Roosevelt Students Make Butterfly Art For School Installation

The students of Theodore Roosevelt Elementary school in the Magnolia Park section of Burbank recently helped create the new art installation that graces the main hallway of the Burbank Unified school.

At a lunchtime art project for Cal Arts Day, an annual event sponsored at the school by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Roosevelt kids from all grades colored and decorated pre-cut butterflies. PTA Cal Arts Day co-chairs Kristen Gara and Shauna Funk then collected those hundreds of butterflies and used them to create an inspirational display outside the school’s main office.

“Our new Roosevelt art installation could not have been completed without the help of our students,” commented Gara, who is also a graphic designer. “On October 17, California Arts Day, we asked each student to decorate a paper butterfly.”

“We then hung those butterflies in a pattern within a frame we call ‘The Big Picture,’ creating this year’s most dynamic art installation,” she explained.

“As a former art teacher for the Burbank Unified School District, I understand how important California Arts Day is to encourage students to express themselves through creativity,” said Funk.

“It was exciting to watch the students come together in a collaborative effort to create beautiful butterflies that represent themselves as individuals and would later be a  part of a large scale installation that represents the entire student body as a whole!” she added.

Cal Arts Day was created by the California Arts Council and is celebrated during October in a variety of ways. The day promotes the arts and acknowledges its importance to the economy, society and education.