Harborfields Unveils Periodic Table Of Elements Tile Mural

GREENLAWN, NY — Harborfields High School unveiled a periodic table of elements tile mural in the school's Science Wing, the school district announced. The mural was completed in a STEAM collaboration between the school's National Art Honor Society and science department.

The mural, complete with the most current scientific information and highlighted by special artistic depictions of each element for use as a teaching tool, took four years to complete and was funded by a grant from the James T. Brennan Memorial Fund. The mural replaced an outdated stenciled periodic table in a different stairwell.

Science teacher Danny Contopoulos and art teacher Jeanie Ritter hosted the ceremony. Several alumni who worked on the mural while members of the National Art Honor Society at Harborfields were present.

"Out of obstacles comes ingenuity," Ritter said.

She came up with the idea of using small ceramic tiles to represent each element as a box on the periodic table.

"We were looking for a way for my kids to do it in a safe manner," she said. "And the idea of the tile was also that the paints have silica glass particles and the clay actually goes through a
chemical process. So, when the students were creating the tiles, they were actually using
chemistry, and that idea really married the whole concept."