This year, the National Art Honor society has been working on a special project to honor the memory of Mrs. Jeanie Grant, a wonderful educator of 50 years at Maryvale. To commemorate her legacy, the NAHS has taken on the project of making a thousand origami cranes, with the whole school each making a crane to contribute to a mural which will make up a sunflower field.
Mrs. Hoerl, the middle school art teacher at Maryvale and an administrator of NAHS, came up with the idea for this project from a story about a girl named Sadako, who was diagnosed with leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima. Sadako heard about a Japanese legend that if you made a 1000 paper cranes you would receive a wish, and decided that while she was bedridden she would make these cranes to give her hope while she was dying. Although she died before she could reach this goal, she became a symbol of peace to others and this legend of a 1000 paper cranes became a more widespread story.
Inspired by Sadako’s story, Mrs. Hoerl thought that this would be an excellent way to commemorate Mrs. Grant with the whole school participating in the project. NAHS students were taught how to make the cranes and then assisted the other grade levels to make them as well. Once these cranes are completed by every grade, the NAHS students will take these cranes together to form a field of sunflowers as landscape, keeping in theme with Maryvale and St. Julie Billiard’s belief that sunflowers turn towards the sun and the eyes of God. This beautiful and innovative project will help strengthen the NAHS member’s design skills and hopefully be a large mural that will be kept in the dining hall at Maryvale.
“I wanted the NAHS members to take the lead on this project and showcase their talents. Members are designing the image, learning the art of origami, and teaching their peers. I am very excited to continue to work on this year-long project with them!” – Clare Hoerl
