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South Jordan Journal

An Interactive Way to Teach History

Sep 14, 2015 02:38PM ● By Bryan Scott

Artist Lewis Lavoie and his mural ‘E Pluribus Unum’ hanging in South Jordan City Hall. Photo courtesy of South Jordan City

By Aimee L. Cook

Fifth-grade students in the Jordan School District will each receive a unique lesson in American history, thanks to the City of South Jordan and the South Jordan Arts Council. 

The educational gift is a kit that creates a mural of the American flag using 50 mosaic stickers, each portraying a chronological event that was key in American history, such as when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated, when the Civil War was fought and when the first U.S. president was elected. 

The mural mosaic provides an interactive art activity that allows each artist to create an individual piece that is then combined, creating a mural of one image. 

“The Mosaic Art program started a number of years ago when South Jordan City partnered with schools in South Jordan to create a large mural, painted primarily by the students, which now hangs in the South Jordan Community Center,” Don Tingey, South Jordan Arts Council, said.

 “This initial project led to the ‘E PLURIBUS UNUM’ mural which now hangs in the South Jordan City Hall. The two mural projects presented opportunities to not only partner with the school district and the students who live here, but to also bring the community together by investing in the community through art. The ongoing mural sticker program is now integrated in the fifth-grade curriculum and a way the South Jordan Arts Council not only sustains the investment; but also continues to instill a sense of pride in our nation and community,” Tingey said.

The original mural, ‘E PLURIBUS UNUM’, meaning “Out of many, one,” by artist Lewis Lavoie, is a 69-inch by 138-inch mural made up of 50 individual paintings combined to create one image of the flag of the United States.