highlights

IU1 Fab Lab Moonshot Grant

In 2023, PCA&M partnered with Intermediate Unit 1 to apply for a ReMake Learning Moonshot Grant to support a series of Art & Digital Fabrication Residencies in the five rural school districts in Greene County. From the grant proposal: Intermediate Unit 1 (IU1) envisions a future where high-tech hands-on learning is valued and recognized for its impact on students, especially in rural schools. To make that future a reality, IU1 will partner with Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media to launch a residency program that will pair working artists with digital fabrication teachers to create unique hands-on learning experiences for students in five school districts in Greene County. 

For the first five-session pilot projects during the 2022-23 school year, Teaching Artist/Interdisciplinary Artist Katy DeMent was paired with Central Greene School District/Waynesburg Central Elementary School art teacher Rachael Kelly and Teaching Artist/Metalsmith Lindsay Huff was paired with West Greene School District/West Greene Elementary School art teacher Casey Robinson. Both pairs met with Rebecca Reeb, IU1 Fab Lab educator, and the other IU1 Fab Lab educators to both introduce processes and equipment available at the Fab Lab, and to help envision projects that would combine Teaching Artists’ practices and processes with innovative ways to incorporate technology during an introductory professional development day at IU1’s Waynesburg campus. Rebecca Reeb was on-site at all of the sessions for all of the projects, and was an invaluable resource, collaborator, and problem solver.

At Waynesburg Central Elementary School, DeMent and Kelly explored symmetry and mandalas, using the laser cutter to translate student drawings into linoleum blocks that were used to print on fabric. At West Greene Elementary School, Huff and Robinson explored negative and positive space, translating student drawings to laser cut wood, using the positives to print on paper and acetate, and the negatives to build collaborative quilts and panels.

During the next 2023-24 school year, DeMent, Huff, and Reeb again convened at IU1’s Waynesburg Fab Lab with teachers from the remaining three Greene County school districts–Lori Sagosky and Nicole Maley from Bobtown Elementary (Southeastern Greene School District), Carrie Ricco from Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School (Jefferson-Morgan School District), and Kathy Hillsman and Crystal Pratt from Carmichaels Area Elementary School (Carmichaels Area School District).

At Bobtown Elementary School, students were studying the region’s native populations. DeMent and Reeb integrated their project with the school’s social studies curriculum and utilized Fab Lab technology to create representations of artifacts that could be used as learning aids in the school’s library.

At Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School, Huff and Reeb worked with STEM teacher Carrie Ricco to create a festive winter-themed installation exploring the symmetry of snowflakes. Students first created paper collaged snowflakes and then created digital snowflake designs using CorelDRAW to create quadrants to enamel flipping and mirroring of their designs, and then using the Fab Lab mobile laser cutter to transfer their snowflakes to wood and acrylic. Students then used copper wire and beads to create hanging snowflakes that were installed in the school display cases in advance of the school holiday concert.

Concurrently at Carmichaels Area Elementary Center, Huff and Reeb worked with math and science teachers Kathy Hillsman and Crystal Pratt to undertake a similar, snowflake themed project with the fifth grade class, creating analogue/paper snowflake collages, and then again using CorelDRAW to create wood and acrylic snowflakes. With help from the fifth grade teaching team, including ELA teacher Brittany Bell and social studies teacher Dave Bates, the fifth grade hallway was transformed into a winter wonderland that astounded students and faculty.