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Record 302/302
Description 
This is a collection of photographs taken of students painting the tiles in response to the Oklahoma City bombing. Shortly after the bombing, Janet Langsam, Director of the Westchester County (New York) Arts Council, and a personal friend of Jackie Jones, former Director of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City, was seeking a way for the children in New York to reach out to the children in Oklahoma City. Her medium became hand painted ceramic tiles painted by children sending messages of hope and caring to other children. Janet Langsam encouraged other cities to join with her in the tile project by contacting the Arts Councils in the nation's fifty largest cities. She also formed a partnership with the World Organization of China Painters to fire the tiles, making these beautiful messages permanent. The project spread beyond the original cities encouraged to join, until over 5,000 tiles were produced in cities all over the United States and Canada, with many of them coming from the schools in Oklahoma City. The project became more than messages from other children to Oklahoma City; it also became a means of comfort and release for our own children. Representatives from the China Painters and the Arts Council visited dozens of schools in the Oklahoma City system assisting the children in expressing their own feelings on the tiles. The tiles were originally stored and protected by the Arts Council of Oklahoma City. Later, they were transferred to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Archives for use in the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial and future exhibits and projects designed to fulfill the Memorial's Mission Statement. #1 Boy painting tile #2 Three boys painting tiles #3 Girl with completed tile #4 Boy painting tile #5 Adult female helping boy paint tile #6 Girl painting tile
Print, photographic -Education -Copyright 2007 Oklahoma City National Memorial
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ~ For access to this image, contact the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. When using this image, the credit line should be in the following format: Image courtesy of Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

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Last modified on: December 12, 2007