“Having Mrs. Donat as an artist with our school for two weeks provided many benefits to
our students and staff. Students learned multiple watercolor techniques. Classes
painted landscapes or ocean creatures. All students were able to create a fused glass
pendant as well. These pendants were student created using small pieces of glass
placed on a pendant sized piece of glass that was then fused or melted together. The
final product was not exactly as students thought it would be, and they were always
excited to see how theirs turned out! Finally, the school contributed to a kindness
garden mural. This mural has student created insects, falcons (our school’s mascot),
and flowers that were permanently affixed to a large sheet of plywood and is now
hanging in our hallway. Our teachers all attended a workshop that taught the teachers
to use the same watercolor techniques and glass pendant creation. Our community will
be able to view our kindness mural for many years to come. Another benefit to our
community was that our artist was housed by a couple in our community. Our school will
forever benefit from families getting involved in our school.” – excerpt from AIS report, Sterling Elementary School