All Music Enrichment students at the CAA learn piano in our piano lab. Students work at their own pace, from beginning piano students learning the basics, to students who have been taking piano lessons for years sharpening their skills.

Eighth grade visual arts and communication and media arts students created collaborative works of art in conjunction with their Environment unit. Students work on this project while they independently explored environmental topics and sustainable design. The projects consisted of 2 large scale works and 2 word art projects. Students explored color theory and color models as they recreated a color wheel and CMYK color model using repurposed cardboard packaging materials. Students highlighted positive text found in the printed packaging and utilize it to strengthen the collaborative work. ​

All the cardboard packaging materials were collected by our students and staff at The Creative Arts Academy of the Quad Cities. The use of funds from the award primarily covered the materials used to support the assemblage process. Plywood was measured, cut and painted to act as a base for mounting the cardboard packing material. Students then explored different cutting techniques as they cut solid colors and positive adjectives from cardboard. Students laid out their cardboard shapes before using a hot glue gun to to permanently mount the pieces to the plywood. 
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Students observed how quickly they could collect repurposed materials. They learned that they can create a quality work of art using items that would be otherwise placed in the recycle or trash. They learned about other contemporary artists, particularly Aurora Robson, who diverts waste from the landfill to use in her work. She also continues to develop new techniques to work with plastics and waste in both a two-dimensional and three-dimensional format. 

Students took note of the types of advertising used in packaging. They discovered how certain colors were utilized more than others. They focused on representing positive adjectives found in media. They successfully took these positive adjectives out of contexts and utilized them to strengthen their work that would be seen by all their peers and The Creative Arts Academy school community.   The final works will be installed in the visual arts classroom, media arts classroom and hallway.

Thank you to the Waste Commission of Scott County for funding the entire project!