Sign up for a hard hat tour!
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
