What happens when you mix two people who are good with kids and like to fix bicycles? An environmentally focused art program that engages kids in the creation of bicycle sculptures! The results of which will be on display at the Grant Street Gallery on Friday September 3rd from 6:00-9:00pm, located at 220 Grant Street (at Lafayette Avenue).
This project was conceived at the Gloria J Parks Community Center by Arts Coordinator, Alissa Corby and Program Director, David Harter, both Green Options Buffalo volunteers.
The students, who ranged in age from six to ten years old, worked to deconstruct the bicycles and recreate them into works of art with guidance on the proper use of tools in a hands on, collaborative setting. All bicycles, bicycle parts and appropriate bicycle tools were supplied through Green Options Buffalo's community bicycle workshop, which offers classes that are available to all members of the community to learn how to recycle, repair, and maintain bicycles.
Throughout the project, students worked in teams and individually, helping each other in supportive and noncompetitive ways. Alissa Corby stated that "While building their sculptures, students had total freedom in the design and construction of their projects. Each created a concept on paper and then worked slowly through the challenges posed by bonding pieces together, distributing weight and accomplishing their visual goals."
Through this project there was a specific focus on engaging students in environmental issues providing them with a sense of stewardship of their world. Program Director, David Harter explained, "We tried to expose the students to a lot this summer. It was important for us to have kids walk away with both a greater sense of curiosity about the world and a greater understanding of their capacity to alter it."
Through the generosity of Prish Moran to donate the space at the Grant Street gallery, these youth will have their work on display for the public to view. As Dave Harter went on to say, "for these youth to be able to see their recycled art on display at The Grant Street Gallery, made with their own hands, tells them that their efforts are respected and worthwhile. Lessons that, we can only hope, they will carry with them forever."
Come support the artists of Buffalo, present and future!
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This project was conceived at the Gloria J Parks Community Center by Arts Coordinator, Alissa Corby and Program Director, David Harter, both Green Options Buffalo volunteers.
The students, who ranged in age from six to ten years old, worked to deconstruct the bicycles and recreate them into works of art with guidance on the proper use of tools in a hands on, collaborative setting. All bicycles, bicycle parts and appropriate bicycle tools were supplied through Green Options Buffalo's community bicycle workshop, which offers classes that are available to all members of the community to learn how to recycle, repair, and maintain bicycles.
Throughout the project, students worked in teams and individually, helping each other in supportive and noncompetitive ways. Alissa Corby stated that "While building their sculptures, students had total freedom in the design and construction of their projects. Each created a concept on paper and then worked slowly through the challenges posed by bonding pieces together, distributing weight and accomplishing their visual goals."
Through this project there was a specific focus on engaging students in environmental issues providing them with a sense of stewardship of their world. Program Director, David Harter explained, "We tried to expose the students to a lot this summer. It was important for us to have kids walk away with both a greater sense of curiosity about the world and a greater understanding of their capacity to alter it."
Through the generosity of Prish Moran to donate the space at the Grant Street gallery, these youth will have their work on display for the public to view. As Dave Harter went on to say, "for these youth to be able to see their recycled art on display at The Grant Street Gallery, made with their own hands, tells them that their efforts are respected and worthwhile. Lessons that, we can only hope, they will carry with them forever."
Come support the artists of Buffalo, present and future!
I remember there was a time when a parent would drive down the street on garbage day looking for someone who threw out a bike so they could afford to give their children a bike.
I remember when that kid and the parent would save to get a new rim or a new tire, they would learn how to build and repair a bike, teach pride in workmanship maybe even one day get a job fixing bikes.
Sorry, but this is building a false sense of confidence. There is no value added to this. No one is going to go up to that kid and say...you did a great job here is some money go make me a nice bike scuplture for my dining room centerpiece.
Come on, we left the 1960s LSD world 50 years ago. You want art then teach them real art in drawing, photography, painting, sculpting, there is even art in landscaping, masonary (sidewalks and building facades), etc. Heck there is art in culinary (wedding cakes for example), florists, wordworking, etc.
Come on, dont give a kid false confidence with art that cannot be differentiated from a zoo animal and has no commercial value.
