Sculptor Mischell Riley Donates Sculptures to Dayton School Garden
Dayton Intermediate School’s newly developing school garden will boast two large sculptures by internationally known sculptor Mischell Riley.
Riley, who is well known for work such as the 3-story high bronze lion at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, has donated two of her pieces to enhance the school’s garden landscape.
Funding for Garden Through Community and School Parnterships
The new school garden, which has been made possible through partnerships among Dayton Intermediate and the nonprofits Community Roots and Healthy Communities Coalition with added donations from businesses including Celtic Lawn and Landscape, Coons Construction and Holly Family Farms, will serve as a hands-on way to learn more about science, math, nutrition, healthy cooking, and art, including appreciation of aesthetic additions to garden landscapes such as Riley’s sculptures.
Wendy Madson, director of Community Roots nursery noted, “Superintendent Caroline McIntosh, DIS Principal Linda Flaherty and DIS teachers and students have been extremely welcoming and enthusiastic about the garden project, and local businesses and community groups are showing lots of support and interest too.”
Artist Mischell Riley
As a teen, Riley was an accomplished high school athlete and a six-time All American in the High Jump and Triple Jump and qualified for the US Olympic Team. However, when training injuries prevented her from competing in the 1984 Olympics, she refocused her energy and discipline on art. She completed her college degree in art and went on to become skilled in the eleven phases of creating and casting a bronze sculpture.
Her award winning work has been commissioned nationwide for historic events, public buildings and private estates. She specializes in large scale bronze sculptures that can be seen around the U.S., including at the Princeton University Library, the Truman Libraries, and the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. She has taught at the Nevada Museum of Art, and is currently featured on a sculpting program on public television in Holland and Germany. In addition, Riley has installations in China and a complete jewelry line for the Fine Arts, as well as a number of projects for Presidential Library Installations.
Riley currently lives in Dayton, Nevada. You can find more about her work at www.bronzesbymischell.com.
For more information about Community Roots and Healthy Communities Coalition and four new school gardens being implemented in Lyon County Schools this spring, call Wendy Madson, the garden liaison, at (775) 250-7884 or (775) 246-7550.
The gardens are funded, in part, through a grant to Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
Photo: Pictured here is the site of the future school garden at Dayton Intermediate School (DIS) DIS is among 4 schools in Lyon County implementing school gardens this year with help from Healthy Communities Coalition, Community Roots, teachers, students, parents, etc. Students are learning how to improve the soil in preparation for spring planting, and several youth and community groups and individual volunteers will help maintain the garden through the summer months as well. Plans are underway for school gardens in Fernley and Yerington next year.
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