Seekonk Art Students Find Themselves in 'Sticky' Situation

If the late great American artist George Segal - known for his plaster cast figures - were alive today he would surely be proud of the art students. For the past several months four classes of sculpture students, under the guidance of teachers Elizabeth Machado-Cook and Nancy Corrigan Wilbert, created dozens of life-sized figures for ‘High Art: Blurring the Lines,’ an exhibition at the Attleboro Arts Museum.

“We chose to make people interacting with other people – dancing, shaking hands, proposing,” said sophomore Mary Cote.

Students were paired into groups and used tape – sticky side out - to wrap their own body parts for the figures. The casts were then wrapped with tape – sticky side in – to create the mass of the figure. During the construction process students learned about concept development, the limitations of their tape medium, and how to work as a team to solve problems.

Senior Devin Irving unfortunately learned more than he bargained for about the hazards of working with tape. “The hair got ripped off my arm, and when they were removing the cast my shirt got cut.”

On Friday 25 out of the 100 sculpture students installed the figures at the museum as part of a juried competition with nine other regional high schools. The exhibit offers the students a chance to showcase their work in a professional environment. Judges, who are arts professionals, will determine which high school projects qualify for awards. According to Cook, some of the awards include a financial component.

“When we got to the museum there were about five other schools with work already up. We were the only ones so far who actually created an installation. The other artwork was murals. Everyone's work was very beautiful...its going to be tough competition,” said Cook.

‘High Art: Blurring the Lines’ will be on view at the Attleboro Arts Museum from May 17 to June 1. An opening reception will be held on Thursday May 19, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.