Art Educator: April Speed

Project: Mosaic Prayer Wall Iconography

Art Period: Byzantine (330 CE-1453 CE)

The Truth Academy is a hybrid private school located in downtown Springfield, MO. I was honored to be recruited as their art teacher for grades K-12 during the 2021-2022 school year. Most of my art lessons took on a humanities-based approach and incorporated art history along with examples of the musical period of the time. Students learned what influenced artists and how they were motivated by culture and economy. Classical music of the same time period filled the classroom while students created their art projects.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, coincided with our lessons on 13th-century iconography symbolism. All grades, K-12, participated in the creation of this collaborative Mosaic Prayer Wall for the people of Ukraine. We listened to examples of Gregorian chants as we created our mosaic patterns.