"I Am...You" at HUBweek: Behind the Scenes

By Moon Hye Yu, Education Intern

From October 12-15th, "I Am...You" was open to the public at HUBweek Boston, a festival celebrating innovation in art and technology. Hundreds of visitors came to our installation at City Hall Plaza over the weekend and were invited to add to three fiber and whiteboard murals exploring empathy, identity, and community.

You might have already seen the time-lapse video of "I Am...You" when it was on view at HUBweek. Read on to find out the process behind the creation of the whiteboard murals, which started with ARCK's seventh-grade students at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School (LGF) in Dorchester and Gardner Pilot Academy (GPA) in Allston!

The students created their own logos in relation to their identity, community, and society.

First, they chose what to draw:

Left: Marcio, an LGF 7th grader, drawing his logo. Right: Ruthson, in 7th grade at GPA, creating a collage of his logo in combination with drawing. They were allowed to draw and collage with black colored paper to have more room to express themselves. 


After this process, students scaled up their logo using mathematics, up to three times the original size. In this process, they calculated using rulers, and measured and divided multiple numbers and measurements to scale up the drawing.

We also had sharing time at the end of each class. Yasmine from LGF explained the message behind her logo (an eye): "I want people to know that even though us kids don't look like we are paying attention to what's going on around the world, we are paying attention."

Students were also involved in the rest of the panel prep by painting on the boards and sanding. Then, using a projector, they traced their logos on the painted board with marker.






























Before they painted on the actual mural, students practiced clean and crisp line painting.


During this process, they learned how to control paint, brush, and brush strokes. They became more focused and calm.

   
Dariel from GPA painting carefully on the mural

On each of the eight mural panels, students' passion and enthusiasm came alive. 

Thank you to all who helped with this project, especially classroom teachers Katharine Atkins-Pattenson at GPA and Alice Laramore at the Frederick School, Carl Solander of Reverse Architecture and Paul DeStefano for aiding in design and construction, Seema Krish Textiles for donating fabric swatches, and our friends at HUBweek Boston. Art takes a village, and we couldn't have done it without you!