Wellesley Community Art Project: Wellesley High School "Ecomagination" at former Neenas (made possible by Linear Retail)

Art and Community Club

Wellesley High School

Art & Community Club is a student-run club that focuses on creating and exhibiting artworks around specific themes that bring awareness to essential elements of a healthy community. This year’s exhibit, “Ecomagination”, is centered on ecological concerns. Students dealt with issues of recycling, pollution, and reminding the community that we are part of nature.

Juyon Lee

Art and Community Club President

Class of 2014

The Green Way for Change

Juyon Lee, Eva Loh, Jin Kim, Monica Ong, Zahra Pirani, and Nicki Sizing

Mosaic - wooden board, newspaper, recycled paper, aluminum cans

Our art project was inspired by Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who uses trash to create mosaic art pieces. We made paper stars out of old newspaper and used paper. The stars represent individual's hope to make a green difference. Together, they portray nature scenery of trees, flowers, and leaves. The road is made out of pieces of aluminum cans and rolls of newspaper because we wanted to remind our community that if no one tries to make a green change, we would have to step on trash that we make every day. The newspaper rolls symbolize cigarettes, which are not only harmful to our environment, but also to one's health. In addition, the parts of aluminum cans at the bottom of the board have green messages to encourage the viewer to start making a small change. If we make a green difference little by little, there'll be a greater outcome like how the stars create this nature scenery. We hope that the Wellesley community will consider how we impact our environment every day and the importance of protecting our planet.

Pin Cushion

Serena Benages

Sculpture - cookie cutter, pillowcase, newspaper bags, recycled box, yarn

Found Music

Serena Benages

Sculpture - sardine can, cigar box, coffee filter, nails, wire, newspaper bags, coke can

My artwork was made with all recycled materials. The message I portray through my art is how beauty and music can be found everywhere. These gifts are not limited to a few people, but rather the hope of the many. I was inspired to make these pieces when I first saw a musical instrument made from recycled materials. The creativity in which it was made inspired me to make it my own.

Untitled

Anonymous

Sculpture - wire, flowers, glass bottle

When Pigs Can Fly

Anonymous

Sculpture - scrap metal

Beachcombing

Cora Hersh

Painting

Trees in the Meadow

Laura Scott

Painting, acrylic

A Mirror

Chloe Kolbet

Painting, mixed media

Nature and the human spirit are deeply interconnected. The beauty and laws of one are mirrored in the other. With this knowledge one can learn deep truths about oneself through the observance and exploration of nature. Humanity, in this way, is called to immerse itself in and grow closer to nature. However, they are not one and the same. As with a mirror, the human and nature are reflections of each other, not a singular being. They differ in that the human mind sorts and classifies, while nature grows without order, making them opposites.

Humanity, therefore, is called not to become nature or even imitate it, but to morph in response to it. It is so easy to just study nature, but to grow with it is more difficult. In school, we study the wonders and beauty of nature throughout the grade levels. We are taught to respect its glory with a kind of reverence. Yet, this leaves a gap between nature and us that should not exist. Instead of living among and knowing nature with familiarity, we place it upon a pedestal, which isolates it from us. This twists and stretches the bond between humanity and nature in such a way that we grow distant from not only nature’s beauties, but also, as a result, our own. Our connection with nature in not intimate, but rather that of a distant relative. We choose to just exist in nature; instead we must interact with it, and, in this way, allow ourselves to grow and change in response.

Mother Nature

Juyon Lee

Tarot card illustration

Where Is My Bamboo?

Eva Loh

Scratchboard illustration

Capture The Sun

Laurel Hennessee

Photograph

Paint the Sky

Laurel Hennessee

Photograph

Summer

Laurel Hennessee

Photograph

Forests of Steel

Katie Pedersen and Nicki Sizing

Photograph on Newspaper

We shot photographs in Boston and printed them on newspaper. The inspiration came from the idea that cities have replaced forests. When you look up you see concrete, not canopies, and when you look into the harbor you see trash instead of fish. We tried to show the coldness of being surrounded by metal rather than life, and we tried to choose visually interesting images.

Today’s Garden

Olivia Czubarow

Photograph

Mr. Clean Collection

Han Li

Sculpture - plastic water bottles and aluminum cans

Dancing Flowers

Zahra Pirani

Sculpture - flexible garden tie, recycled magazines

"Dancing Flowers" exhibits the techniques of wheel throwing and collage combined into one sculpture. The artist's intent was to create artwork from recyclable materials, such as magazine cutouts, as well as to incorporate her own favorite sculpture techniques. In creating art from reusable materials, the artist hopes to convey the union of environmentalism and "green" artwork. "Dancing Flowers" was inspired by various displays of artificial flowers the artist had seen and the artist's desire to combine nature, recyclable materials, and sculpture into one artistic creation.

Ocean Chimes

Monica Ong

Jewelry - seashells

Crossroads

Nic Shepard

Digital Art

Taken in the outback of Australia, this was originally a picture of a river entangled by roots of surrounding trees. From these pixels, and heavy editing, this piece was created.