Shutesbury Community Projects

I have been teaching at Shutesbury Elementary School since 1998. These images are some examples of the community art projects that I have coordinated in this time. Some of these have been done with students, some with students and their families, and others with artists from the community. These collaborations are public art in every sense: created by the Shutesbury community for everyone's enjoyment.

Kiran Bhowmik Wish Tree

Kiran Bhowmik was a 37 year old artist who died in January 2012. I initiated this project by inviting people of her community of friends, family, colleagues, and Shutesbury neighbors to write a reflection about her or a wish for her young children. Many of the tags were made by the children at Shutesbury Elemenatary School in art class. The wishes for Kiran will be collected at the end of the installation and put in a memory book for her children.

Good Luck Quilt

This quilt was made for my sister Louise Kunkel. She was about to have a stem cell transplant, and we finished this quilt right before she left to have the procedure. Thirty friends and family members came together to make the squares for this quilt, which contain their best wishes and hopes for Louise. We came together to assemble the quilt in traditional fashion. I assembled the backing from worn blue jeans contributed by the non-sewing members of the family.