Vicenza (Italy) Middle School eighth-grader Bryan Santiago attaches a string of plastic to a jellyfish sculpture that he and other art students have been working on with New York artist Jeffrey Schreier. The students finished three of the plastic structures and the school plans to display them in its hallways. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza (Italy) Middle School eighth-grader Bryan Santiago attaches a string of plastic to a jellyfish sculpture that he and other art students have been working on with New York artist Jeffrey Schreier. The students finished three of the plastic structures and the school plans to display them in its hallways. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
New York artist Jeffrey Schreier works with Vicenza (Italy) Middle School seventh-grader Brendan Nunez on Friday while finishing a jellyfish sculpture made of plastic recycled material. Schreier has worked on similar projects at schools in the States and said Friday the Vicenza project was the most colorful and creative one to date. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
A completed jellyfish sculpture, made of plastic bottles, an umbrella, hula hoops and colored ropes, hangs in a classroom at Vicenza Middle School in Italy. New York artist Jeffrey Schreier and two classes of art students created three jellyfish over the last two weeks. The projects demonstrate, Schreier said, the possibilities of using "junk" to create works of art. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Eighth-grader Rosemary Powell, left, and seventh-grader Marissa Charland use permanent markers to color water bottles while making their own sea animals in art class at Vicenza Middle School in Italy. American artist Jeffrey Schreier was at the school for two weeks to work on an art project with the students. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza (Italy) Middle School seventh-grader Magdalena Dalzell used scissors to cut apart a water bottle, then a permanent marker to color it. She created a dolphin. She and her classmates worked with New York artist Jeffrey Schreier over the past two weeks to create jellyfish sculptures made out of plastic, demonstrating that recycled materials could be used to create works of art. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
VICENZA, Italy — Artist Jeffrey Schreier came a long way to find inspiration.
Schreier, a 68-year-old New York-based artist, spent two weeks working with art students at Vicenza Middle School – creating three jellyfish sculptures out of recycled plastic materials.
Inspiration isn’t hard to find in Italy, he said, citing the many museums within a short drive of Vicenza. But he said the seventh- and eighth-grade students provided inspiration as well.
“They came up with a number of things that haven’t been done before,” he said, referring to previous projects he’s worked on in classrooms in the States.
Schreier said his work with recycled materials is intended to “hopefully stimulate young people to think about how our junk can be turned into art.”
The three jellyfish were constructed of water bottles that students spent months gathering, said teacher Melanie Mann, as well as some colored rope and hula hoops. Students colored the bottles and clear umbrellas that formed the base with their own designs. Schreier likened the appearance to the famed colored glass of nearby Murano, known to many as Venetian glass.
Mann said with school budgets continuing to tighten, using recycled materials for art projects makes financial sense.
“They are kind of funky jellyfish,” Schreier admitted. “I wouldn’t want to run into one of these in the sea.”
Kent has filled numerous roles at Stars and Stripes including: copy editor, news editor, desk editor, reporter/photographer, web editor and overseas sports editor. Based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, he’s been TDY to countries such as Afghanistan Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia. Born in California, he’s a 1988 graduate of Humboldt State University and has been a journalist for almost 38 years.
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