NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Members of the National Art Honors Society at New Rochelle High School were hard at work this afternoon refurbishing “Homage”, a huge sculpture in one of the main high school corridors, a sculpture dedicated to the memory of three civil rights workers who were murdered during “Freedom Summer” in 1964.
Michael “Mickey” Schwerner, James Earl Chaney and Andrew Goodman, were assassinated near Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Mickey Schwerner was the son of Anne Schwerner, a former New Rochelle biology teacher, who taught at New Rochelle High School for 20 years until her retirement in 1976.
The three will be honored next week at The White House when President Obama posthumously awards them the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor.
Alexi Brock, an art teacher at the high school, is the Faculty Advisor for the National Art Honors Society.
“Art like this needs to be kept up,” said Brock. “The original piece of art, inspired by the work of Louise Nevilson, was a deep red but was painted black about 15 years ago.”
Nevilson is an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces. She did some of her most famous work in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
A similar piece, at the Pace Gallery, was created in 1964, the same year as Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were killed. The New Rochelle High School piece was installed in 1972 when Anne Schwerner was still teaching at the school.
Nevelson “purposefully selected wooden objects for their evocative potential to call to mind the forms of the city, nature, and the celestial bodies. While the individual pieces had an intimate scale, they became monumental when viewed holistically within the combined environment of the assemblage”.
Members of the National Art Honor Society, a devoted, talented group of young artists are driven to grow through their art. Members realize that art is an essential component for a full and satisfying life.
Mariana Bernardini is one of those artists, drawn to work on the restoration project.
“I remember seeing this work as I walked around the school, wondering what it was.” said Bernardini. “I found it very interesting, the black against the white wall, the difficulty of the time just to be equal, that through change there is a unity.”
In honor of Civics Rights Week at the High School in early December, 150 AP Government and AP macroeconomics students will hold a symposium. Students will present papers and discuss the current events affecting civil rights in the United States.
A new plaque will be installed at a dedication ceremony on December 11th at 6:30 p.m. Immediately following the film “Freedom Summer” will be shown.
