At I.S. 89, Door Turns into Portal of Hope

POSTED JUNE 1, 2008

Sarah Yoes thought nighttime and dream imagery belonged in the picture,  so she painted a Native American “dream catcher.” Danielle Marrero and Arvid Logan sketched the city skyline, Twin Towers included. Aaron Ng created wings and Maddie Bollinger put in a phoenix.




“The only thing we really knew we were going to do was the tree and then everyone kind of had free rein to do what they wanted to do,” said Elizabeth Scales, whose contribution to the painting involves a compass, a rose, a peace sign and a clock. “It just turned out this way spontaneously.”

The “canvas” for this and many of its other flights of artistic fantasy is a plain door turned colorful mural that is the group effort of I.S. 89 7th and 8th graders.

Its destination is New Orleans, where it is to go on display at the Louisiana Children’s Museum, along with the painted doors of seven other New York City schools in a project called “The Doors of Hope.”

In a statement by CITYarts, the sponsoring organization, the project is intended to call attention to global warming, provide hope to those who lived through Hurricane Katrina and  “build a bridge of understanding, caring, and encouragement between the youth of New York and the youth of New Orleans.”

That’s an ambitious task for any work of art.

But if nothing else, these middle schoolers succeeded in creating a swirl of symbolism and brilliant color that is sure to capture the attention of its Southern viewers.

“A lot of people in New Orleans have gone through a lot of stuff,” said Vinnie Jessel, who helped paint the tree and sunset, “and I thought maybe this door would help out or maybe bring their spirits up a little.”

The middle schoolers worked in small groups under the direction of art teacher Susan Firestone.

“Different classes did different drawings and it’s really quite amazing that they all came up with eyes,” said Firestone. “Like our eyes are open, we’re vigilant and we’re aware.”

While many of the students said they viewed the piece as being about hope (the word actually appears at the top, above the tree and four eyeballs), Elizabeth Scales called the painting “kind of random.”

“I think it’s imagination and humanity,” she said. “It reflects how we see things.”

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