Students’ Coney Island mural brings memories to the elderly

Coney Island is a train ride away from the residents at HolyFamily nursing home in Bensonhurst – one that they are no longerable to make – but a Coney Island mural designed by the students atEdward B. Shallow Junior High School recreates the memories of thislandmark for the elderly.

About 30 students from the school in sixth to eighth grade, spenttheir art class hours and their free time working on the mural.Five seventh graders who worked on the project — Linda Zhu, RanaFaraj, Chadia Williams, Erie Mei and Anna Li — visited Holy Familyearlier this month to view their finished product, which nowdecorates a wall on the third floor of the nursing home.

Laurie Windsor, the District 20 Community Education Councilpresident, and Maria Sausa, the art teacher at Shallow, made tripsto Coney Island to ensure that the mural would be as realistic aspossible.

I wonder how many people on the floor remember Coney Island fromwhen they were younger, Windsor said. It brings them back to[those days].

This is not the only large-scale art project the students atShallow have worked on. For an art show that took place on May 25,the students created M&M statues, an Empire State buildingreplica made with origami, pop-art, a replica of Yankee stadium,and a perspective drawing of the skyscrapers in Manhattan. TheDistrict 20 office also proudly displays some of the Shallowstudents’ artwork.