Schools

Greenwood Fifth Graders Recreate a Piece of the Parthenon

Replicas of classic friezes will be unveiled in the school's play yard Friday morning in advance of a fund raising auction March 24 at the Mill Valley Community Center.

The 13 fifth graders at the are studying ancient Greece, including the iconic art and architecture that emerged from that seminal civilization.

But why simply study history when you can recreate it?

Leaning heavily on the artistic talents of one of its parents, sculptor Roberto Varriale, the students produced four eye-catching friezes made from original casts of Athens’ fabled Parthenon. Those friezes are being unveiled Friday morning in the school’s play yard and will be auctioned off during the its annual fundraiser March 24 at the .

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The project originated with Varriale, a sculptor who specializes in large-scale works who acquired plaster casts of some of the Parthenon’s timeless friezes some 20 years ago. They’ve been in his workshop on Miller Avenue, and Varriale used them to create latex molds. With the upcoming fundraiser in mind, Varriale connected with Greenwood teacher Douglas Struble, who teaches Varriale’s son Vasco in fifth grade.

The pair split the 13 students into three groups and each group attended three sessions, creating four replicas of the friezes: two small ones depicting winged goddesses and two large ones showing men on horseback. The friezes weigh upwards of 200 pounds apiece.

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“They are at an age that they can take very good direction,” Varriale said. “Those children are so ready to jump in and do things.”

In late February, a group of Greenwood parents helped Varriale hang the replicas on the concrete wall in the school’s play yard.

They will be unveiled at a school assembly at 8:30 a.m. Friday. They will be auctioned at the March 24 auction and people can bid by going here.


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