Philip Simmons Elementary students got to lend a hand, so to speak, for a new piece of metal artwork on display inside the school.

In November of last year, the school welcomed artist-in-residence Robert Doster to create one of his signature metal sculptures with the students. All students in second through fourth grade got the opportunity to trace their hands on steel sheets and then don some protective gear to use a plasma cutter to cut the handprints out of the sheets. Doster then took all the metal “hands” back to his studio and used them to assemble a sculpture of a horse. Doster dropped off the statue on August 24.

The whole sculpture is about seven feet tall. Principal Michael Huff said there are around 250 hands that make up the artwork.

“It is so cool – especially the mane,” Huff said.

If one takes a close-up look of the horse, they can see the horse’s mane is specifically made up of students’ fingers to give the appearance of individual locks of hair.

The project was organized by art teacher Jessica Moss, and made possible with funding that the school scored through an Arts in Basic Curriculum grant, written by music teacher David Frazier.

Frazier said the school missed out on these types of hands-on projects when the pandemic hit; now the school is excited to start having professionals come and work with the students.

“I love it – it turned out amazing,” Frazier said. “It’s been something we’ve wanted to do for a while.”

The horse is currently on display outside of Moss’s art classroom.

“I’m so excited with how it turned out,” Moss said, adding that the students have been equally excited about it.

The Arts in Basic Curriculum grant is a continuous grant. Moss said this year they might try to get some theatre or dance professionals to come work with the students.

As far as visual arts goes, Moss said she would like to see more school-wide art projects take place at Philip Simmons Elementary.

“It is a goal to add something new each year,” she said.

Philip Simmons Elementary

PSE students lend hand in Iron Horse sculpture