(PHOTOS AND VIDEO) Iowa City Students Show Off Handiwork at Public Art Dedication

A culmination of three years of work and cooperation was unveiled at the Pheasant Hill Park Thursday night, as part of the city's weekly performance program.

A walkway of colorful student produced art now marks the entrance to Pheasant Hill Park. The work was created by a team of high school artists, mostly from Iowa City High School, who took student design inspirations, mostly created by students from Hoover and Lemme Elementary Schools, and affixed them in colored glass mosaic designs on a concrete bench and ten concrete plinths that mark the entrance of Pheasant Hill Park.

The theme of the designs was woodland creatures, and now strange and vibrant creatures peak out from every hidden nook of the structures, inviting the viewer to look again and again to see the hidden details they may have missed before.

The project was funded by the Iowa City Public Art Program, and was done in cooperation with the Washington Hills Neighborhood Association and schools within that neighborhood. Although some of the work was done in class, much of it was done by faculty and students during the summer months due to time constraints.

Jill Harper, an art teacher at City High who oversaw the program in addition to her work as a teacher, said she was very excited to see the project finally completed this month. 

"The inclusion of all these community members I think was fantastic," Harper said. "I'm glad to have had the experience. I've learned a lot, I think my students have learned a lot, and I would love to do something else like this."

Harper said the elementary students were responsible for coming up with the designs for the benches. Then she and the high school students took this inspiration and rendered it into mosaic form, following the pattern and placing pieces of colored ceramics in upside-down designs on pieces of paper. These papers, with the glass attached, were then affixed to the cement structures with an adhesive and the paper was removed.

Cassie Pantel, a senior to be at City High and a member of the project team, said the work was long and arduous, especially trying to finish the project up in the hot summer heat.

Still, now that the work is done, she said the task was well worth it.

"It's really awesome that we'll be able to come back some day and see it, that you are able to leave a piece of yourself in the community," Pantel said.

In addition to thanking the schools and community for their involvement, Harper said she wanted to thank local artist and community member Shirley Wyrick for her planning assistance with the project. She also wanted to give credit Diane McDonald, owner of Northern Lights Glass, a locally owned and run glass studio and supply business, for providing assistance in choosing glass for the project and serving as the materials supplier for the project.