Obviously, these art obsessed teens have little time to spend at the museum, so this museum educator is living vicariously through their  Facebook vacation photos as she  sorts through images of the TC  Stuck at Prom project.

Didn’t these costumes turn out great? I can’t wait to see what crazy things TC members create and explore this coming school year!

Many TC members were surprised to see the museum featured in a prom dress catalog.

Spring has officially sprung and the school year is winding down. We’ll be sad to see many of our senior teen council members go, but we’re so excited about all of the great art adventures and opportunities that await them.

There’s one last big high school milestone that every senior has to check off their list- PROM! Now you’d think that prom is an event that artistic teenagers might want to avoid, but we have a very diverse and creative student body here at the museum, from cheerleaders to cross-country team members, and everyone is excited to put their own artistic touch on the typical prom experience. We even got some inspiration from an Ohio based dress shop that had a prom fashion shoot here at the museum!

Inspired by the Stuck at Prom contest, sponsored by the Ohio based Duck tape purveyor, Akron Art Museum Teen Council members are creating their own duct tape prom fashions.

In true Project Runway Fashion, each student designed their own costume. Members voted for their favorites, scaling down the designs to two very distinct and different dress and tuxedo designs. Council members are currently working in two teams to bring these outfits to life.

Whose design will reign supreme? Katie’s colorful ball gown or Jamie’s retro zoot suit!?!? Stay tuned for sketches and photo updates!

Students around the country compete to create the best duct tape prom couture. Check out previous Stuck at Prom contest winners.

Students worked with artists Jessica Langley and Kevin Czapiewski to create comics and small edition magazines, called zines. The zines are inspired by a surrealist parlor game called exquisite corpse, in which players write or draw in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the creation and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution.

On Thursday, January 13, the Teen Council will hold an exciting drop-in day inspired by their paper endeavors as well as the exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll. The event will feature free gallery admission for local high school students as well as a hands on art project. Explore zines and comics created by Teen Council members and construct an exquisite corpse creation. Mix and mingle with local teens and find out how to become a part of the council.

Trashlantis made its big appearance at the Akron Art Museum this past week. He’s a sampling of some of the artwork on view and the amazingly articulate labels the teens contributed. We’re going to take a break for the summer but we’ll be back in the fall with an exciting new sketchbook project, graphic novel and zine workshops and some exciting field trips and career visits.

Dred, Firestone High school, junior

“Bottom Feeders”

Bowling balls, polyurethane foam, twist off caps, sea shells, two liter bottles, golf club handles, tubes

Bottom Feeders was inspired by the fact that everything has a lower class whether it is humans, objects, or animals, and the fact that we need that lower class to survive. So I focused on bottom feeders of the ocean. Not only do they feed off the bottom of the ocean, but they also have a symbiotic relationship with many of the other species around it, providing their services to help others and for personal gain.

Claire, Firestone High School, Senior

“Sick Albatross”

Melted plastic, compact discs, plastic and metal fan blades, steel porch swing, piping, woven hammock with wood, zip ties, blue recycling bag, polyurethane foam, hot glue, other small trash

“And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work ‘em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay

That made the breeze to blow!”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Birds are among the countless innocent casualties of our species’ dependence on disposable goods, particularly those made of plastic. The albatross’ belly, a recycle bag, is bulging with food containers, bottles, tubs, cans, jugs, caps and various other items which find their way into the Pacific Ocean, turning the sea into a vast watery grave. Mistaking the brightly-colored bits of plastic for food, marine birds feed the trash to their chicks, unintentionally causing their young to choke, starve, or, if they manage to survive into adulthood, be permanently sick and poisoned by the toxicity to which they were exposed.

Katie, Ellet High School, Senior

“Stanley the Open-Minded Octopoda”

Made from a chandelier, speaker, plastic bottle caps, wires, CDs, yo-yo, metal tubing, vacuum cleaner attachment, unknown objects

“Stanley the Open-Minded Octopoda” sways gracefully throughout the ocean; with his speaker top hat as the Crown, he is blissful, with his Third Eye he opens the doors of perception. The other five Chakras also do their part in balancing Stanley’s energy. Stanley is a very peaceful creature, simply wanting to clean up the waste humans leave behind with his metal tubing vacuum tentacle.

Come check out works by Teen Council members this Thursday July 29th. Work should be installed and on view from 6-9 pm with a special dialogue with PR at 7:30 PM.

Check out Claire’s AMAZING big bird!

Last Sunday we visited the home and studio of Akron artist PR Miller. Here are some pictures. We’ll be creating found object sculptures of our own in the coming weeks with PR’s assistance.

Teen Council chose an “Under the Sea” style collective theme for their works- sort of fits in with prom season huh!? Members weren’t really thinking about prom though! They were  actually thinking  about the masses of garbage in the ocean.  One of these landfills is referred to as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”- which is mostly full of plastic!

Much of PR’s work gets you thinking about the environment and our disposable culture.  He does this by creating his works out of objects he finds in landfills, abandoned buildings, empty factories and even dumpsters! We’ll be collecting found objects in the coming days to include in our works.

Have you created any found object sculptures? What sorts of materials have you included in your works?

This weekend the Akron Art Museum Teen Council had the first installment of their t-shirt surgery workshop. On this meeting’s agenda- stencils!

Josh, who is well trained in the art of t-shirt design, (he was a part of the ArtsLift crew that worked with Drive By Press to make t-shirts and rain barrels last summer), showed us some of the most important details and techniques for getting a crisp image. We practiced on a clean white tablecloth and transferred our new knowledge onto thrift store t-shirts and some of our special custom Campfire Teen Council shirts. Some members cut their own stencils  (check out Claire’s amazing bird.) Others experimented with graphic designer Ed Roth’s amazingly cool and kitschy stencils.

Who are some professional artists that experiment with stencils? Banksy, Shepard Fairey- even Mark Bradford incorporates found graffiti and stencil work into his paintings.

Stay tuned for t-shirt surgery part two!!

Our Newest Member, Katie of Ellet High School, created an amazing shirt!

Jamie’s work is always so cool!

Avery’s gory shirt

Claire’s bird centric self-designed stencil

Way up top: Our test table cloth gets some finishing touches and signatures.

Below: Flora’s organic design, Josh hard at work, Dred’s re-purposed Teen Council shirt, Sean and Josh hard at work, check out the cool shirt Margie has on and a detail of Katie’s shirt.