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This fall, the students in robert tom’s introduction to sculpture class worked to construct a fountain for the set of Ana’s Playground, a not-for-profit film about children in armed conflict. Written and directed by Eric D. Howell, “The film is intended to expose new audiences to the fact that children are being used as tools of war around the world.” (filmmakers blog)

Midway through the fall semester, tom was connected with Howell and the film’s producer through Mary Laurel True of Augsburg’s Center for Service, Work, and Learning. She had learned that the film would be shot in Cedar-Riverside and wanted to find ways for Augsburg students to be involved in the project.

Tim Bekke, Erica Malloy, Katy Lawson, Ryan Thomas, and Eric Reardon [above L to R] took Howell’s instructions: 12′ long, 6′ tall, needs to be viewed/filmed from 360 degrees, iconic male form look like he is doing a backward dive, arms extended, panels need to portray a “dissection” idea or stack of slabs. Each of the students made sketches and brought their ideas together to create the final piece. “We came up with the crescent idea to make the plates work,” Thomas said. “In the sketch, they were just floating in midair.”

The sculpture, which is composed of Styrofoam, wood, and steel pipe, is meant to be a once-working fountain that is now “dead.” In fact, the piece was constructed so that water could be sent through to the fingertips of “Oscar,” the back-diving figure on top of the fountain. Posted near the fountain, which is currently on display in the Oren Gateway Center lobby, students wrote, “After a long and exhausting challenge, this is our creative contribution to the war-torn children of the world…”

tom and the students were invited to the film set in November. “It was exciting,” Lawson said. “They created an environment that didn’t exist before.”

“It was hard to tell what was real and what was fake,” Thomas said. “There were lots of random materials that you wouldn’t expect.”

The students agreed that the experience of working in a professional setting was significant. “And we got out of two projects for the class because we made this,” said Molloy.

Ana’s Playground will be complete in May or June of 2009.

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After much thought, Tom came up with a solution. He applied for and received a grant from Forecast Public Arts and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and thus the Augsburg College-Cedar Riverside Pottery Cooperative was born.

Every Tuesday, fifth- through eighth-graders from Cedar-Riverside Community School spend part of their school day in Augsburg’s ceramics studio. The nearby charter school serves a population overwhelmingly drawn from immigrant families — many of its students are challenged by language barriers, culture shock, separation from family members, poverty, and trauma caused by war. The pottery cooperative has offered these young students a reprieve, an opportunity to connect with college students, and art education. Furthermore, it has offered Augsburg students one more way to make an impact on the community.

Together, the students are creating a ceramic bas-relief mural. Participants from both communities bring objects that have significant meaning to them, whether representing their faith tradition, thoughts, values, concerns, or even just a favorite toy, and reproduce them in press molds. Once completed, the mural will be a rich display of symbols and icons of cross-cultural perspectives.

Tom expects that the mural will keep growing and evolving for many years, so that graduates of both Augsburg and the charter school will be able to return to campus and see their work as part of a legacy.

“Giving ownership to both Augsburg College and the Cedar-Riverside community through a collaborative effort will promote a deeper level of understanding and commitment as integral parts of a whole,” says tom. “By acknowledging our commonalities, we can then concentrate on understanding our differences. Now, more than ever, there is a need to provide a focus for thought as life unfolds.”

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