Collaborative Cartography Area students make a new map of Concord
T
he town of Concord has a rich cartographic history — but perhaps it has never before been mapped in quite this way. A new initiative of the Concord Art Association called C-art is bringing together students and faculty from the three high schools in town, as well as artists and curators, to create a map of Concord that merges artistic vision with a geographic sensibility. Participating students from CA, Concord-Carlisle High School, and Middlesex School each received an 18-by-18-inch birch panel and a randomly assigned section of town. They worked with curator Ilana Manolson to explore
the idea of mapping with different media. Then they interpreted their assigned area of town into a map. “They can interpret that map in any way, using any medium,” says Justin Bull of CA’s Visual Arts Department. “They run a wide gamut, including every form of art available at CA. Some may be literal, some abstract.” The panels were assembled to create a 16-by-12-foot map of town that was on view with the exhibit “Personal Terrain: Contemporary Mapping,” at the Concord Art Association in April and May. The organization plans to continue to engage area students in coming years, giving them opportunities to work alongside artists and curators, as well as their fellow students from neighboring schools. This is great news, given that the level of student excitement on this project, according to Bull, was “unabashed.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Winterfest 2014
318 Number of students attending
$10,518 Total raised for financial aid
$1,665 Proceeds raised by seniors taking pies to the face
priceless Student exposure to the tradition of philanthropy
The Giving Spree eb. 21 was an inspired day for philanthropy at CA: Between two different programs, students gave away a total of $11,200. Members of the Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) program presented two grants at an all-school assembly, and the ceramics students continued the decades-long tradition of selling their creations to raise funds for charity. For the YIP group, the day represented the culmination of months of work: At weekly meetings, they had learned about philanthropy, budgets, and the ins and outs of a grant proposal, among other things. Then they reviewed requests from six area nonprofits. Participating students, who were led by faculty members Susan Flink and Mark Engerman, considered how their contributions would serve the organizations. The students also set out to raise $1,000 on their own.
“They were really interested in maximizing their impact,” Flink says, “and they wanted to make sure they were contributing to an organization that was strong, where our support would really matter.” After much thoughtful debate, the students settled on the Children’s Charter, where the funds will support a Spanish-speaking therapist for victims of trauma, and Resiliency for Life, which provides academic support services for students in Framingham, Mass. The ceramics sale originated as an effort to support the local homeless and hungry populations. Former CA teacher Kendra Conn was among the ceramics educators who initiated the effort in the 1980s. Ben Eberle ’99, who studied under Conn, has helped keep the tradition going with his ceramics students. “It definitely has a close
place in my heart, since I see kids willingly give beautiful pieces away,” Eberle says. “It teaches kids the valuable lesson that letting go is sometimes better than clutching tightly. Art can
change the world, in significant and small ways.” This year’s group decided to dispatch their proceeds to the far side of the world, to help the rebuilding efforts in the Philippines.
‘It teaches kids the valuable lesson that letting go is sometimes better than clutching tightly.’ — Ben Eberle ’99
Students from Youth in Philanthropy present their grants
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