• The ArtWorks fall program for Creative Futures apprentices will participate in the Mississippi River Watershed Public Art Project with NY artist Jackie Brookner in the development of a public art project for the Riverfront Trail along the Mississippi River. The community-based, large-scale public artwork will raise awareness of environmental issues related specifically to the Mississippi River Watershed as well as serve as a functioning work in the Watershed. Students will be active participants in conceptualizing/designing the project, in collaboration with a broad community of stakeholders.
Active community participation, across a range of organizations, institutions and constituencies, is essential so that the project has meaning for many generations. The workshop will include engagements with students at Sam Fox School of Architecture, Trailnet, St. Louis ArtWorks, Grace Hill AmeriCorps Trail Rangers Program, the National Park Service, Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation, St. Louis Development Corporation, the Confluence Greenway, Great Rivers Greenway, and Grace Hill Settlement House.
As an end goal, they should not only know what a watershed is, but be able to map and/or make a model (as a group) of the complex St. Louis watersheds as well as a personal one as they learn where the water they drink comes from. They should be able to map the watershed in relationship to themselves – create their own personal watershed maps, gather water from their own watershed, etc.
• Pilot pre-professional program for 10 SLAW apprentices teaching SLCCM course IS:141, Graphics for the Web. This class introduces students to Photoshop and Flash Animation. In addition to the online content of the class, ArtWorks students will learn from instructor Margaret Hvatum coming two afternoons a week on a volunteer basis to cover the material. Our Artist in Residence Kevin McCoy will work collaboratively with Margaret to cover the material; Margaret would concentrate on teaching the Flash Animation portion of IS:141 while Kevin teaches the elements of design that are so important for Photoshop. At the end of this IS:141 class, all students have a final project which consists of making an animated greeting card that uses both Photoshop and Flash animation; we will focus on a graduation card and a mothers day card for our designs and market them at our web site. Each apprentice will be dually-enrolled in St. Louis Community College at Meramec and their high school, each receiving 3 college credits for the course.
• Boomerang Press Advanced youth will participate in the Boomerang Gang completing graphic design services for clients of Boomerang Press one day a week or as needed. These teens are returning apprentices with beginning to advanced skills in CS3 programs using Photoshop, Illustrator and In Design. Clients so far include Cultural Festivals and Southwest Bank.