Unique art project unveiled at city hall in Harrisonburg

An art projects that stretches across every elementary school in Harrisonburg is highlighting the importance of diversity in our community.

The massive art piece is the new greeter at city hall. It's made entirely of recycled glass that kindergartners and first graders decorated with their own unique fingerprints.

The fingerprints symbolize the importance, and need, for diversity in our community.

Edwin Gil is the artist behind the project. 'Faces of Diversity' is an international social art project that uses hands-on activities combined with intentional dialogue to create a discussion on race and culture.

The leadership team with Any Given Child, a group that values arts education, organized for Gil to come and create a face for the city.

J.R. Snow, the director with Any Given Child, said he's excited to unveil the project that's been in the works all week.

"We want to connect artists in our community and artists outside of our community so that they can start to identify themselves as an artist or a creative being," said Snow. "So by doing this and having that tangible, experiential educational opportunity, they have the chance to say 'Hey, I'm an artist too!'"

Gil said he normally uses a single child to serve as the actual Face of Diversity in his works, but he had to make an exception for the Friendly City.

"I find out, in this city, it is very diverse. It was kind of hard to just pick one student that was going to represent the whole community," said Gil. "So we selected three students and I blended them and created the face."

To learn more about Edwin Gil's Faces of Diversity, you can click

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