The storming of the Capitol on January 6th was a horrifying attempt to disrupt democracy. The event caused an influx of images, streamed in the news and on social media. Several of these images highlighted the behind the scenes heroes of our democracy: the Capitol cleaning staff. These images sparked a national campaign, one focused on showing gratitude.

The campaign reached Riverdale’s campus through middle and upper school art teachers Ms. Betsy Fields and Mr. Nicky Enright. Ms. Fields discovered the campaign while watching a story on the local news about the teacher who had spread word about it through Instagram. The story immediately caught her attention, and she began conversation with Mr. Enright, who had heard about the campaign through an article in The Washington Post. Enright also resonated with the project, “It said people are sending artwork to the Capitol, and I knew some of those people needed to be and were going to be my students,” he said. 

Both teachers presented the projects to their students with different approaches. Ms. Fields allowed her students to take creative liberties with their projects and the results varied.

“They created artwork and cards that say toxic waste cleanup, messages of thank you to the Capitol for cleaning up this horrific mess left behind and upholding the Constitution of the United States,” she said.

Sophomore Thalia Swaminathan-Sipp, a student of Ms. Fields, opted to create a card with an American flag and a thank you. Commenting on the project, Sipp said “Before this project, I hadn’t really thought about the people who cleaned the Capitol. This project showed me how important it is to recognize these people for their service.” Ms. Fields plans to collect her hybrid students’ art and send it to the Capitol from Riverdale, and she has tasked the remote students with mailing their artwork from home.

Mr. Enright took a different approach to the project, instructing his PICA class to create a homemade envelope and a matching card to go inside. Explaining his choice, Mr. Enright said “I like the tradition of mail art, there is a tradition of using the US Postal Service as a delivery mechanism for artwork, the artwork is not only the card but the envelope itself.” PICA produced simple graphic designs, with Mr. Enright describing a patriotic theme among the cards and envelopes. Junior Awa Diop’s card, covered with a floral blue and green pattern, stood out from the cards of her PICA peers. Diop acknowledged a need to give praise to Capitol workers and wanted to express this praise through her card pattern.

“Florals are welcoming and have a feeling of home, I wanted to brighten someone’s day with feel-good images like flowers,” Diop said.

Mr. Enright chose to create a card and envelope of his own that was different from the patriotic theme of his students. He stamped his card with an image of Harriet Tubman, “She’s a historical figure who was cleaning up the mess that white supremacy made, like the Capitol workers,” he said. PICA’s demand to be relevant, as Mr. Enright expressed, made this project especially important for the class.

This gratitude project extended to two other teachers within the art department, Ms. Angela Paris and Ms. Asya Reznikov. Similar to Ms. Fields, Ms. Paris allowed for flexibility in her students’ projects. They wrote letters, created work that conveyed a specific emotion, or a combination of both. She found that the project encouraged expression, “It’s important for our voices to be heard. Civic engagement is empowering and it is important for our democracy,” she said. Ms. Paris’ contribution to the project is still in the works, but she plans for her creation to take an abstract route, “I would start with something with color, gesture and expression. Our imagery can say things we can’t put into words.” 

Ms. Reznikov’s sophomore photography students offered a different take on the project. Her students used Photoshop to create postcards with an image or text on the front, and a personal note on the back. After working on the project, Ms. Reznikov found that her students were enthusiastic to send the cards to the cleaning staff. She emphasized the importance of discussing the apparent racial disparity the images from the news presented, “The people doing the uninviting job are people of color and minorities. Just like the healthcare workers, they’re just doing their job and are unthanked,” Ms. Reznikov said.

It is important to show appreciation to those who do the work that often goes unnoticed. Without the Riverdale cleaning staff, school would not operate, especially in the middle of a pandemic. This project should serve as encouragement and a reminder for the Riverdale community to thank the people who make our day to day lives possible.