Our fish are being fired and as batches come out of the kiln they are being sealed with a coat of acrylic gesso! In between creating the fish and preparing them for final painting is our time to dig into the history of the run:  What was it like in our community when the fish came in?  Why did we lose our run?  What has been done to try and restore them?

The research of 8th grade alumni in the form of text, audio and video files is now becoming brief narratives within a laser-cut alewife silhouette that will be displayed near our sculpted alewives, artfully arranged as if they were swimming up Ripley Creek once more.  As one reads the texts, a story emerges that shares the local history of the alewives and answers our essential questions.

To distill an abundance of information into such brevity while keeping essential details is a very challenging task!  Students usually opted to work in pairs to create a draft, and then passed the draft along for “warm” and “cool” feedback. Edits and more edits were made with the ideal of using very few characters to create easy reading and provide impactful meaning.

Even this prototype laser-cut narrative has too much text!!  An edit is underway!

Next, we are eager to get under way painting our fish to bring them to life and prepare for a preview of our project installation at the Granite Gallery. Our many thanks to Granite Gallery owners Alexa and Jerry Cunningham!  The gallery preview will be held Friday, May 20th, from 5-7 pm. Come see and support this project of our students that has challenged them to use art as a connection to our natural resources, local history and stewardship and why we should remember the alewives, always!