What’s the buzz at ASD?

Photo Credit: Sandy Carden

Well, this Thursday afternoon it was a group of teachers getting their hands dirty in the ceramics studio!

My current workplace, ASD, hosts periodic well-being sessions for staff throughout the year, with a variety on offer from fitness sessions, spots matches, cooking. This week myself and colleague, Sandy Carden, hosted a session inviting ASD staff to make ceramic tiles, kicking off a large scale mural project! Over twenty teachers, administrators, and staff joined us to create the first few pieces of what will be an ongoing project.

Design Concept

The mural will be housed outside of the Bee Garden, and permanently mounted to the wall- at a distance it shows the images of honeycomb, bees, and UAE native plants, yet up close each tile will be uniquely designed by members of the Elementary, Middle, and High School as well as ASD staff.

This project was proposed at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, and after much planning and discussion, was approved before the summer break! The staff who joined us this week contributed to the deign of the blue/red flower at the bottom left. The open theme of “nature, outdoors, pollinators, plants, etc” was the only framework given for the design, and staff worked in teams of 2-3 to create their tiles. Much like we look forward to seeing in the student contributions, there was immense variety to the creative interpretation of this theme. We see a hungry bear with a pot of honey (possibly from the ASD bees?), a decorative tile showing the word نحلة (bee in Arabic), some lovey Samoan and Maori nature-inspired patterns from our New Zealand colleagues, and so many more.

This made for a lovely afternoon, and a great send off into the long weekend. I cannot wait to see mural continue and develop throughout the year. Check back here in Happenings for more posts as it builds!