Student mural depicts bridges built by Roebling
By: Scott Morgan
ROEBLING One of the most enduring claims to fame for the Village of Roebling is its contribution to the Brooklyn Bridge. Wire cable from the Roebling Steel Mill is what holds up New York City’s fabled cross-borough overpass.
But who wants to drive all the way to New York just to see a bridge, especially when there’s a far more manageable view of it inside the Roebling School? Granted, the real Brooklyn Bridge will take you to Brooklyn, but the one the third-graders built into the wall of the school’s main hallway over the past few months may just take your breath away.
Constructed in fractured pieces of tile, the mural of the bridge stretching across the New York skyline is the latest (actually the fourth) in a series of tile piece murals that began in the basement floor with the a depiction of a grandly colored rainforest. From there, it went to an underwater reef and then to a jungle scene.
On May 4, the bridge scene, complete with cars, boats in the East River and at least one blimp getting an aerial view of Manhattan’s 1950s skyline, was formally dedicated in a small ceremony at the school, where members of Roebling Elementary’s third-grade construction crew (otherwise known as the entire class), read aloud their thoughts about working on the project.
Jonathan Reed called it awesome.
Colleen Richardson was delighted by the King Kong she made.
Kristina Sadler referred to "the amazing year" and pointed out that "this is a memory that we will treasure for the rest of our lives."
And Will Blakesly wants to make sure his own kids see the mural he helped build someday and he wants them to get the message that he "loves this town."
The labor of love was pieced together by every student in the third grade, said project overseer and artist-in-residence Bailey Cypress of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. Slightly in awe of the finished piece, made entirely of colored glass, mirror and tile pieces thousands of them Ms. Cypress said she and the third grade have no designs on stopping the grand mural designs in the school.
"Maybe we’ll do another one next year," she said.
Ms. Cypress, along with fellow teaching artist Julie Deery, are both from the Moorestown-based Perkins Center for the Arts’ ARTS (Arts Reaching the Students) program, which places professional artists in schools for residencies. They worked with the school’s art teacher, Dorothy Deflece, on the project. Perkins programs are funded in part by the New Jersey State Council in the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

