Lake Elsinore students create a little piece of history

A group of local artists are making rounds throughout Lake Elsinore schools as part of an art project, which will permanently display student’s clay renderings of the area’s native plants and animals into mosaics around the city of Lake Elsinore.

“We’re taking bits and pieces and making it into something bigger. The mosaics will be placed on light poles, benches and cement areas throughout the city,” Bruce McMeans of Lakeview Artists and Friends said. “These are going to be around for a long time. When their kids are young, they can show them.”

Lakeview Artists and Friends recently visited their sixth school, Earl Warren Elementary, where they helped fifth-graders create a little piece of city history.

Fifth grade teacher Jacob Brown incorporated native animals and plants into his lesson plan the week of the artists’ visit to give students an idea of what to create.

Ring-necked snakes, coyotes, lizards, paw prints, California poppies and other local flowers were among the objects the fifth graders chose to sculpt out of clay. Brown and his students utilized a map of area wildlife and were excited to discover Black Bears live in the Santa Ana Mountain range west of Lake Elsinore.

“These are animals the students have in their backyards, so they were familiar with what the artists were looking for,” PTA President Juan Saucedo said. “It was awesome for the kids to study animals that live in the hills surrounding the school.”

One of Saucedo’s goals as PTA president this year was to become more active in the community.

“It’s not just working with the kids inside of the school. It should happen outside of these walls; in the community and in the homes,” Saucedo said.

Whitney Naughton, principal of Earl Warren, stopped by during the art session to make a flower.

“This is such a blast,” Naughton said. “Any kind of experience in addition to the classroom is good for them. This is what school is supposed to be about.”

The artist group has already collected more than 1,500 pieces of art from local children, both from schools and from Art Walks, which are held every second Saturday of each month in front of Lowe’s. McMeans and his group donate clay, firing and glazing the finished pieces as they come in.

Canyon Lake resident Robin Golden, of Golden Murals in Lake Elsinore and member of Lakeview Artists and Friends, was on hand to help McMeans with the students.

“It went smoother than I thought it would. We’ve never done it with this many kids before - usually it’s six or eight kids at the most,” Golden said.

Many of Golden’s pieces are displayed around the city.

McMeans first started volunteering in Tijuana Mexico creating mosaic art pieces with children and he said he is glad to be doing it closer to home now. He holds family mosaic workshops and owns an art business, Broken Arts.

Irene Chang, chairperson of the event, said she approached McMeans at one of the Art Walks asking him if the group would be willing to come to Earl Warren. They agreed to come to the school and do one grade per month.

“I love the idea of bringing the arts back into school,” Chang said. “And this is something special. The kids will be able to see it installed in the city, and residents will have something to look at as they stroll around.”

Maggie Avants is the education reporter for SWRNN. Comments or story suggestions can be sent to mavants.swrnn@gmail.com.

Tags: Lake Elsinore, lake elsinore unified school district, SWRNN

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