Outstanding Faculty -
Cindy Williams, Middle Division Art

When Cindy Williams began the Pieces for Peace project with her sixth grade class, she had no idea how successful it was about to become. After teaching about Keith Haring's art, Mrs. Williams received a request from the Florida Holocaust Museum to participate in an activity creating a puzzle for peace. Her students each drew in a manner similar to that of Keith Haring and then wrote about their ideas of peace in English class. Because the individual pieces were all so good, the class and Mrs. Williams decided to combine elements of some of the individual art pieces and Pieces for Peace was born. It took the students about a week to complete the exercise, and then they submitted the artwork to the museum. The Holocaust Museum proudly showed the artwork, which then led to the art being displayed at the Tampa International Airport and then exhibited at the Sarasota Embracing our Differences show. The story of the artwork was picked up by the Associated Press, and Mrs. Williams was contacted by the Keith Haring Foundation. She created a lesson for their website.

"The whole thing just happened and took on a life of its own. There was this incredible synergy involved with this project. The combined effort was greater than anything done on its own."

As a result the students have seen how art has brought the class closer together and how it in turn can bring the world closer together. Mrs. Williams is planning to do the project next year as well.

"Everyone can be an artist and make a difference in the world any way that they can through art or otherwise. I want kids to feel good about themselves and to realize they can make a difference."

Mrs. Williams has been teaching at Shorecrest for 22 years and is currently teaching art to the Middle Division students in grades 5-8. As she teaches art, she combines it with cross-curricular projects with the academic teachers. For example, if students are studying about Ancient Civilizations, Mrs. Williams will teach the same students about cave painting. She uses a variety of materials in her 2-D and 3-D projects and likes to push her students to experiment and take chances in their art.

Mrs. Williams holds a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Florida and a M.Ed. from U.S.F. She is a working artist who designs and sells jewelry and clay wall sculptures. She remains passionate about teaching "because there are always new and better ways to teach children art."