As one of their final projects this school year, 6th graders in the Studio Art 6 classes of Ms. Lydia Scrivanich P’27 and Ms. Rachel Deutsch-Brusky (Visual Art & Design Department faculty) worked on interdisciplinary automatons. The automatons featured self-operating mechanisms, and were inspired by our planet Earth. These projects, which were eventually exhibited in The Imperatore Library, exemplified STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) learning at its best. “Through this project, students explored the ideas that we can combine knowledge from the disciplines of art, science, technology, engineering, math, and social studies to create work that is meaningful, conveys a message, and helps us reflect on what we can do to improve our world,” explained Ms. Scrivanich. With existing and found materials, students created a frame and incorporated laser-cut parts for the mechanisms that allowed motion. They used various artistic techniques and media to create their projects about the planet that demonstrated an issue they cared about, gave the viewer a message to reflect upon, showed a call to action, or simply highlighted the beauty of nature, noted Ms. Scrivanich. Viewers could actually engage with the work by turning the cranks (gently) to see the automatons in action. Amazing work by our 6th graders!
