MPCHS art students bring a class of Lincoln first grader’s monsters to life

The monsters under the bed were brought to life in a Lincoln Elementary first-grade class with the help of Mt. Pleasant Community High School art students.

Gloria Schmitz's first-grade class drew pictures of monsters, which were then used by students in Sculptures II at Mt. Pleasant Community High School (MPCHS) to create a 3D stuffed monster.

The monsters were delivered by the high school students to a very surprised and shy first-grade class on Wednesday, May 15.

Rebecca Bos, art teacher at MPCHS, said the project was fun all around.

Her Sculptures II class was studying Claes Oldenburg soft sculptures, and instead of her students learning stitches on a small prototype she got the idea of collaborating with an elementary class. She was connected with Gloria Schmnitz's first-grade class because they had about the same class size.

Marco Indri said that the first-grade students' drawings showed their creative mind and it was 'out there.” Indri didn't have a tough time taking the drawing from 2D to 3D, however. It was sewing the pieces of his master's body that was the challenging part.

'It was definitely fun,” Indri said. 'It should be required. Making a kid's day is always awesome.

Delia Schoenewe said collaboration was what made the project a success.

'I thought it was going to be a little difficult, but it was worth the challenge,” Schoenewe said.

Maizy Wells said she thought the project was going to be a challenge.

'I looked at (the drawing) and had an idea,” Wells said. 'Putting all the details on was the hard part. It was the most rewarding thing we've done all year.”