Riverside, Calif., August, 2000--A celebration of art, creativity and world culture will take place on the La Sierra University campus on two successive Sundays, Sept. 17 and Sept. 24.

The gathering, a "tile-painting" event, will be the first visible manifestation of the university's "Path of the Just." The Path is an ambitious piece of public art and commemorative landscaping that will honor altruistic heroes of conscience, community and faith.

The path will be marked by a series of stations, or "nodes," that will commemorate Path inductees. Since each node will incorporate tiles as a design element, project coordinators have established the two "tile-painting" events for September. At each event, cement tiles, measuring one square foot each, will be painted in bright and colorful international themes.

Broad community participation in the tile-painting is key for establishing the right tone for university's "Path of the Just," organizers say.

"The 'Path' is not just a La Sierra thing," said Sally Andriamiarisoa, associate director of the Stahl Center for World Service, the La Sierra organization that is spearheading the commemorative project. "This will be a community celebration of great lives, so we wanted to invited the community to fully participate in this first step."

Church members, civic club members, public and parochial schoolchildren, area artists, and university students and employees will join in tile painting activities. The Stahl Center is recruiting people for the hour- and a-half-long shifts, and is hoping for at least 200 people for each day. On both days, the shifts begin at 8 a.m. and conclude at 4:30 p.m. Andriamiarisoa stressed that assistance for the colorful tile-painting is by no means limited to the professionally creative. "We all have a stake in this project, so the work won't just be left to artists," she said.

However, artist Cheryl Nickel will supervise the tile painting for those who need creative direction or ideas. All original ideas will be welcome, but stencils with ethnic and international themes will also be provided. Nickel, a landscape architect from Ithaca, N.Y., will be assisted in supervisory responsibilities by Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein, La Sierra assistant professor of art. A native of California's Inland Empire, Nickel has served as the "Path's" principle designer to date.

Path of the Just inductees are approved by the La Sierra Board of Trustees and include Pearl Buck, author and orphanage founder; Habitat for Humanity founders Linda and Millard Fuller; Seventh-day Adventist missionaries Ana and Fernando Stahl; Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Riverside community leader Art Pick; missionary physician Harry Miller; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa; and Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate.

Tile-making participants can call the Stahl Center, (909)785-2999 to get more information or to reserve their painting shift for either Sunday.

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