Imagining "whirled" peace
County students participate in International Day of Peace pinwheel project

Across Baltimore County students took brushes, markers, pens, keyboards, and other materials and tools in hand to capture their thoughts about peace in honor of the International Day of Peace on September 21, 2006. Then – as a part of the Pinwheels for Peace project, the students took their works on paper, folded them into pinwheels, and carried them outside to be displayed to their communities. 

The idea began just last year when two art teachers in Florida asked other art teachers to join them in having students create Pinwheels for Peace. As the teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, write on their web site: "Today’s students are bombarded with television images, video games, and magazine articles/newspapers that give importance to conflict and war. Violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of our society and, for some students, it is a way of life. It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can help the students make a public visual statement about their feelings about war/ peace/ tolerance/ cooperation/ harmony/ unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what the next generation is thinking.”

They continue to explain that Pinwheels for Peace is not a political project: "Peace doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war; it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind.  To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”

In 2005, project organizers estimated that 500,000 pinwheels were displayed at 1,350 locations. That number doubled in 2006 to 1 million pinwheels in 2,400 locations.

Following is a sampling of Pinwheels for Peace projects throughout Baltimore County schools:

Joppa View Elementary
Led by art teacher Jackie Cross, students "planted” pinwheels with messages of peace in front of the school.

Lansdowne Middle
Students created pinwheels of all shapes and sizes. As part of the creation process, the students and teachers wrote their thoughts about "war and peace / tolerance/ living in harmony with others" on one side of the pinwheel. On the other side, they drew and painted to visually express their feelings. The students and teachers assembled these pinwheels on the International Day of Peace and "planted" their pinwheels on the front lawn of the school as a public statement and art exhibit/installation.

New Town High
Under the guidance of art teachers Sandra Cryder, David Hammer and Karen Kotapish, 280 students installed their pinwheels in the shape of a peace sign in front of the school on New Town Boulevard. Art students also created signs celebrating peace, which were displayed with the pinwheels. Throughout this project, students were encouraged to contemplate the idea of peace as it relates to their personal lives and to decorate their pinwheels with words, images, art elements and colors to express these thoughts.

Owings Mills High
More than 200 students and faculty members created and planted pinwheels in front of the school to express their feelings about peace. On the front, participants described their thoughts about peace, and on the back they visually represented their feelings.  Members of the Art Department include Department Chair Erin Gouldin, Kathryn Short, and Mary Elizabeth Sattler.

Randallstown Elementary
Each student in grades 1 – 5 expressed his or her thoughts regarding peace by coloring a personal design on a 6-inch square of paper. Each class combined their squares to create a larger square which was constructed into a class pinwheel. Randallstown Elementary "planted” each class pinwheel in the grassy knoll inside the school’s bus loop.

Seventh District Elementary
Working with Art Teacher Claudia Amory, each student made a "Pinwheel for Peace" or a "Peace Flag” to reflect his/her ideas about what peace means to them. Students planted their flags and pinwheels on the front lawn.

Story by Diana Spencer, Communications Officer