![]() 5000 Flowers - "Sunflowers" - The Final Chapter In early 2002, four artists from Carrboro and Chapel Hill first heard about the 5000 Flowers Project and decided they wanted to make it happen here. Hunter Levinsohn, Anke Gassen, Debbie Meyer, and Jackie Helvey combined forces and put a call out to local artists, amateur and professional, to participate in an event commemorating the lives lost on September 11. ![]() One teacher, Victoria Sylvestre at Chapel Hill High School, decided to get all of her ceramics students involved, and began a project that would be months in the making, the end result being a beautiful collaboration of tiles entitled Sunflowers. Sylvestre's roots were first laid in North Carolina in 1982 when her parents, renowned ceramic artists Mary Lou and Ed Higgins, moved to Fearrington Village in Chatham County. Victoria soon started at ECU, earning her BFA in 1987, her degree in Art Education in 1988, and her Masters in Fine Arts in 1991, all Magna Cum Laud. Along with her husband Marc, she apprenticed at Moravian Pottery and Tileworks in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. After teaching at Spirit Square in Charlotte, and 8 years at North Stanley in Albermarle, she found her way back to Chapel Hill with the job that she has had since 1999, ceramics teacher at Chapel Hill High. ![]() She then began looking for the perfect model to recreate for the project, and found it in Sunflowers, a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. ![]() Each student chose a section to create as a tile. All 130 students participated in the creation. The tiles were smoothed, the backs numbered, and the glazing process began. Striving for perfection, Sylvestre re-glazed the pieces a total of 6 times. Victoria used pieces of scrap wood to frame the completed project, truly a masterpiece. Victoria's husband, Marc Sylvestre, who is also a ceramic artist and currently a stay-at-home dad, also helped greatly throughout the entire process. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Work on Sunflowers began on September 11, 2002, and was completed on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2003. It was the longest running project involved with 5000 Flowers. The inscription on Sunflowers reads: "Van Gogh, whose life was full of despair, created the painting in 1888, writing that it was about joy, gratitude, and contentment. The ceramics students of Fall 2002 recreated Sunflowers as a mosaic to help us reflect on our sorrow of 9-11." A fitting end for the 5000 Flowers Project. Computer Stuff | Downtown Carrboro Map | Events | Prices | Restaurants | UniqueOrn Enterprises ![]() |