Monika Bunting’s language arts classroom at Lafayette’s Peak to Peak Charter School looks more like an art studio this week, with desks pushed to one side and paint, markers, fabric, brushes, glue guns and other supplies covering several tables.
Her students are turning small canvases into art pieces to illustrate poems they wrote about a global issue that they care about, along with notecards that detail possible solutions. Their goal is to draw attention to issues that range from climate change to racism to puppy mills to sustainable farming.
“I love that kids have a unique perspective on the world,” Bunting said. “We forget that kids are impacted by what they see on social media and the news. They have something to say, and they want their world to be different when they grow up.”
The students’ projects will be displayed at Lafayette’s East Simpson Coffee Company, 201 E. Simpson St. The grand opening for the exhibition is from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
“They’ve just done a great job,” Bunting said. “I’m excited for them to have a platform.”
For the project, students started by researching problems they’re passionate about. Using their research, they wrote a poem from the perspective of a person, animal or even an inanimate object. Then they created the art pieces and brainstormed ways to address the root causes and consequences of those problems.
“The goal is to tap into empathy,” Bunting said.
Zoey Watkins, who has friends in the LGBTQ community, researched LGBTQ rights. Her poem is based on the story of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary student in Oklahoma who was bullied, beaten and later died. Benedict’s death was ruled a suicide. Her art includes a rainbow flag, a road to represent marches and a hospital to represent the bullying and violence LGBTQ people face.
“You have to make the art come to life to show others the issues,” Watkins said. “We need people to be aware. We can do something small, like using the correct pronoun, to make things better.”
Emiliano de la Torre-Monge researched Cesar Chavez’s social justice work to improve conditions for migrant farm workers. He said farm workers continue to be underpaid, even as they “feed America.”
“My grandpa was working farms,” he said. “It’s something I’m really passionate about.”
Rhea Trivedi researched gender stereotypes in STEM fields, creating a collage that included pictures of famous women in STEM, money and a tiny circuit board.
“They face a lot of prejudice for being women, and I don’t think that’s fair,” she said. “I want people to think about the prejudice they have in the things they say every day.”
Child labor in the fast fashion industry is another area students wanted to highlight. Oliva Bolt said she researched the brands she wears and found “it was children my age making the clothes.”
“I thought it was crazy and really sad,” she said, adding that her piece shows a child underneath the fashion logos on her canvas to show the impact.
Maya Pop said she couldn’t stop researching the topic of pollution because she found it so interesting. She wrote a poem from the perspective of a sea turtle and used “real trash” from the cafeteria in her artwork, gluing on small bits to form a big pile.
“I wanted to show how disgusting all the trash is,” she said. “I want people to try to make more of an impact on it.”
Lillian Steuer wanted to bring attention to the child labor used by the chocolate industry, using chocolate candy wrappers to show how widespread those practices are. She also included a list of the chocolate companies that don’t use child labor, which gives people an alternative choice.
“It doesn’t get talked about enough,” she said. “All of the big brands use child labor. There are kids as young as 12. They get human trafficked and have to work for 12 hours a day and get 85 cents for it. This is going to help people understand there is a lot more going on than what they know. The public needs to take a stance on this.”
