Empowering young makers through sculptural wayfinding
For DATMA’s Bug Out, we helped manage a project that brought Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School students’ creativity out of the workshop and into Buttonwood Park. More than forty students at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School designed and fabricated oversized insects and a snail from recycled metal, with support from their teachers and visiting artists.
We helped the project by searching local recycled metal objects and bringing it to the classroom, facilitating artist visits to the classroom with local sculptors, coordinating with outside vendors for powder coating, interfacing with municipal departments, and providing feedback and encouragement to help the students turn their ideas into public artwork.
The sculptures give visitors a playful route through the park toward the zoo, with colorful creatures appearing along the walking path and near the entrance. For the students, it was a chance to use their technical skills to find their own creative voice. Their work now has a life beyond the classroom, and breathes new life into Buttonwood Park.
Massachusetts Design, Art, and Technology Institute (DATMA) presents impactful contemporary art at the intersection of design, art, and technology, combined with related community learning experiences, to spark creativity, collaboration, and economic innovation in the SouthCoast region and beyond.