IONA CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL (Ms Montgomery’s Class)

UNITY CITY Kezia Mullings

My vision for the city of Mississauga is not based on one simple thing but two; Going Green in 905 and embracing diversity. My inspiration came from the diverse cultures in Mississauga and our focus on the environment that compares to no other city. Every year out city has Carassauga the festival of cultures and every year I attend the celebration of many cultures. A city with both a diverse culture and a healthy environment is one that young children can grow up joyfully in and old people can age peacefully in. This is how I came up with my sculpture. It’s a conceptual sculpture made in the round (visible from all angles/perspective). It captures wooden poles, with the flags of the world on them, holding up the world, and a bench underneath the world. The bench represents Mississauga, the flags show how diverse our city is, and the world shows how green and earth friendly Mississauga is trying to aim for. Hopefully my sculpture will inspire people to become earth friendly, and help people realize how diverse Mississauga is. The dimensions of my sculpture are approximately 15 inches tall, and 5 inches in width.

GOING GREEN TURTLE Emil Jayatileke

My sculpture will focus on Mississauga going green. It will be a sculpture of a turtle with a real bamboo plant growing out of its back. Even though it is simple, it has significant symbolism. The turtle, in many cultures, is characterized as carrying the Earth on its back. As a result, my sculpture will illustrate that we 'carry' nature on our backs; it is our home and our responsibility. The shell will comprise of footprints, which will encourage walking in our city. At the top centre, there will be a bamboo plant growing out of the shell. In Chinese culture, the bamboo represents the path to enlightenment. So in my sculpture, the footprints will be reaching the plant at the top, symbolizing that simple nature-friendly things like walking can lead to a better Mississauga, and a better world. The materials I will need for this project will be plaster, clay, rocks and a bamboo plant. A problem I might have would be that it may become very heavy because of the amount of clay and rocks. Lastly, the bottom of the shell will be the base since it is flat and will be able to support the upper shell and bamboo plant.

GROW GREEN TOGETHER Vanessa Simonetta

Mississauga is growing and sadly so is our garbage. We need to think about becoming a greener place in Ontario. That is why I have decided to create a sculpture with the theme of “going Green in Mississauga”. I feel that having a greener community in our lives will be a lot better. This is because our air will be cleaner and we would probably enjoy being outdoors more than we do now. The sculpture that I have represents going green as a community. Mississauga, much like the rest of the country is very multicultural. Multiculturalism is represented by the three hands holding the dirt and the sprout. The hands are also going to be three different ages as well. This way, people do not believe that because of their age they cannot participate in Mississauga going green. The hands are rising up through the city we live in now, which is polluted. Its meaning behind this idea shows that we should rise above the garbage in our community and work for greener home. The dirt and sprout represents the idea that we can live and work in a cleaner, environmentally friendly place. What is very unique about my sculpture is what most of the material are. A lot of the materials are actually pieces of garbage I have found in my living area and my school property. The sprout at the top is made out of wood and old chewing gum. The stem of the sprout is made of an old hose. Lastly the dirt where the sprout is growing is made of pieces of garbage like old napkins, wrappers to candy, bottle caps, etc. I want this to show Mississauga that even though we see things as garbage they can be used for other things. We can be used for other things. We can reuse the materials we find unnecessary to our lives. The hands however are made of plaster of Paris. My hand models were friends of mine that volunteered to have their hands plastered. I found this would be the easiest way to make the most realistic hands.

The sculpture will rest on the forearms of the hands. I do not feel it needs a base because personally I believe that it could take away from the sculpture. I feel that if it was a free standing figure, it would have more of an effect. The hardest part about my project will probably be making the hands look realistic. I want them realistic because everything else has a very unrealistic feel. When the hands are realistic it will give the right effect to prove to people that I am serious about the community working together to make a green city. if my project was picked for the City of Mississauga I would like to explain that it could possibly be a lot bigger than what I have created, I want the people who see the sculpture to understand that going green should be a big part of our lives. I believe that most of the sculpture would be made of stone like the hands and sprout. I think the dirt could have bigger pieces of garbage like old bicycles, bumpers from old cars, old televisions, etc. They do not necessarily have to be painted in different skin tones. But they do have to have distinctive ages in their hands Our community is precious and we should be trying to protect it the best way we can. As a community is we rise above the dirty city and reach for the green, our city could possibly be the cleanest city in Canada.

HUMAN BEAUTY Laura Condotta

I always thought that the greatest cities were the ones that capitalized on peoples’ interests – thus I feel this is just what Mississauga should do to continue its growth. For my sculpture, I plan on creating a life size model of a 1940s pin-up girl, except she will be clothed with images of people enjoying their interests, whatever those may be. To create my sculpture, I will require the following: plaster of Paris, glaze, plaster strips, paint, and found/bought objects. As I have never used plaster before, I will surely run into some practical difficulties. My inspirations for this project include the fabled Marilyn Monroe building, Betty Gabe, and the citizens of Mississauga. I feel this sculpture will provide just the right touch of interest and human beauty that our city needs.