Art students at J.C. Booth Middle were treated to a deliciously fun learning opportunity last year, they just couldn’t eat the finished project. Melissa Raymer’s 7th and 8th grade art students participated in a pair of sequential assignments designing and bringing Dagwood Sandwiches to life.

While studying pop art, the young artists were tasked with creating their own Dagwood Sandwich, an impossibly tall multi-layered sandwich with odd ingredients from the popular comic strip Blondie.

First, they each completed two sandwich sketches with at least 12 ingredients, one of which copied an existing Dagwood design and the other including ingredients of their choosing. After exchanging feedback on each other’s work, they painted their chosen design.

Next, came a collaborative ceramic sandwich. Each student signed up to make one ceramic ingredient, and they were assembled together to make 18-inch sculptures to be displayed in the media center.

The project was such a hit that School Arts magazine featured it in their summer 2022 issue.

Raymer hopes that the project inspired her students to learn more about Pop Art, painting, ceramics, and visual art as a whole.

“The kids were extremely enthusiastic about their paintings and even more so about the clay sculptures,” said Raymer. “Kids love working with clay!”