Shoe sculpture at North Vermilion remembers the Holocaust victims

Walk into North Vermilion High School, and you will see a bunch of shoes stacked up against the wall. It looks like North Vermilion has a shoe drive. But if you go closer to the shoes, you will learn they are not real shoes.
Instead, the shoes are made of plaster and cardboard and painted to look like real shoes. The reason they are there is that they are part of a sculpture created by the four art classes at North Vermilion. The sculpture will be on display by the office for the next couple of weeks.
Teacher Kelly deClouet and her classes spent three weeks creating 150 pairs of different shoes in remembrance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was on Jan. 27.
On top of the shoes, taped to the wall are pictures of the Holocaust and a brief explanation of what the shoes represent.
The words: “Each shoe represents 33,000 people who were killed in the concentration camps because they were deemed “Life not worthy of Life.” These included Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, criminals, handicapped people, political prisoners, gypsies and more. Never Forget.”
“We decided we should do something for the Holocaust,” said deClouet. “I have heard of shoe projects that pay tribute to Holocaust victims. My students were excited to make present-day shoes. This is what it would look like if the Holocaust would happen today.”
The pile of shoes has baby shoes, kid shoes, sandals, Crocs, sneakers and dress shoes. Every pair of shoes is different.
The Art 4 class lined up the shoes to make sure at least one shoe of the 150 pairs of shoes are on display. In front of the shoes is a wire that represents barbed wire, which surrounded the camps.
“The kids loved it,” said deClouet.