Friday, July 31, 2009
Sculpture program patched together art professor with inner-city youth
This imaginative bicycle rack was built by youth at Patchwork Central with the assistance of Rob Millard-Mendez, assistant professor of art.
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Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 "I had a great experience. There's nothing but positive energy all around," Millard-Mendez said. "They provide an incredible service for people of that neighborhood and beyond." During "Sculpture Week" this summer, Millard-Mendez, parents, and volunteers helped young people between the ages of 10 and 14 construct the bike rack using parts of bicycles from Patchwork's Bike ReCycle program, in which volunteers repair and give bikes to people who live in the neighborhood. "They have an incredible resource of bicycles that are more or less just good for parts," Millard-Mendez said. The bicycle rack has a "funky aesthetic" that falls into line with other Patchwork art projects Millard-Mendez said. He and other volunteers built the framework for the bicycle rack and assisted students in cutting up bicycles, welding them to the framework, and painting the finished rack. Millard-Mendez said the paint made the project come together. "It just looked like a melange of different bicycles, but the color made it fall into line with what Patchwork has been doing with color." Millard-Mendez joined USI in 2006. That year, he assisted his wife Nancy Raen-Mendez with a mural commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Arts & Smarts program. Millard-Mendez helped install the mural, which Raen-Mendez created with USI art education students and Patchwork teens. "I'd like to do more work with them in the future," he said. "What they do is so valuable." |
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