STEAM
science . technology . engineering . art . math
DESCRIPTIONS
+ POLYGON BLOOMS
+ MULTIPLE EARTHS
+ OXYGEN
+ UNIVERSE X UNIVERSE

ABOUT OUR WORK TOGETHER
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE WORK
BIOS: VOLTA / JACKSON
ABOUT PAEP
ABOUT BREADBOARD

POLYGON BLOOMS
During the 2009 – 2010 school year 8th grade students at Grover Washington Jr. Middle School explored how coordinate geometry permeates their lives. Students worked over a map of Philadelphia and placed a dot to mark locations that they have lived, played, or experienced as a visitor. They then connected their dots to create unique geometric forms which we then built into three-dimensional forms using cardboard and tape. Communication towers (also designed and constructed by the students) hold these geometric manifestations of lived experience.
+ PROJECT BLOG
+ DIALOGUE: VOLTA / JACKSON
+ ESSAY: Getting to the Point by Gerard Brown

MULTIPLE EARTHS
While some of the globes speak to a looming disaster, this was not our overarching ambition. On February 25th, 2011 students from Grover Washington Jr. Middle School took a trip to The National Academy of the Sciences in Washington DC to listen to Warren M. Washington speak about his work as a climatologist. Mr. Washington’s lifelong passion for observing, tracking and seeking to understand climate change led us to create work that attempts to make sense of the earth’s possible future. In the question and answer time immediately after Mr. Washington’s talk, one of our students asked him if it is possible for climatologists to reverse the earth’s warming through technology and creativity. Mr. Washington’s answers ranged from simple steps to lower emissions to highly technical methods of cooling the earth’s atmosphere. But what really stuck with us was the motion to respond to crisis with innovation. We hope that our artwork will function as a visual mantra for climate awareness as well as a catalyst for the collective potential of creative transformation.

OXYGEN (click image to enlarge)
This work draws from climate maps, diagrams of ocean currents, jet streams, and flight paths. The popular idea of planting billions of trees to combat the rise of CO2 led us to enroot the continents with branching veins. Then through drawing “fantastic paths” we then set out to depict Oxygen as the ultimate sojourner – heroically traveling and circumnavigating the globe.

UNIVERSE X UNIVERSE
Benjamin Volta with classroom teachers and students from Solis-Cohen and Morton Thomas G Elementary Schools

What does the origin of the universe look like?
In the spring of 2011 over 200 school children from Solis Cohen Elementary School and Morton Elementary School were led to explore multiplication, structural geometry and exponential growth. The colorful and intuitive patterning began as random positioning of colorful circles on the surface of a dodecahedron sculpture (Which were laser cut at NextFab Studio and constructed by the students). But what began as random acts of transformation quickly transitioned into constellations of colors that express rhythm, movement, and meaning.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE WORK

BENJAMIN VOLTA

+ Having our students explore art and ideas as critical thinkers helps lay the foundation for complex conceptual explorations in art and design. One thing that I love about working with Middle School students is that they present a unique opportunity to transform the classroom into a studio environment of controlled chaos. No matter how much we integrate art skills with the math and science curriculum, the art does not come from our curriculum design alone. None of us know what the work is going to look like when we start out. The artwork emerges to us all within the immediacy of a shared experience.

+ As the students worked on the globes they allowed their collaborative design and the materials to guide the process. It was exciting to see the students fully engaged in a method of creative exploration that allowed them to let go of their initial design plan if a better one began to emerge to the group. The students pushed beyond a collaboration rooted in compromise and truly worked together to create a collection of dynamic sculptural expressions.

+ What we are doing does not really fit into traditional modes of art education. We are integrating art onto the core curriculum as a means to develop critical and creative thinkers. It is not necessarily about creating artists (but we are happy when this happens), or the value of individual expression (we do encourage this), but about the value of creative expression within a democracy. From within this unique classroom community we draw the energy and ambition to create artwork that infiltrates an individualistic rank in contemporary art.

JERRY JACKSON

+ By integrating the art and math curriculum, it allows us to create projects that require students to apply math skills that we have learned in class (i.e. regular vs. irregular polygons, plotting coordinates, etc.) to a real situation, in this case creating art. Using math in an authentic situation deepens the students' understanding, and causes lasting and meaningful learning.

