PROJECT: INNOVATE 2012 Statewide

Recycled Fashion Challenge

Amy Migliore - Design Issues Chair    

Art as a team sport?! What positive changes might occur to the perception of arts education if it functioned more like a team sport at times? There are booster clubs and parent groups for sports teams and band/choir departments, but there are rarely organized support groups for the visual arts in public schools. This is partially due to the fact that the teams and bands are so big, they cannot hide in a room-- they are always in public view and provide interactive and engaging entertainment in a format that can't be ignored. Comparatively, the magic of our art classes is often hidden within our building walls and displayed quietly along the walls for visitors or on a few selected evenings toward the end of the year. We all know the hard work and dedication that occurs in our art rooms during the year, but there still seems to be staff, administrators and community members who perceive us as nice, but non-vital, faculty members who make pretty things with the students and consume a lot of costly materials along the way. Sometimes you just need to re-frame an idea or method to change the perception of others.

     One way that Project Innovate is seeking to change perceptions of Arts Education is to showcase design challenges as a team sport and involve the local community as partners. By using the current fashion craze as a source of inspiration, groups of students are formed into design teams and challenged to use Recycled, Re-purposed, Altered, & Non-Traditional materials (R.R.A.N.T.) to construct a wearable piece of sculpture/fashion. When students are given the opportunity to work on creative design teams the class atmosphere can transform into one that is collaborative rather than individually competitive. Instead of concentrating solely on technical skills of a specific medium, the primary focus becomes the conceptual innovation of the wearable sculpture. When you change the culture of a class, you can change the culture of a school as well. As we've piloted this at Quakertown, we had to depend on staff, family and community business to provide us with materials that would typically be discarded. Those people then became intrigued with the final outcome and automatically became fans because they were involved and engaged. We also intentionally asked for staff members and administration to sponsor the design teams--by sending a word of encouragement, offering small snacks and committing to be at the final Runway Show. It was surprising how many people signed up to be a sponsor because they were excited to be involved with the students in something fun!

     The Project Innovate State-wide Challenge wants to connect art students together, connect those students to other supportive staff members, connect art departments with neighboring districts and finally connect districts to the state of Pennsylvania! In a challenging economy and social climate like we are in, it is imperative that we strengthen and support each other!

     We are looking forward to connecting with as many of our fellow art educators who are risk-takers and innovators! Please consider joining us for this PROJECT INNOVATE adventure so we can celebrate the possibilities of re-defining what art departments can be!

See more pictures of the fashions and the students featured in the Allentown Morning Call. 

Interested? Download the materials here and contact Amy at amigliore@qcsd.org to sign up!