Healthy Plymouth-Gardens
Date: June, 2021
Location: 7 Garden locations
Team: C.A.C., Students, VPA Department for Plymouth Public School, Terra Cuna
Technical Specs:
‘Art for All’ Creating Cohesion in Community Gardens
Summary
The C.A.C. alongside Healthy Plymouth Gardens, part of the Plymouth Youth Development Project, worked with high school students to create a series of honeycomb-themed sculptures that were installed in seven community gardens throughout Plymouth.
Community Need
Healthy Plymouth is a community-wide initiative that provides opportunities for high school students to build edible gardens and learn about the benefits of local food and community building. The C.A.C. saw an opportunity to increase the impact of the garden project by raising public awareness and providing an opportunity to expose more students to their programing through collaborative community art.
Our Programming
The CAC, partnered with Healthy Plymouth and Terra Cura to devise a concept for a sculpture that would complement the existing landscapes of seven (7) community gardens in Plymouth.
Under the leadership of Meclina Gomes, the CAC began by curating student artwork from the host school where the sculpture would be installed. Next Gomes and her team fabricated the sculptures, incorporating the honeycomb theme with the original student art. The end product not only featured the work of the local community it also had natural features to accommodate both flora and fauna.
““While the connection between art and health may not be immediately apparent, it has become increasingly clear throughout the pandemic that isolation has had a detrimental impact on the health of residents of all ages. Our board was happy to support this wonderful project as it has had the effect of bringing people together and encouraging the types of self-expression that connect people to their community and each other and can lead to improved health outcomes.” ”
Impact
The garden sculpture project succeeded in its efforts to raise awareness and increase student involvement in the Healthy Plymouth Garden project. To celebrate the installation, the local news covered the ceremony which was attended by the Superintendent of school who gave remarks as well as Terra Cura. In addition to this exposure, perhaps the most important tie-in was with the 50+ student artists whose involvement raised awareness both from the school community and their families.