Upper School Highlight | Pastor Jeff Mammen
“Ouch, my back hurts!”
“This is so uncomfortable.”
“I hate this.”
These were some of the students’ reactions to a Renaissance project. And I loved it.
When we look at a piece of art, we don’t often think of how an artist pulled it off. Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is beautiful, and much can be said of his fresco technique and vivid creation depictions. But I wanted the students to understand the hardship Michelangelo was willing to endure to create beauty.
Each student taped a piece of paper under their desks and attempted to draw the “Creation of Adam” on their backs. That’s the one where God's and Adam’s fingers almost touch. Let’s just say their drawings wouldn’t make the wall of an art gallery. Or the wall of a kindergarten class. I watched them squirm under desks and tables and never find a comfortable posture.
So how did Michelangelo do it? He brilliantly created a customized a movable wall scaffolding to paint the ceiling. The students learned that creating beautiful art requires innovation and maybe some back pain.
nourish students’ hearts, souls, minds, and bodies for the purpose of growing in them knowledge, wisdom, good character, and Christ-like virtue worthy of bringing glory to our great God.