Shadows on PATH400

Ten students from five Buckhead schools were honored on Jan. 24, 2015 for their creative work during a community event celebrating the opening of the first segment of PATH400, a planned 5.2-mile multi-use trail as part of the Playing with Shadows on PATH400 art contest.

“The neat aspect of this project is that it came about as the result of design challenge we were facing,” said Denise Starling, executive director of Livable Buckhead. “We needed to install these metal panels, but we wanted them to look great, and that’s when we had the idea of getting students involved.”

A panel of judges reviewed more than 150 designs submitted by kindergarten through fifth-grade students, looking to see which were best suited to be replicated on six-foot-tall steel panels. Twenty-seven finalists were chosen, and 10 of those designs were selected for manufacturing and installation along the first phase of PATH400. Each panel is backed in different colored plexiglass, allowing sunlight to shine through and light the design from behind, casting colorful patterns on the trail.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the students’ designs and the way that they look installed along PATH400. Selecting just 10 to manufacture was incredibly difficult,” said Starling. “In fact, I hope that we are able to do additional panels in other locations on the trail so we can make use of some of the other really great, creative art work that we received.”