Students at the Intermediate Unit 1 Clark Campus in Washington County started the school year off with a fresh coat of paint! Through the Rural Arts Collaborative, an initiative funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the IU1 Educational Campus at Clark received $10,000 for a one year Artist in Residency project that kicked off in . The Artist in Residency project at Clark is just one of the many residency projects taking place at schools in Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties funded by the Rural Arts Collaborative.
For more than 25 years the IU1 Educational Campus at Clark has been serving students and school districts in Washington County. Throughout the years Clark has conducted a variety of student-led projects from ceramic arts to theater arts and more. This project, however, is the first of its kind to be introduced at the school. The one-year Artist in Residency project at Clark is a two-part project that includes not only installation art at the Clark Campus, but an installation piece that will be permanently placed in a nearby Washington County park.
Shortly after the project launched, students began brainstorming with local multimedia and mural artist, Diane Adams, on what their vision for the installation piece would be. Teams of students researched and created designs related to their school and hometown deciding to create several murals throughout the school. As the first semester comes to a close, students are hard at work preparing the walls, creating murals, and thinking about the next step in the project.
“Once the project began and paint started to go on the walls, you could see the students get more and more involved and excited. Ms. Adams has been great with the students, giving them the opportunity to express their ideas and show their creativity. We look forward to the next step in the project and seeing our students work placed in our community,” said Craig Hummell, IU1 Clark Campus Prinicpal.
By the end of the school year Clark students will have created over ten murals throughout the school. Students are looking forward to working on the installation piece for the local Washington county park, which will be installed in the summer of along with other local school district’s projects. Intermediate Unit 1 looks forward to seeing the student’s final creations and the transformation of the Clark Campus.