A Few Degrees More : The Impact of Climate Change in Framingham and Beyond
Framingham, MA
2024, Senior, Interactive & Multimedia
Project Description: The Framingham High School Environmental Awareness Club, led by Rebecca Maynard and Emily Rathmell, has focused on bringing public attention to climate issues since its inception. This year, they collaborated with the Framingham High School Art Department, led by Katie Lee Mansfield, to use artistic media to raise awareness and bring their project to life. Students from the Environmental Awareness Club worked closely with students from the FHS Art Department to brainstorm and research key environmental issues, conceptualize a large scale art installation, and execute its conception at Project B Gallery in the Saxonville Mills Contemporary Art space in Framingham, MA. The mission of this project was to create an interactive, multimedia art installation where the Framingham community members could learn and be inspired by this project, resulting in real change for our collective future. This project highlighted four critical climate crises within Framingham and beyond. The issues researched were: invasive aquatic plants, flooding, coral bleaching, and local bird species’ decline. Fifty-three students broke into four teams to transform the gallery, highlighting the four separate environmental issues. The final installation showcased large scale sculptures made from recycled materials, painted wall murals, ceramic coral, an interactive touch tank, video projection, audio, and information graphics and take-aways that supplemented the learning experience. Alongside the art exhibition, students developed interactive lessons to teach ten 5th grade classes about these important topics. The district supported this initiative and sponsored field trips for multiple schools to visit the exhibition during the school day. During each field trip, high school students presented their lessons to the 5th graders. This sparked important conversation around these challenging topics and each student left with concrete ways that they can help spread change and awareness. The development of this project took five months, including research, project planning, community outsourcing, and artwork development. The opening night of the exhibition brought hundreds of community members to visit and tour the installation. The mayor of Framingham, the Framingham Public Schools superintendent, along with multiple community stakeholders were in attendance. Students and teachers were also interviewed by local community television and radio stations.
Reflection
Elementary students were able to step inside the immersive exhibit and hear from their older peers about the effects climate change has on MetroWest Boston and abroad. "We are the ones that are going to grow up and we're going to live with these higher temperatures," Framingham High junior Hiranmayi Narasimhan told the MetroWest Daily News. "So we need to make sure that our world is livable and we maintain the biodiversity that we have today." Behind the scenes, the gallery came together through a collaboration between science and arts students. Senior Carly Nestor explained that through the collaboration, art pieces included giant water hyacinths, vines, chicks, sea life and even a car with functional headlights. The gallery also featured projections and sound. The exhibition was open for two weeks and as folks experienced it, word of mouth traveled, bringing in countless groups and community members. This exhibition has brought a new sense of community urgency towards the improvement of our climate. The immense interests and energy around this collaboration is evidence of the dire need for community art projects and opportunities to educate through artmaking and conversation.