ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Brightly colored blue and yellow panels line one of the hallways of Roseville High School (RHS) highlighting a new art installation called "Panels for Peace."
Created through a collaboration between several art classes, the panels are a way for students to process their feelings about the war in Ukraine.
"We have many students and staff that are impacted by this event and art is a great way to process and heal," said Patricia Leong, the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Coordinator at RHS.
Leong said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a lot to process for students.
"Art has been used throughout history to provoke change, inspire and help give an outlet to emotions to difficult problems," Leong said.
Joyce Henry, an art teacher at RHS, said the process of creating visual art can allow people to access parts of the mind that otherwise remain inaccessible.
"The ability to use the universal language of art is a powerful tool, which we work to develop as much as they can so that they may take it with them out into the world," Henry said.
Henry said the conversation about peace in her classes extended beyond Ukraine.
"Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Venezuela are some of the many places we talked about having strife, where the common people live in fear and danger," Henry said.
Leong said about 300 students worked on the project and the responses from students and staff have been very positive.
"The panels will be a reminder to us that others far away (in many places in the world) are in the fight of their lives for their land and liberty, and our hearts are with them," Leong said.
The panels went up on March 25 and will be on display until the end of April, according to Leong.
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