A local artist helped elementary students make a portrait of peace out of 24,360 crayons
They’re dedicating the Statue of Liberty portrait to France.
On Monday, a 4.5-foot by 5-foot, 400-pound portrait of the Statue of Liberty made up of 24,360 crayons will be unveiled at Sandown North Elementary school in New Hampshire.
Local artist and world record holder Rob Surette, with the help of Sandown’s 350 elementary school students, made the piece. They plan to dedicate it to France in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks.
“Since the Statue of Liberty was given to America by France in the 1800s, we’re now going to dedicate this beautiful project back to France as a gift of friendship, brotherly and sisterly love, and a gift of peace,’’ Surette said.
Surette was hired to run a workshop with the elementary school last year—he’s worked with elementary school previously, creating portraits of Tom Brady, David Ortiz, and more. When he first signed on, he decided that the theme for the workshop would be about symbolizing peace.
Each child arranged 10 crayons in place for the piece; Surette worked with all 350 kids over about 18 hours over 3 days, and Surette completed the rest of the work in another 80 hours. He said it’s great to work with kids because he can infuse life lessons into the fun of creating a work of art.
“It’s a great collaboration—If everyone does a little part, the end result is a masterpiece,’’ Surette said. “It’s a great theme for world peace: If everyone did their part, the earth would be a masterpiece.’’
After its unveiling at a school assembly Monday, the art will be covered in plexiglass and hung on a wall inside the school.
Surette is working with the French Consulate in Boston to build a package to send to the French government. It will include hand-created cards from all the Sandown students—Surette said that most of the younger kids will probably just draw smiley faces or hearts, but the older kids understand the situation and will write messages of support.
“All these messages are centered around this silly crayon portrait,’’ Surette said, “but there’s so much meaning behind it.’’
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