Eric Solorio was a Chicago police officer who lost his life in the line of duty. He was a member of the community and a much-beloved role model on the local scene. The school has adopted the Chicago Police Star as it’s logo. I had been painting stars for a couple of years and recognized it’s power as a potential unifying symbol for our class to get behind. We looked at art throughout the ages that used “sacred geometry” and “stars”, from Buddhist mandalas to Islamic temple art. We looked at contemporary artists like Sol Lewitt and Michelle Grabner’s spheres and stars. We discussed rules. The apprentices accepted the “star” concept enthusiastically, and work began on the most ambitious project I’ve ever worked on as an ASM teaching artist. The kids made a simple set of rules- no one can use the five-pointed police star, it had to be four up to infinity. They debated and democratically voted on a final color list- only shades of red, blue, and yellow are allowed, and white is allowed anytime. That’s it, no purples, greens, blacks or grays. They also decided that the natural wood would be the background.