In 2017-2018, I was a guest artist and collaborator with Lindsay Woge, an incredible teaching artist, educator, and mixed media artist at IU1’s Waynesburg campus in Greene County, PA. I’ve long admired her recycling/repurposing arts practice, and it was a dream to be able to collaborate with her by adding repurposed metal elements in our school sensory installation. The Intermediate Unit 1 Educational Campus offers education and related services to students in grades K-12 who are in need of supportive special education services not available in the public school settings, including a Comprehensive Therapeutic Emotional Support Program, Individualized Education Plans, speech/language therapy, mental health services, hearing and vision support, and physical and occupational therapy.

We collaborated to create an installation that would be both compelling and safe for students to touch. Not only did we create colorful aluminum can collage quilt squares, but we also used assemblage to create 3D collages with rubber bouncy balls, metal lids and tins, buttons, beads, and other found objects. Students loved the physical process of cutting, hammering, and gluing elements, and it was a thrill to be part of such an open-ended installation that allowed for so much individual student creativity.

On the accompanying sign for our installation, Lindsay Woge wrote: Artists in every grade level collaborated to create this work of art, designed to appeal to the senses of touch, sight, and sound. Students integrated reclaimed materials into the piece including dismantled wood shelving, empty plastic bottles, recycled cardboard and paper, outdated carpet and fabric samples, discarded aluminum cans, bamboo pieces, and salvaged bottle caps and lids.