The Public Art Enterprise uses public art as a vehicle to deliver STEM education, applied skills, and creative placemaking in Southern communities.
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Students across field of study—including welding, engineering, polymer science, art and design, and communications—collaborate with professional artists in media such as steel and glass to envision, fabricate, and install large-scale sculptures in their cities and towns, inspired by local identity, history, and landscapes.
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Through the process of site selection, community-engaged design, and problem solving with local stakeholders and officials, the program fosters collaboration across often-siloed sectors of education, arts and culture, industry, government, and economic development.
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Designing the sculpture has helped me realize my interest more in the artistic side of designing and building, not only the engineering and construction and fabrication . . . . [it] definitely made my path for the future more clear.
—MATTHEW PAULS, Pascagoula High School
PROGRAM HISTORY:
PASCAGOULA, MS | 2020-22
WAVELAND, MS | 2023
SPREAD FROM FALL 2022 EDITION OF THE ISLANDER MAGAZINE (USE CONTROLS TO ZOOM IN)
Over the course of the 2023 program, approximately 25 high school students from Hancock County will work with professional artists to design, fabricate, and install a steel and glass sculpture in Waveland, Mississippi.
Students will find inspiration through excursions into coastal environments, conduct community-engaged design work to solicit public input, collaborate with professional artists to design and engineer the steel structure, and participate in fabrication to bring the artwork to life. Upon completion, the sculpture will be gifted to the City of Waveland and installed as a landmark of community pride and wayfinding.
Teaching artists for the Waveland Public Enterprise are Mitchell Gaudet and Erica Larkin Gaudet of Studio Waveland.
2023 PROGRAM SCHEDULE
(specific dates will be chosen in coordination with student-participants and academic calendars)
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APR/MAY/JUN
Site Selection
Nature Excursion Sculpture
Design Brainstorming
Glassmaking Workshop
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SUMMER
Summer Fabrication Camp​
Meetings with Engineering Professionals
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FALL/WINTER
Additional Fabrication
Sculpture Installation and Unveiling
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
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THE CITY OF WAVELAND
STUDIO WAVELAND
HANCOCK COUNTY TECHNICAL CENTER
WAVELAND’S GROUND ZERO
HURRICANE MUSEUM
GULFSIDE ASSEMBLY
MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH FUNDING FROM:
