On Sept. 21, Georgia Military College Preparatory School of Milledgeville was part of an international art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace.
According to a GMC press release, Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Fla., as a way for students to express their feelings about what is going on in the world and in their lives.
In the first year, groups in over 1,325 locations throughout the world were spinning pinwheels on Sept. 21 - there were approximately 500,000 pinwheels spinning throughout the world.
Last year, over 4.5 million pinwheels were spinning in over 3,500 locations, including the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America.
Six years ago, this project was started locally by art teacher Paige Barlow in Baldwin County. Her Middle and High School Art Club were the main coordinators of the project this year and created about 375 pinwheels that had peaceful messages written on the front side and peaceful drawings written on the backside.
“This was not a political project and in class we discussed the definition of peace. It is a state of calm, free from anxiety, free of noise, and free of conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people,” said Barlow. “This project reminds our students to take a moment for themselves, think about what peace means to them and it helps them to convey their personal idea of peace to our wider community.”
Eighth grader Hank Eilers created a pinwheel with the front giving a statement that peace can be found in multiple languages and around the world and on the back, he drew a peaceful scene.
“On the back, I drew a tree with a sunset in the background because that is what I think of when I put a place to peace,” said Eilers. “It was one of my favorite pieces.”
Sixth grader Sachin Rochon created a pinwheel around the phrase “Life cannot live without peace.”
“On the pinwheel I drew a girl and a galaxy that I copied from there (some artwork in the back of the classroom) and then on the front I wrote a bunch of words to associate with peace and that phrase,” said Rochon.
Sixth grader Yana Bahalodwala said the project reminded her about what she found peaceful, and she learned a lot from working on this project with her fellow club members.
“I like to read a lot and it helps me relax on any day so that is one example of an activity I identify as peaceful,” said Bahalodwala. “And through this project I learned about working together and being compassionate. It was so much fun to create the pinwheels, see people enjoy them and bond together through this project.”
Barlow stated that she was impressed by her students’ creativity and diversity of messages when making the pinwheels. She is still impressed with the outcome of the project after doing it for over 20 years at various schools. She believes the project helps to promote creativity, positivity and community by being something the students can work on together but also give back to their county.
On the International Day of Peace, students 'planted' their pinwheels in the early morning on the west lawn of the GMC campus between Sibley Cone Library and the Old Capitol Building. The spinning of the pinwheels brought thoughts and feelings about peace throughout the county and the public were able to view the exhibit from 7 a.m. through 4 p.m. that day.
“It's pretty powerful and a great accomplishment when the students see the whole peace sign made of their individual pinwheels put together and realize the true meaning of their hard work,” said Barlow. “I’m so proud of our students who were involved, and I hope the community enjoyed their dedication to Pinwheels for Peace.”
Barlow plans to host this project again next year for International Day of Peace and she hopes everyone who attended the public viewing also learned something from her students as they did from the project.