Recently, students at Pearl River Central High School’s ceramics class teamed up with students at the Pearl River Centrala Elementary campus to bring second grader art to life.

Nicole Brown, Pearl River Central High School’s art and ceramics teacher, said the idea for the project came to her when she saw a  project where a woman made papier-måché pieces based off of 2D art.

Brown then contacted Rebecca Graham, a second grade teacher at Pearl River Central Elementary School, who tasked her students with creating 2D art depicting characters or monsters they like. Since it was an art project, Brown said she tasked her students with coming up with their own colors using only base colors.

Brown’s students were then paired with elementary students who have similar likes and interests and took their creations to make 3D papier-måché versions.

“I liked the idea of being able to take the imagination of a second grader and bring it to life,” Brown said.

The entire process took about three weeks, but when the high school students brought their papier-måché creations to the respective second grader who drew it, Brown said the elementary students were elated.

“These kids’ eyes lit up when they saw them in 3D,” Brown said.

Each elementary student was allowed to then keep the papier-måché version of their drawing, which were delivered by 15 of the high school students who had the time to make the trip, Brown said.

With the success of the project, Brown said she plans to continue to do it annually so long as she teaches art.