Really ‘Cool Junk' Soon to Line Walls of Morristown School's Community All-Purpose Room/Gym Artist Juanita Hull-Carlson Brings School & Community Together to Create Series of Mosaics

MORRISTOWN - March 9, 2010 - Broken dishes, shattered glass, rusted nuts and bolts as well as bits and pieces of outdated and out-of-style jewelry - it's the kind of stuff recycling bins seemingly are made for.

Some might even be crass enough to call it junk.

But as the tired old cliché says, "One person's trash is another person's treasure." That's especially true when the "trash" is in the skillful hands of cement sculptor and mosaic artist Juanita Hull-Carlson and the students and staff of Morristown School.

It then becomes really "cool junk," as Hull-Carlson lovingly calls it. And it doesn't stay junk for long!

Hull-Carlson currently serves as the artist-in-residence at Morristown School. She, along with all 165 members of the school's student body (not to mention 27 staff members), used plenty of "cool junk" to create a series of Mosaics that will soon hang proudly on the walls of the school's Gymnasium/Community Multi-Purpose Room.

The ultimate in artistic recycling, the bits of broken glass, crushed dishes and other throwaways – many of which were donated by the local Women's club as well as neighbors and relatives of students and staff – have been transformed into images of Southwestern animals including coral snakes, turtles, black widow spiders and the Gila monster.

And let's not forget this room is used as a gym – one mosaic illustrates mustangs, the mascot for Morristown School, while another showcases the concept of teamwork with interlocked hands, as well as spelling out the word itself.

The five-week project of creating beauty from refuse marks Hull-Carlson's second project on the Morristown campus, which is located approximately 10 miles south of Wickenburg. During her first tour-of-duty as an Artist-in-Residence in 2003, she helped students, faculty, community members and sponsors create "The Bench" – a popular meeting place on the school's playground. Individual plaques made by students, community partners and sponsors are all imbedded in The Bench, making it a beloved symbol for the entire community.

Hull-Carlson's residency is made possible by a Grant received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, http://www.azarts.gov, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts http://www.nea.gov, and the State of Arizona along with a number of community organizations providing required matching funds.

Hull-Carlson currently is looking for "Artist in residency" assignments for the 2010-11 school year and would love to talk to any school or community organization about doing a project in their community. She can be reached via her website, www.zenzibar.com/juanita.

Arts and technology are considered the heart of the Morristown School curriculum. Its leader, Head Teacher Lucille Thompson, received the Arizona School Administrators Association's Arts Administrator of the year award in 2000-2001. With the help of numerous grants and donations, the school now has violin lessons, dance lessons, visual arts lessons and more, all aligned with the Arizona State Standards in the Arts. The arts are also integrated into math, science, literature, social studies and more.