A group of young students in Sanford created an art project for a bird's eye view and learned how it can inspire positive change in the world.

After almost a year of planning, Mary Wiltshire, the art teacher at Tramway Elementary School in Sanford, brought the entire school of 750 students and teachers together with artist-in-residence Daniel Dancer.

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The children and staff members were told to wear T-shirts in either in Duke or UNC blue, black or white. On the large grassy field in front of the school, Dancer spray painted the outline of the school’s mascot, “Tramway the Tiger Shark."

Each participant crouched down to the ground with their back facing the sky to form the colorful image.

Tramway Elementary students, teachers and staff crouch for photo
A school wide collaboration with artist Daniel Dancer involved wearing different colored t-shirts and crouching down with their backs to the sky

“Each kid is a pixel or a paint drop," Dancer said.

Dancer has brought his artistic social vision to schools across the country for several years. He says he finishes about 25 similar projects a year around the country.

This year, he added a giant butterfly image at York Elementary in Raleigh. The next day, he was ready to do it all over again with Tramway’s toothy shark.

Aerial view of
750 students, teachers and staff members filled the inside of the shark image wearing different colored t-shirts and were photographed from high above

The projects usually include a drone operator for still photographs of the image below. Dancer shoots video and takes pictures from the height of a tall crane.

“That's why he calls it Art for the Sky," said Wiltshire. “Because you can only tell what the image is when you're looking above it like a bird's eye view.”

Wiltshire said her biggest challenge was to work with teachers and students to carry out the preparation and to get the children to find their spot and lay still for just a few minutes. "They have lots of energy," she said, explaining the art project is harder than it sounds.

Daniel Dancer, artist-in-residence, with
Dancer collaborates with schools across the country creating these giant images and teaching students about working together to improve the environment

Dancer, a former photojournalist in the 1980s, was inspired by a trip to Peru when he first witnessed the power of “Sky Art."

He has a master’s in child psychology, so he connected those interests to offer an educational experience mixed with the aerial images.

“It's about teaching kids about what I call their Sky Sight,” said Dancer. “Learning to see the big picture, making decisions based on the whole rather than just the part.”

Dancer is passionate about environmental causes and said answers rely upon a collaborative spirit. “Everybody working on one thing, together, and experiencing the magnificence of that.”