Teach them art that has commercial value and will give them a lifetime of rewards to further their craft.
To quote a great philosopher, 'I think
what every child needs and ought to have every day is two hours of daydreaming. Plain old daydreaming.'
Kids don't need vocations, they should be using their imagination.
Cognito Ergo Sum
Wrong there are some vocations that can be started as children. Music and Voice lessons are an example of such vocations.
Assembling bicycle sculptures and displaying them in a gallery isnt grade school water colors your putting on your grandmothers refrigerator.
No one should take a kids childhood away
No one should deprive a child of love and self esteem
But your wrong...if your going to teach a child a craft and give them the self esteem and dignity of a real and honest complement...that anyone would give...dont set them up...to let the outside world tell them their efforts are a worthless waste of time.
A child will have more sincere lesson in pride of work, dignity and self esteem in displaying say a beautifully decorated cake or say a beautiful garden. They can still play or work. They can do it alone or cooperatively. They can work at their own pace or on a schedule. Whatever but at the end of the day...those are real compliments for real work. "Wow you did that...I wish you would do that with me"
Get the zoo gorilla to put together a bicycle sculpture and ask the audience to judge the difference and the commercial value. The insult of that lesson would be the same lesson those kids would get deflating the pride of their work outside the gallery environment.
Part of the focus of this project was practical training. The structured deconstruction of an object is a valuable learning experience. Most of these kids had never seen a crescent wrench, much less a chain breaking tool. The deconstruction of the bikes was taught in a structured way that demanded proper tool use; a very practical skill.
The above is not to suggest that building the sculptures was invaluable. The freedom allowed to the students offered them the challenges of building with different materials and realizing, hands-on, their limitations; also a very practical skill.
The creative side of the project opened all of those doors for practical problem solving in a fun and engaging way. Most importantly, it was THEIR way. Students are so often forced to learn in such strictly defined parameters they don't get to experience the joy of self-guided, exploratory learning. The kind of learning that a child in the fifties, who wanted his own bike might have done with a doting father.
As for the materials, you're right. Our consumer crazy culture is sickening, I'd prefer that we didn't throw so much out. These bikes however, were odd sizes and beyond any reasonable repair when considered against the volume of bicycles that are in need of repair around the city. It seems we're both against a culture of over-consumption. Maybe you could volunteer at the community shop and help some refugees build the bicycles that will serve as their transportation? We can always use the help and it's a great way to make sure that stuff doesn't wind up in the trash and gets to people who need it. It's a great way to teach and share knowledge, which it sounds like you have.
Using the old bike parts offered us the opportunity to have a lot of discussion about where they came from and why they were discarded. The project opened the doors for conversation about the worlds resources. The (economic) value of art is not a discussion that I think is worth having, but the intrinsic value of art to the human experience is (I believe) valuable at all ages. I was really glad we got to do this. Sounds like you are in want of some more practical ways of helping. If you'd like I can set you up with a number of volunteer opportunities that might satisfy that desire.
We also planted a tree this summer, with help from Re-Tree Buffalo. The kids did all the work and now when they pass that tree in the park they can see the product of that work as a benefit to society at large. The same is true of the bike sculptures. When the students see their work in a gallery it says that the adult world appreciates their effort. It says that their effort is valuable, which I think is indisputable considering the alternative. I think humans like having their effort recognized at any age, six years old or sixty. Do I expect all these students to become abstract artists? Nope. But, if they continue to have conscious, thought provoking parents and teachers, I do expect them to be amazing people.
_dave
'Cognito Ergo Sum'
Huh? I recognize, therefore I am? You are surely the malaprop king of BRO.
ChristieLou, you are never more out of your shallow depths than when you're pretending to be a linguist, philosopher, or art expert.
If you've ever been to an art museum in your life, I'll assume that you've gone incognito.
no doubt he is prostate with grief over that latest malapropism...
What planet are you from?!
They worked on a project and it's being displayed in a gallery. I'm sure they're beaming.
Who are you to belittle what they did because you're so close minded. They're kids for crying out loud.