Artward Bound students create public art piece for Pop Up! Dudley Connections

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) announces that an art installation created by young students in the college’s Artward Bound program was selected for “Pop Up! Dudley Connections,” a public art project through September 2014 in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Boston Art Commission. Pop Up! Dudley Connections is a series of 8 pop up art installations and performances in and around Dudley Square featuring local artists. The Artward Bound installation, called Art & Social Change: Dudley Kiosk was completed this week at Justice Gourdin Park, intersection of Mt. Washington Ave and Malcolm X Blvd, Roxbury, MA. The Artward Bound program was awarded a $1,500 commission to create this public work.

Artward Bound) is a four-year college access program in the visual arts. At home on MassArt’s campus, Artward Bound prepares youth in 9th-12th grades with the artistic and academic skills needed for admission to and success at an art or design college or other post-secondary institution. Artward Bound balances artistic development with academic progress to establish confidence in education.

“Art & Social Change: Dudley Kiosk” is an interactive sculptural screen. Viewers can interact with the piece and rotate two-sided swiveling panels, revealing a word and an image on each side that conveys ideas for positive visions for the community. The spin-able vision panels were created by rising 10th grade students in MassArt’s Artward Bound program.

In preparation to create the kiosk the students learned about visual art and artists that address social issues through visual strategies. Students also learned about symbol systems and typography and practiced different stylistic treatments with guidance from local artist/curator/activist Anabel Vasquez and local artist/designer/activist Kenji Nakayama. Students also learned about Dudley Square community issues from youth from the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP) who took Artward Bound on the Toxic Tour of Dudley Square. Artward Bound students discussed their thinking with the community activists about how visual language can raise awareness of social issues.

After investigating compelling activist art and examining what they appreciated and/or would change in the community, each student identified a word that captured the essence of a vision for the community that they wished to see. Students then created a graphic image to go along with the word, and these word/image combos were fabricated on the two sides of the panels and installed in the interactive screen in Dudley Square.

More details about “Pop-Up! Dudley Connections can be found here: http://www.publicartboston.com/content/news.

Artward Bound is made possible with support from: The Surdna Foundation, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston Foundation for Architecture, Richard and Jean Coyne Family Foundation, Mission Hill Fenway Neighborhood Trust, Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, TD Charitable Fund, The Ad Club Foundation, The Geneviève McMillan - Reba Stewart Foundation, The Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust, and Anonymous Donors.

For more information about Pop Up! Dudley Connections see http://www.publicartboston.com/content/news. For more information about Artward Bound at MassArt please see http://www.massart.edu/Continuing_Education/Youth_Programs/Artward_Bound.html or call 617.879.7124.

www.massart.edu