+ In this time of standardized testing where subjects like science normally take a "back seat" to math and reading, our project created an atmosphere where students learned standards of environmental science and it's impact on their lives. The art that was created is the visual evidence of their learning and how the students’ thought critically about how science affects the world we live in.

+ One of the things that I like best about the projects that Ben and I create with the students is the combination of short and long-term goals. The students get to experience the trial and error of each activity as we all develop the project together. But they also get the satisfaction of seeing how their hard work on these smaller activities and their determination to accept only their best effort over the course of 9 months results in a wonderful final product that they can take pride in.

STUDENTS

I have noticed that every point, every angle, and every shape has it's own meaning. Our personality is the shape itself! This project brought a lot of creativity from us, students. I don't even want to call ourselves students anymore… WE ARE ARTISTS!!!! – Lisa K.

The google-eye globe makes me feel as if I’m being watched and it is true. Everywhere you go there is at least on person or thing watching, such as a camera. It reminds me of what adults say about posting something on the Internet, “Once you post something on the Internet, you can’t get it off”. Also the eyes on every continent remind me of how the Internet is used by everyone and things can spread as fast as I can blink. Han T.

The umbrellas colors are red, black and white. These colors are represented as the world sticking together (black and white), and the red is for our blood as a whole. Diamond B.

The world is sprouting with flowers… and grows with beautiful people everyday. Jasmin F.

The elegant and dramatic globes make me feel like the world is in danger… and that we might not survive. Jasmine L.

ABOUT OUR WORK TOGETHER

Since 2007, Benjamin Volta and Jerry Jackson have worked with students to transform the entranceway and hallways of Grover Washington Jr. Middle School into a Museum of Art Integration. The classroom becomes a studio where we experiment with activities that integrate art into the math and science curriculum. These activities lead students to think critically, develop their own creative voice, and work together as a collective. The artwork that we create is an expression of this collaborative method.

BIOS: VOLTA / JACKSON

BENJAMIN VOLTA I primarily work with public school teachers to develop creative methods that link art to specific areas of learning. Together, we initiate students to recognize the importance of their own ideas, and we set out to express a mergence of difference within a collective focus. My projects combine academic learning and life skill development with an audacious aspiration to create great art within an unexpected context.

+ Benjamin Volta is a visual artist who received a certificate from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts and a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. His studio is in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia.

JERRY JACKSON I am an 8th grade teacher of math and science at Grover Washington Jr., Middle School in the Olney section of Philadelphia. For the past 4 years, the administration of GWJMS has pursued the vision of seamlessly integrating the arts into the core curriculum throughout our school. During this time, I have worked with Benjamin Volta to create several projects for my students that teach math/science and visual art simultaneously through project-based learning.

+ Jerry Jackson left his career as an accountant to become a teacher in 2004. He earned his Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Arcadia University, and is Middle Years certified in the content areas of math and science. He has been teaching at Grover Washington Jr., Middle School for 6 years.

ABOUT PAEP
Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP) is an art in education organization which promotes learning in and through the arts for students in K-12 schools throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. By working with teachers, teaching artists, school districts, colleges and universities, and 82 arts and cultural organizations throughout the region to encourage excellence in arts-in-education practice, and to bring arts-based learning experiences to students who otherwise would have limited access to these opportunities.

ABOUT BREADBOARD
Breadboard is a hybrid program at the University City Science Center that facilitates cross-disciplinary art exhibits, community outreach initiatives and special programs offering public access to a new generation of fabrication technology and workspace in an effort to empower individuals and convene communities around creative applications of technology.

Through a unique partnership with NextFab Studio Breadboard engages groups and communities at all levels of interest and experience. Breadboard programming combines 3-D printing technology, CAD-operated equipment such as laser cutters and milling machines with a collaborative workshop environment where artists, DIY enthusiasts, fabbers, hackers, community groups and students can share a computer station or a circuit board with business entrepreneurs, engineers, and industrial designers.

EKG Breadboard manages a public art space popularly known as EKG (Esther Klein Gallery). EKG exhibits and projects explore intersections between art, design, science and technology. The primary aim of EKG is to examine new art and contemporary arts practices that are influenced by technology and to generate public discourse through the exhibition of creative works that comment on life and our environment in a digital age.

Breadboard and EKG programs support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) educational initiatives and arts-based learning activities.