English learning students from Sumeg, Hungary participating in the Dream Rocket

Dream Rocket Project – off blast in Sümeg :)

Kisfaludy Sándor Grammar School is the one and only school in Hungary which can be proud of having creative students who readily worked together in order to create something new and thus express their understanding of the world. These students were taken part in the Dream Rocket project, Jennifer Marsh’s initiative, and its aim is to wrap a replica of a space shuttle named Saturn V with panels made by individuals from all over the world.

During the preparation of these panels different materials were used such as cotton, thread and felt pens to make the outlook of these projects more impressive and permanent. But not only are the drawings permanent but also the ideas behind such as love, world peace, friendship and family.

Students were informed about this project and encouraged by Nagy Emilia, who has been a teacher of English in our school for three years now. She got this idea from Priscilla Horvath whose special help and guidance did contribute to our success and without her voluntary work and constant assistance these panels would not come into being.

The Saturn V rocket, responsible for launching all the missions to the moon, was the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The Dream Rocket project aims to completely cover a 38-story, 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket replica at the U.S. Space and Rocket center in Huntsville, Ala., with a massive 32,000 square foot quilt. The quilt will be made from thousands of hand-crafted panels from students, teachers, and individuals from more than 100 countries and 50 states.

Heading up the project is Jennifer Marsh, an artist and founder and director of the International Fiber Collaborative (IFC). Marsh's previous large-scale public art pieces include the wrapping of an abandoned gas station in central New York state and the Tree Project, where participants from around the world contributed handmade leaves that were affixed to a large man-made tree. Marsh, who is drawn to using textile techniques and fiber materials in nontraditional ways within the sculptures she creates, says it was a feeling of disconnect from the world that lead her to pursue large-scale public art displays.

"My sense of apartness came from a sense that only a select group of friends, professors, and family members ever saw my artwork," she said. "Its impact seemed less empowering, less important, and very inward. While traveling and teaching in India during graduate school, I realized how truly powerful the arts and crafts are to cultures all around the globe, and how they are interwoven with the daily lives of those peoples. I began questioning the relationship to and expression of art in one's life.

A little more than a year from now, Terry Pottmeyer’s artwork will be exhibited on a 365-foot NASA rocket in Huntsville, Ala.

The Island mother has submitted a handcrafted quilt panel that reads “Our dream... a world where every child is cherished” as part of the international 2011 Dream Rocket project.

Pottmeyer’s textile will be combined with thousands of others into a massive quilt that wraps around a replica of NASA’s historic Saturn V Rocket, which stands in front of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The spectacle will be unveiled in May 2011, in commemoration of President John F. Kennedy’s May 25, 1961, pledge of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.” The historic feat was accomplished eight years later on July 21, 1969, when American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

Jefferson Township Middle School Science teacher Claude Larson and Art teacher Karen Correia recently collaborated in "The Dream Rocket Project," a global collaborative initiative to connect art and education.

Students in Correia’s 7th and 8th grade Studio Art classes learned how art, culture, and science connect before designing personal "dream themes" that express hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow.

WRAPPING SATURN V ROCKET WITH ART TO

CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY'S MAN ON THE MOON ANNOUNCEMENT

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the U.S. intention of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.” Just over eight years President Kennedy’s announcement, the earth sat spellbound as they viewed a ghostly, blurred, black and white image of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon and declaring, “One small step man. One giant leap for mankind.”

The wrapping with art from around the world of the 37 tall Saturn V Rocket replica standing at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama has been rescheduled to now coincide with the 50th anniversary of JFK’s lofty challenge. The “Dream Rocket” project, in response to individuals and teachers who would like to participate, has now provided additional time for that opportunity. In May and June 2011, the “Saturn V Moon Rocket” is to be transformed into the world’s largest collaborative art project. Powerful both in message and scale, it will represent the challenges of our future.

Amazing Endeavors, by Iris Frank, American Quilter, March 2010

Sometimes "amazing" is the only adjective that adequately describes a quilting endeavor. The Interdependence Tree Project is the second in our series of remarkable quilting achievements.

Read the full article

New Year Spawns Visions of Peace, by Deb Anderson

Under the direction of Joy Bergstrand academic enrichment coordinator for the School District of the Menomonie Area, 30 students from three Menomonie schools worked colaboratively on a fabric panel for The Dream Rocket in Huntsville Ala. Students from Wakanda, River Heights and Oaklawn participated.

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Soaring Dreams, by Pamela Powers, Menomie News Bureau, Monday December 28, 2009

A group of Menomonie students is joining peolpe from 100 countries to help create a 36,467 - square - foot wrap for a replica rocket at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

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'Dream Rocket' director to speak at Marshall Association meeting Jan. 26

The Marshall Association will hold its next luncheon meeting Jan. 26, featuring a guest speaker who is taking a quilting project to new heights.

Jennifer Marsh, director of the "Dream Rocket" project, will discuss how the project works with individuals, schools and organizations to create and submit over 8,000 quilt panels to represent the dreams people have from all over the world. During May and June, the quilt will be completely wrapped over the 363-foot Saturn V rocket model in front of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, making it the world's largest collaborative art project with 30,467 square feet of material.

The project is supported by the International Fiber Collaborative, a nonprofit organization founded in Huntsville by Marsh in 2007. The organization promotes global, collaborative, public art initiatives, seeking to connect art and education in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The Marshall Association meeting will be at 11 a.m. at the Redstone Officers' & Civilians' Club in Building 130 on Golf Course Road. Lunch will be $13 for Marshall Association members and $15 for nonmembers. Team members planning

to attend should contact Angie Williams at angie. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 544-2797 by noon Jan. 22. Any cancellations after that date or no-shows will be expected to pay.

For those interested in joining the association, a $25 membership fee can be paid at the door, or contact Teresa Foley-Batts at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 544-0335. Membership is open to the entire Marshall community.

Membership dues help fund scholarships for college- bound children of association members. The association typically grants two or more awards annually: one to a student pursuing a technical degree in a field such as science, engineering or mathematics; and another to a student majoring in a nontechnical field. Eligible applicants for 2010 scholarships must be entering their freshman year of college this fall. The call for scholarship applications will be announced in the near future.

For a list of benefits and advantages of Marshall Association membership, visit http://inside.msfc.nasa.gov/marshall_association/.

For more information on the Dream Rocket, visit http://www.thedreamrocket.com/.

New York may have its Empire State building, Paris, its Eiffel Tower, D.C. its Washington Monument, but Huntsville, Alabama can lay claim to the Saturn V Moon Rocket, an exact replica of the vessel that took man to the moon.