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'Tecmo Bowl' recreation of Super Bowl XLIV
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Do IT this week: Layering
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 10:42 a.m. EDT, Jun 26, 2009
Rain barrels are good for the Earth, but they're not always easy on the eye. So a group of young artists has set out to change that.
The 10 teens have been turning plain plastic barrels into works of functional art as participants in Arts LIFT, a three-week arts apprenticeship at the University of Akron that ends Wednesday. The 50 decorated rain barrels will be auctioned at two events, and any that remain will be sold online by Keep Akron Beautiful.
The project was the idea of Elisa Gargarella, an art education professor at the university and the director of Arts LIFT. (LIFT stands for Lola Isroff Fund for Teens, the endowment fund that pays for the program.)
Gargarella has a background in environmental education and a rain barrel in her own yard, but she's heard friends say they wouldn't want one because they're ugly.
That sparked an idea of turning the containers into works of public art. It's a way ''to marry art and function and do good,'' she said.
The barrels will benefit not only the environment, but Keep Akron Beautiful as well. Proceeds from their sale will go to the organization to help fund its Greenprint for Akron environmentalism programs.
A rain barrel is a large, closed drum that is connected to a downspout to collect and hold rainwater that runs off the roof. The water is tapped from a spigot near the bottom of the barrel. The water can't be consumed, but it can be used for purposes such as watering plants or washing cars.
The barrels decorated by the Arts LIFT students were made from recycled 55-gallon containers that once held tomato juice.
During the process, the students have been guided by Greg Nanney and Nick Alley, fine-art printmakers who work with a traveling educational outreach project called Drive by Press. The two visit universities to lecture on printmaking and its context in art history and to display the more than 2,000 fine-art prints that artists have given them in their travels — an undertaking they fund by selling T-shirts they print out of the back of their van.
The rain barrel project isn't just an art experience, however. Gargarella first wanted to increase the students' understanding of water-use issues, so the project started with some environmental education.
The participants toured Akron's sewage treatment plant — a memory that later prompted some wrinkled noses — and heard lectures about collecting rainwater and conserving water.
They then developed designs for their barrels, a challenge that involved properly scaling the designs and making sure they would translate well from a two-dimensional piece of paper to a three-dimensional cylinder. Some elements of the designs were spray painted onto the barrels using stencils the students created; others were screen printed onto paper, cut out and attached to the plastic barrels. The barrels are to be coated with polyurethane to protect the designs.
Each student transferred his or her design to four barrels. The rest of the barrels were decorated in a collaborative effort.
The students have had to learn to adapt their designs, accept criticism and work together on the group designs. For some, it might have been the most one-on-one attention — and the most intense critiques — they'd ever experienced from art instructors, noted Amy Szwast, the Arts LIFT director's assistant.
''That's a hard thing, I think, for young people to take,'' Gargarella said.
J-C Jones-Kern, who will be a junior at Firestone High School in the fall, had to change her design for purely practical reasons: She'd intended her flock of birds to be printed all in orange, ''but they ran out of ink,'' she said. Still, it was a happy compromise. She liked the haphazardly mottled look that resulted from using two colors instead of one.
J-C also was challenged by having to enlarge her design 650 percent to fit the barrel. ''There's a surprising amount of math that goes into screen printing,'' she said.
Josh Palan, another Firestone junior, designed his barrel to resemble a can of soda pop, complete with a bar code with ''free refill'' written underneath and ''rain barrel facts'' in place of the nutrition facts (serving size, 55 fl. gal.; servings per container, 1; contains: 100% all natural rain water).
The project involved scanning elements from the label of a Diet Coke bottle into his computer, reworking them with Photoshop and researching information to incorporate into his new label. He'd never done a project like that, he said, so it helped the creative process that he had no preconceived ideas. ''I put myself out of my element,'' he said.
The other Arts LIFT participants are Garfield High School junior Mariana Juarez; recent Firestone graduate Elizabeth Aronhalt, who is headed for Miami University; Firestone juniors Rebecca Aronhalt, Jacob Steele and Lauren Purkhiser; and Firestone seniors Heather Trimble, Simone Griffiths and Nick Hafner.
The annual summer program is open to students from Akron's public high schools, who are selected through an application process.
Gargarella and Szwast said they hope the experience encourages the students to take a more responsible role in their communities and use their art for the greater good.
''Art can speak volumes and have an activist role,'' Gargarella said. ''I want students to think about what place their art has in the world.''
