WHITESTONE — As a fifth grade student at St. Luke School, Giuliana Jampol has learned about Christ’s crucifixion throughout her Catholic education. She has read and heard the Bible to understand his death and subsequent resurrection.
But when called upon by her art teacher and her classmates to draw Jesus on the cross this year for a collaborative art project, she began to reflect on it more deeply.
“It makes me think about how I’m thankful that this happened,” Giuliana said. “It makes me excited and a little sad at the same time. It makes me sad that Jesus died, but happy because He died for us. He was willing to die for us on the cross.”
At St. Luke Catholic School, art is not just to fill 30 minutes of a student’s day. It’s so they can understand their faith more deeply, and express their love of Christ openly. Last year, the school implemented an art project to engage students in Holy Week.
Students from second grade to eighth grade, under the guidance of art teacher Jennifer Jones, illustrate imagery from the Bible on large posters to reinforce what Easter is truly about. This year, students depicted the crucifixion in different art styles, simultaneously learning about famous painters and techniques.
“They do read Bible stories, but coming to art and actually portraying the crucifixion and the scene of Jesus dying on the cross in a drawing gives a personal connection to what they have learned,” Jones said.
Among those students was Olivia Gilmartin, who learned about pointillism and one of the artists who pioneered the technique in the 19th century, Georges Seurat. Her fifth grade class practiced neo-pointillism, and Olivia began to enjoy the shading and work that came with the style.
“It’s important for me to incorporate my faith into the artwork because I am really serious about praising Jesus and God. It’s important to understand this, and then you can also have fun doing it,” Olivia said.
Two years ago, leadership at St. Luke Catholic Church and the parish school began thinking about how to get youth more involved in Holy Week. Most of the services would be attended by adults, explained Father John Costello, the pastor at St. Luke, and there needed to be a different approach for the younger generation. Then, he thought about art and the program at the school.
“I just thought that to have time to reflect on it, drawing it, would get them to enter into the mysteries a little more and ask questions. It was kind of a perfect storm of our faith and art coming together,” said Father Costello, who also serves as the regional episcopal vicar of Queens East.
Adriana Russo, a fifth grade student, also learned about the pointillism technique and the crucifixion, combining her faith and art.
“I think it’s important so everyone can see and get an idea of what really happened but still have cool backgrounds and a nice way of seeing it,” Adriana said.
Jones, a painter and Catholic school teacher for more than 21 years, was elated to take this project on and decided to have each grade depict a different station. This year, when Father Costello suggested having students depict Jesus crucified on the cross, she broke it down into art periods: geometric abstraction, post-impressionism, expressionism, neo-impressionism, op art, pop art, and surrealism.
In total, there are 14 posters, one for each of the 14 classes from second to eighth grade. The projects were displayed in the hallways for the school to admire.