Walking into the first floor gallery, a flash of red catches your eye. A gorgeous hanging tapestry gently flows, a representation of a beautiful sun rising: the new freshmen of de Toledo.

During the 2024 annual ninth-grade retreat at Camp Alonim, incoming freshmen students participated in a small group art project that later emerged as a massive hanging tapestry that is currently being displayed in the de Toledo Art Gallery.

Students who attended the retreat had the option to sign up for the elective, which involved spending roughly an hour collaborating on dyeing fabric squares that were later stitched together by the de Toledo art department faculty to form the completed piece. 

Every student was granted an assortment of colored dyes and a two-foot-by-two-foot square of fabric, and followed along with the art teachers to dye the squares in a traditional Shibori fashion.

Shortly after the retreat, de Toledo arts teachers Matt Lifson, Arcadia Michelon, and Amanda Quinlan spent roughly 20 hours sewing the squares together to form the massive 25-foot-long, 53-foot-wide tapestry.

Michelon, the head of the 3d Art Department, reviewed some of the techniques involved in the Shibori dyeing process. 

“It’s kind of like tie dye, but a little less crafty,” Michelon explained. “Each student saw the different techniques that they could use and applied those techniques to their individual piece of fabric, and chose a color to dye it in.”

Arcadia also remarked upon the challenges and issues regarding the creation of the piece.

“One thing that I didn’t foresee, was that everyone wanted to dye [the fabric] in the same color,” she said. “I don’t think that they understood the significance of the variety in the colors they were choosing.”

According to the Art Department, the tapestry will be hung in the garden in October during Sukkot to commemorate the collective efforts of the students, and future projects will be featured in the gallery during October’s Lunch with the Arts. 

Even when different artwork replaces the tapestry in the gallery, it will remain present throughout the school for several months, demonstrating to all of the school what a single person can do for their community.