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Phillip M. Taylor, PMTSD, 843-542-2740
Todd Post, NCPC, 202-261-4138

By HEATHER STONER
Staff Writer

Nearly a dozen Colleton kids joined thousands of their peers when they put their fingers and ideas into a massive, national piece of art this week.
Artist Ellen Griesedieck, a former sports photographer from Missouri, began her Wall of America project five years ago to capture the changing face of the hardest working people in the world — blue-collar workers.
To capture America’s essence, she began what would be the largest project she has brought to life — a 125 by 45 feet — to depicts hundreds of American men and women at work.
Using 45-feet high aluminum panels as her base, the artist selected scenes for children to paint, mold, craft and build into towering structure to evoke the magnitude of these workers’ impact, she said. Hundreds of pounds of ceramic and more than a ton of clay have been used so far to depict America’s workforce at work in more than 40 professions.
This week, 11 pre-selected Colleton students — Clayton Geathers, Natasha Gillard, Dianna Glover, Antoinette Hamilton, Brian Mitchell, Jerica Nelson, Albert Patrick, Jarod Riley, Kasanta White, Khalilah White and Samiyah White — joined more than 200 other Lowcountry kids in painting a part of this three-dimensional wall.
Over the last five years, thousands of inner-city and rural community children have helped Griesedieck piece together her vision.
Colleton’s kids were selected from an essay and art contest sponsored by the Colleton Coalition of School’s Out Lowcountry. The Colleton coalition is a part of the South Carolina School’s Out Lowcountry, an after school program that gives mostly rural children positive after-school activities. Since then, she has traveled the country, letting children of all races and ages help construct pieces of the wall.
State School’s Out Lowcountry coordinator Deloris Pringle met Griesedieck, a mother of two, in a brief encounter, and prompted her to come to Walterboro and the Lowcountry.
“This is such a cultural rich area of the state and the country. So the youth from this area really offer great contributions to the wall. It was a natural fit,” Pringle said.
“Culturally rich” kids are exactly what Griesedieck is aiming for to enhance her project.
“If the kids get learn to appreciate what people do, then it’s worth it. Its amazing at the hand skills people use to keep our world going,” Griesedieck said. “And these people never get recognition. These people go out, do their job and come home. It’s about time someone appreciates them. And it’s great for the kids to be start doing that now.”
But, using children isn’t exactly what this artist always had in mind. When she first began incorporating school children into her art, Griesedieck admits she was a little worried.
However, after she saw students from inner-city Harlem work together with children from a private, preparatory school in New York, Griesedieck knew that the kids could only add to her creation.
“These kids are the strongest part of the wall for me now. They inspire me,” she said.
Besides inspiration, Griesedieck also said children have given her more ideas as to what should be added onto the wall — sports.
Because of children’s suggestions, Griesedieck is now adding a 16 by 30-foot area full of athletes’ signatures. Joe Montana, Tony Hawk, Lance Armstrong and Gold Medal Olympic winners are among the select few, she said.
“The idea of walking up to something and seeing all these signatures from all genres of sports is amazing. That’s what’s so exciting … to know that all people care about making such a portrait of us,” she said.
When the Wall of America is complete, which should be in the next eight years, Griesedieck hopes to house it in an old mill factory. It will be on display and open to the public.
“What a privilege to hang onto Ms. Griesedieck’s coat tails as she travels through this one,” wrote Paul Newman, chairman of the Wall of America project and owner of Newman’s Own salad dressings. “It has vision, it has imagination and it has purpose.”
But more than an untouchable career highlight, Griesedieck’s wants to leave a tangible legacy to her two children. And, she wants to leave something to the communities of America, places and people to which she said this wall truly belongs.
“One of the things I love is that when this thing if finished, it’s going to be all of America — it’s going to represent all communities,” she said. “I hope this painting will reflect the optimism, determination and humor that I see in the men and women who are building America.”
For more information on Wall of America, go to www.wallofamerica.org.