The students at Rochambeau Middle School created life-size sculptures of Shakespeare, Davinci, Picasso, and even Elvis Presley, using recycled items. They first did preliminary drawings which they then used to create small clay prototypes from which to work. This project is part of the students' study of Red Grooms, an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. In the 1960s, Grooms invented "sculpto-pictoramas", the mixed-media installations that would become his signature craft. These vibrant three-dimensional constructions featured colorful, cartoon-like characters from many different walks of life.

"Because of their study of Red Grooms, I wanted the students' work to be playful and cartoon-y," said Mr. Stewart Wilson, art teacher at Rochambeau Middle School.