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Rain barrels are good for the Earth, but they're not always easy on the eye. So a group of young artists has set out to change that.
The 10 teens have been turning plain plastic barrels into works of functional art as participants in Arts LIFT, a three-week arts apprenticeship at the University of Akron that ends Wednesday. The 50 decorated rain barrels will be auctioned at two events, and any that remain will be sold online by Keep Akron Beautiful.
The project was the idea of Elisa Gargarella, an art education professor at the university and the director of Arts LIFT. (LIFT stands for Lola Isroff Fund for Teens, the endowment fund that pays for the program.)
Gargarella has a background in environmental education and a rain barrel in her own yard, but she's heard friends say they wouldn't want one because they're ugly.
That sparked an idea of turning the containers into works of public art. It's a way ''to marry art and function and do good,'' she said.
The barrels will benefit not only the environment, but Keep Akron Beautiful as well. Proceeds from their sale will go to the organization to help fund its Greenprint for Akron environmentalism programs.
A rain barrel is a large, closed drum that is connected to a downspout to collect and hold rainwater that runs off the roof. The water is tapped from a spigot near the bottom of the barrel. The water can't be consumed, but it can be used for purposes such as watering plants or washing cars.
The barrels decorated by the Arts LIFT students were made from recycled 55-gallon containers that once held tomato juice.
During the process, the students have been guided by Greg Nanney and Nick Alley, fine-art printmakers who work with a traveling educational outreach project called Drive by Press. The two visit universities to lecture on printmaking and its context in art history and to display the more than 2,000 fine-art prints that artists have given them in their travels — an undertaking they fund by selling T-shirts they print out of the back of their van.
The rain barrel project isn't just an art experience, however. Gargarella first wanted to increase the students' understanding of water-use issues, so the project started with some environmental education.
The participants toured Akron's sewage treatment plant — a memory that later prompted some wrinkled noses — and heard lectures about collecting rainwater and conserving water.
They then developed designs for their barrels, a challenge that involved properly scaling the designs and making sure they would translate well from a two-dimensional piece of paper to a three-dimensional cylinder. Some elements of the designs were spray painted onto the barrels using stencils the students created; others were screen printed onto paper, cut out and attached to the plastic barrels. The barrels are to be coated with polyurethane to protect the designs.
Each student transferred his or her design to four barrels. The rest of the barrels were decorated in a collaborative effort.
The students have had to learn to adapt their designs, accept criticism and work together on the group designs. For some, it might have been the most one-on-one attention — and the most intense critiques — they'd ever experienced from art instructors, noted Amy Szwast, the Arts LIFT director's assistant.
''That's a hard thing, I think, for young people to take,'' Gargarella said.
J-C Jones-Kern, who will be a junior at Firestone High School in the fall, had to change her design for purely practical reasons: She'd intended her flock of birds to be printed all in orange, ''but they ran out of ink,'' she said. Still, it was a happy compromise. She liked the haphazardly mottled look that resulted from using two colors instead of one.
J-C also was challenged by having to enlarge her design 650 percent to fit the barrel. ''There's a surprising amount of math that goes into screen printing,'' she said.
Josh Palan, another Firestone junior, designed his barrel to resemble a can of soda pop, complete with a bar code with ''free refill'' written underneath and ''rain barrel facts'' in place of the nutrition facts (serving size, 55 fl. gal.; servings per container, 1; contains: 100% all natural rain water).
The project involved scanning elements from the label of a Diet Coke bottle into his computer, reworking them with Photoshop and researching information to incorporate into his new label. He'd never done a project like that, he said, so it helped the creative process that he had no preconceived ideas. ''I put myself out of my element,'' he said.
The other Arts LIFT participants are Garfield High School junior Mariana Juarez; recent Firestone graduate Elizabeth Aronhalt, who is headed for Miami University; Firestone juniors Rebecca Aronhalt, Jacob Steele and Lauren Purkhiser; and Firestone seniors Heather Trimble, Simone Griffiths and Nick Hafner.
The annual summer program is open to students from Akron's public high schools, who are selected through an application process.
Gargarella and Szwast said they hope the experience encourages the students to take a more responsible role in their communities and use their art for the greater good.
''Art can speak volumes and have an activist role,'' Gargarella said. ''I want students to think about what place their art has in the world.''
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 09:14 PM, 06/26/2009
RAWR!! Aerosol spraypaint good for the earffffff!!!
