BREF Grant supports visiting artist program
Boothbay Region Elementary School (BRES) art teacher Jessica Nadeau has received a grant from Education Boothbay to support a visiting artist program, featuring Rockland-based artist Kim Bernard. This initiative, which is in its third year, brings professional artists into the classroom, offering students real-world artistic experiences.
“Bringing in a visiting artist gives students a chance to interact with a working professional and understand the dedication and creativity involved in an artistic career,” said Nadeau. “It inspires them to experiment, problem-solve, and think critically about the role of art in their own lives and communities.”
This year’s program will align with Earth Day and focus on recycling and sustainability in art. Bernard, known for repurposing plastics, will introduce students to her process of transforming #2 plastics—such as milk bottles and water jugs—into sculptural forms. Using a machine she designed, she melts plastic into colorful strands, reshaping them into new artistic forms. Through this hands-on experience, students will explore the impact of waste and how discarded materials can find new purpose through creativity.
Kim Bernard is a Maine based artist focusing on sustainability and recycling to create art. She focuses on creating a site specific recycled plastic sculptural installation with your community where they would first be encouraged to collect plastic. We would then shred, inject, compress and extrude their upcycled plastic into sculptural parts to be included in the sculpture installation. The parts would then be installed, based on a site-specific design in our school/larger community.
Kim has built a mobile upcycling unit to trailer recycling machines that she called PopUpCyclers, allowing her to create upcycled plastic sculptural installations in schools, arts centers, neighborhood communities and public settings where the local community will (after being encouraged to collect plastic) deposit their plastic waste into one end and a new, malleable plastic would emerge from the other end. You can see examples of her work in communities across New England here: https://www.kimbernard.com/popupcycler
Education Boothbay’s continued support ensures local students receive enriching artistic experiences that foster creativity, curiosity, and environmental awareness.
