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University's Dodge Foundation Grant Funds Paterson Art Project

A collaborative effort among a University art professor and teachers and students from Paterson's School No. 2 results in a colorful mural on display on campus

Dina Scacchetti, Dodge grant coordinator, with mural

A University art professor and students and teachers from Paterson School No. 2 have collaborated on a mural. The work emerged from the University’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) grant funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. An interdisciplinary project, it integrates all the students’ subjects, particularly art, science and math. 

This giclee is a reproduction of the original STEAM mural that is on permanent display in School 2 in Paterson.  The mural explores the four seasons by focusing on trees, and the changes that occur within each season. It is displayed in the University’s College of Education.

The work was created by first and second grade bilingual classes, under the direction of their art teacher, with the assistance of William Paterson’s art professor in residence, Simone Sandler.  It was begun in September with the first panel (summer). Subsequent panels (fall, winter and spring) were added throughout the year, and the mural was completed in June.

The science ideas in the mural include the qualities of different kinds of plants, the changes in plants/leaves throughout the year, how animals cope with seasonal changes, climate and weather, and information about the sun, moon, and stars.  Math concepts integrated into the mural include skip counting (the grass in the first panel is in clumps of five,) addition and subtraction (leaves on the tree minus leaves falling from the tree,) and symmetry (the leaves are bilaterally symmetrical.)

In 2012, the University received a $75,000 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to develop a pilot program in two Paterson public schools to promote the interrelationships among disciplines in the arts and sciences. The College of Education works in partnership with the University’s College of the Arts and Communication and College of Science and Health, and the Paterson School District to build a model program that integrates the arts and creative thinking with academic achievement in math and science. The grant includes funding for two professors in residence who have expertise in art and who were placed in Paterson School No. 2 and School No. 7 for the 2012-13 school year. It also provides support for professors across the three colleges at William Paterson to collaborate and work with teachers and principals in the two Paterson schools to develop curriculum in which art activities are meaningfully interrelated with math and science.

In addition, the grant from Dodge provides much needed resources to the Paterson schools for art and creative activities, for richer student engagement in science and mathematics, and for field trips to explore, appreciate, and experience rich art/science/math interrelationships throughout the community.