Title:  Cambios de Semillas: The Nature of Education


Site: Ames Middle School
1920 N. Hamlin Avenue, Chicago

Artists: Robert Moriarty and Phil Schuster


Assistants: Derrick Dion Johnson and Lisa Yu


Community Participants: Ames Middle School students and staff


Sponsors: Chicago Public Art Group, Gallery 37, and Youth Service Project


Year: 1999


Scale: 150 square feet


Materials: Reverse cast concrete relief and cracked ceramic tile mosaic


Information: The artists see this concrete relief and cracked ceramic tile mosaic artwork as an “aesthetic intervention”--adding color and creativity to the plain exterior of the newly built Ames Middle School. Framing the entryway, its imagery evokes the theme of transformation--the social change the students experience through learning, the change of going from elementary to middle to high school, and the change of the site from commercial to educational use.