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Twinfield's mosaic is a picture of community

Twinfield Union School eighth-graders work on their tiles Tuesday in the school’s cafeteria. From left are Becca Chodorkoff of Marshfield, Elsa Raker of Plainfield, and Steffany Yasus of Plainfield.

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MARSHFIELD – High school students, parents and teachers worked side by side in Twinfield's cafeteria Tuesday, absorbed in combining paints, bits of paper, lettering and treasures they had brought from home to create tiles that express their sense of place.

In another part of the building, the elementary students were creating their own "tiles," using 8-inch squares of plywood. Ultimately, 480 tiles will be used to form a huge mosaic – perhaps a river – on a wall of the cafeteria.

Swirls of color revolved around a dark center on Steffany Yasus' tile. "In my English and physics classes, we were talking about the universe," the Plainfield junior explained. Thoreau's words radiated from the core: "The world is but a canvas to our imagination."

Across the table from her, Darcy Brett, a mathematics teacher, fitted a small map of the United States on the left side of her tile and a map of Europe on the right side, on top of a blue sea filled with a pattern of white birds. "My husband is from France and I'm from Vermont, and the birds represent all the coming and going," she said. Her tile remained unfinished at the end of the day: She was looking for a bright bird to put in the middle.

Nearby, Lindsey Fowler, her blonde hair pinned up in a clasp, worked on a collage. Tears filled her eyes. The words "Mike" and "Inspire," stood out among pictures of a big, happy boy surrounded by friends. With letters cut from a magazine she spelled, "We miss you."

Mike was extraordinarily friendly, Fowler said.

"A week before he died, I was in the store and I just kinda walked by him to get a drink, and I didn't even say anything to him, and he actually went to the back of the store and hugged me and talked to me and asked me if I had a safe weekend," Fowler said, noting the conversation took place right after the prom. "He went out of his way for people," she added.

She chose the word "inspire" because "Mike was one of those people who lived so well, and now that he's gone, we'll all try to be better people."

The impetus for the Peace Tile project came from Anne LaBrusciano, who has three children at Twinfield and serves on the school's arts and enrichment committee. Leslie Koehler, another parent on the committee, got donations – the Drawing Board contributed art materials and Allen Lumber donated plywood – and two teachers at Twinfield, Jan Danziger and Sarah Pulaski, worked on the overall concept.

"We were trying to find ways to beautify the school – to make it more inviting, colorful, fun," LaBrusciano said. She knew Lars Torres, the Cabot artist and educator who started the Peace Tiles project. "He does this with communities locally and all over the world," she observed, "and he's great working with teenagers,"

The project's theme – "What is my place?" – came from "The Big World and the Little House" by Ruth Krauss, a children's book that LaBrusciano read as a child. The book tells the story of a family that moves into an empty, rundown house and creates a home.

"Every person found their place in different ways," LaBrusciano said. "The dog found a corner of the house, the grandmother the rocking chair. Some people feel that way about the whole world – the world is their home."

The elementary students read the book and discussed "how they feel connected to the big world," Peres said in a posting on Ned.com, an online network for artists and activists. The children became "anthropologists" and brought in "artifacts" that represent an aspect of a place that's special to them. The older students interviewed each other about what makes places important and wrote in their journals to clarify what artifacts to look for.

Peres, who grew up in Senegal, started the Peace Tiles project in 2005. Working through international partners, he has taken the project to India and to several African countries, where it has been used with children who have been displaced by war or lost their parents to AIDS.

Owen Bradley, Twinfield's principal, said he was excited by the project because it brought together students of all ages and adults, "which is completely representative of our school community.

"Everybody has their individual place," Bradley observed, "and in public school, it all comes here – it's a platform for democracy. All the differences, all the different values and ideals and beliefs, come here, and we agree to behave a certain way. This art project represents that, I believe."

He paused and added, "It's also fun!"