Student Sanaa Carpenter
I chose the medium of plastics to show that the sea creatures are dying because of it. I engaged with this medium in the past by using plastic like water bottles, soda ,and plastic bags. I came up with the idea of a sea horse as my piece by searching up ideas and a sea horse caught in plastic came up. What inspired my work and creative process is seeing sea creatures suffer from all the plastic and seeing other people make sea creatures out of many different plastics like coffee cups, coffee lids, and plastic bottles. What I have learned through my exploration of the contest theme in your story, our ocean, is that people pollute the sea so much to the point sea creatures are starting to die because of the plastics because they are choking on the plastics and getting caught/trapped in the plastics and we should take more care of the world instead of trying to harm it. My message to the viewers of my artwork is that we should stop harming the sea and don't have plastics near the sea and if you do then throw it out properly.
Student Joseph Everette
We had to agree with our classmates on what we wanted to choose and see how we saw what we needed to do. The way I came up with my work piece is a show that I used to watch when I was a kid and thought it would be a good idea to make the project that I made. The show inspired my work and my creative process was how long that it took and the ideas that came up to make my project. The thing that I learned was that we need to clean our water supplies, and show how the plastic in the oceans is hurting the sea animals. This is showing that the garbage that we have is polluting the ocean and showing with a cartoon that his town is getting polluted by humans.
Student Anolicke Iradukunda
I created an installation with my class using plastic and found items to create ocean marine animals. I have engaged with this medium in the past by using plastic and found objects to create craft art. After an artistic voting process in our class, we were presented with an idea that focused on our local waterways and how potential pollution can end up in the ocean. We decided to use inspiration from our senior classmates in the STEM class. They were focused on designing drain grates that keep plastics and other trash out of our water. After much brainstorming and sketching, we decided to showcase the grates, the pollution, and how marine life can still be impacted. My goal was for my work and my class’ creative process to bring awareness to ocean ecosystems. I have learned that there are things that happen in the oceans that most people don't know about. My message to the viewers of my artwork is that our oceans produce half the world's oxygen yet they face dangerous threats from pollution and habitat destruction but it's not too late to help fix it and bring more awareness.
Student Shamar Land
My classmates and I made an interactive installation piece with recycled plastics. My creative process of creating a sea turtle from the plastic and it helped me to see how plastics can get into the water supply both locally and also in the ocean. My class did a voting process to decide what we were doing but my vote was not selective but I was happy with what we actually chose. I have never worked with this medium in the past, but this new opportunity gave me a lot of inspiration to try it. Something that inspired my work was using the bottle caps and glue to make a sea turtle that was then added to the big installation. Although I'm not really into art, this process allowed me to appreciate it, have fun, and learn something new. I feel like I learned a lot of environmental issues that I did not know before in both science and art class . What I learned through the exploration of the contest theme is that sea animals are dying because they keep choking and getting trapped in the plastic and our drinking water is also impacted both locally and worldwide by the plastic that's being put in the water supply.
Student Jonathan Ramos
The Make America GRATE Again is a piece of installation art with a satirical title that shows how much the United States Government has done to help with pollutants and climate issues thus far. We as a collective chose the medium because it felt like it was most suited to the Buffalo, NY area, using litter and garbage to form an inspirational interactive installation.
At Tapestry Charter High, in the Steam course, the students were tasked with creating grates that could help solve the issue of litter and pollutants in our local waterways. We decided to use their work and expand on it as seen fit, using the grates along with litter collected from both the grates and community donation to create plastic animals and relate it to both global and local issues.
Working on this piece personally, made me realize how major of an issue of litter in Buffalo has become. Creating grates is, of course, a short and easy solution to a growing problem but personally I don’t think that’s good enough, we as a collective need to make an effort to better the planet that we are actively destroying, not just for the environment but for us as well. We want to convey a message that shows what effect simply throwing a bottle cap out the car window can do, and how eventually when it does reach the ocean who or what it will end up affecting (with some creative liberties of course).
Student Kamora Ramos
We choose interactive installation, we choose this medium so people can connect and understand how plastic can be avoided in the ocean with the nets we've made and also how sea animals have to endure living in an ocean surrounded with plastic. No, I have not engaged with this medium before.
I came up with the idea through brainstorming what would be a good sea animal to represent ocean awareness and I chose the octopus because I've always admired their intelligence and ability to squeeze through small objects which fit perfectly making it out of plastic. My fascination for sea animals like octopus, hermit crabs and more have inspired my work and creative process. I have learned through my exploration of the Contest theme, Your Story, Our Ocean: How Our Ocean sustains, Protects and Inspire Us that the Ocean is connecting every body of water together, our installation is based off preventative ways to keep plastic and debris out the ocean, if we want the ocean to look more healthy, I should Also start doing more instead of being wasteful in my plastic use. The message I want to send is Do your part recycle when you can because even lakes and rivers still lead to the ocean. And no sea animal deserves to live in a bad environment because of our neglect.
Student Maycherry Sen
My classmates and I chose an interactive piece of recycled plastics and created oceanic animals from them. We came up with the interactive art from the drain grates designed by the STEAM class and we expanded on the work they did through an artistic process that took over the past 2 and a half months. We were inspired by the grate drains designed by the STEAM class and used the collected plastic from our streets to create our oceanic animal designs. Learning about the STEAM class’ drain grates, and how different types of drains prevent various plastics from getting into our waterways. We hope that our project brings awareness to plastic pollution and inspires people to not leave plastic in the streets, local waterways, and oceans. I hope people will look at our Make America GRATE Again Project and walk away with how we can be more involved in the process of preventing pollution from getting into our waterways and oceans no matter our political hardships.
