Flowering Friendship Plates

Flowering Friendship Plates by artist Diane Pieri is located at the James R. Lowell School in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural was created with the help of twenty 4th grade students and their art teacher, Denise Savelli, from the Lowell School. Each student designed a friendship plate with images and symbols they thought would imbue their plate with a welcoming feel and also tell a little about themselves. When you meet a new person, you always want them to know who you are so you can become friends.

Some of the plates are about sports. Others are about the student’s cultural heritage. Some plates have symbols that represent intelligence, beauty or cultural rituals like Day of the Dead. Still others are beautiful renditions of flowers. Flowers are a caring gift to give and the Lowell students are giving this gift to the neighborhood and all the children and adults at Lowell.

The plates were arranged in the landscape as if they were flowers. All the students collaborated on the placement of the plates so the mural would flow from one end of the wall to the other.

Big medallions of sky were an addition by the mural artist, Diane Pieri, as were the huge suns. Each of the twenty students painted on the mural at some point. They painted flat areas and big grass shapes. Diane Pieri, assisted by Brad Carney, faithfully translated the student plate designs in mural paint.