Help save history in your community by identifying, exploring, and documenting significant places.

"It was neat to visit a university. I can't imagine working every day for a year to make a city mural." —student quote

The Poetry & Art of South Side Landmarks

If you take time to sketch a historic landmark in your neighborhood and write a poem describing what it would be like to be that landmark, then you'll appreciate it much more and see it in a whole new way.

That's what students have discovered when they participate in “The Poetry and Art of South Side Landmarks.” The field trip includes a visit to Carnegie Mellon University's Student Union where students see Douglas Cooper's huge mural of Pittsburgh. Professor Cooper used charcoal to illustrate scenes of Pittsburgh in 1900, 1946, and 1995. Students easily identify many city and neighborhood landmarks, and also begin to understand how Pittsburgh and their neighborhood has changed over time.

When they return to their classroom, students use charcoal to sketch a South Side landmark and then compose a poem about that landmark. By using personification, alliteration, metaphors, and similes, students bring the landmark to life with original, creative thought. Their poems and sketches are published in a booklet, and each student is given a copy. To read their poems and see their sketches, go to Written History: Poetry Boooks.

Back to Fieldtrips | Silk Screens at the Warhol >>