Events

RSVP for Community Night!

Please CLICK HERE to RSVP for the upcoming Community Night, where you can see firsthand the magic that happens at the Boston ArtScience Prize. Come hear about the program, learn how to get involved, & enjoy some yummy desserts! Community night will take place on Monday, November 5th, 2012 from 6:30-7:30pm at Cloud Place. School partners, parents/guardians, family members, and Boston ArtScience Prize students are invited to attend!

Synthetic Biology is Now

The Boston ArtScience Prize has kicked off it’s 2012-13 Synthetic Biology Program! Once again, 200 amazing students from around the city have embarked on an amazing journey to explore their passions and dream new art and design innovations at the frontiers of science. The students will work in teams during the school year long competition for the ArtScience Prize. Here’s a glimpse:

And Then There Were Two!

The jurors, staff, mentors, and observers of the Boston ArtScience Prize agree that this year’s program produced the most amazing ideas yet, and the jury scores reflected the remarkably tight competition aspect of the program.

Of all the incredibly diverse ideas, the jurors fell in love with Green Code (Tony Chau of Charlestown High School), who seeks to create eco-friendly paint and exterior house decor out of lichens and other sustainable plants. Tony received a rousing ovation from the full house as Green Code was announced as the Paris-bound and highest funded team.

When Boston ArtScience Prize Director Dishon Mills noticed that his awards envelope was not empty, a hush came over the crowd. Dishon and ArtScience Labs Executive Director Carrie Fitzsimmons announced there was a second group that was headed for Paris, Carbon Capture Perfume! Melissa Jean (O’Bryant School of Math & Science), Omar Janoudi (East Boston High School), and Sean Martinez (Mary Lyon Pilot School) brought the house down as the team – which seeks to create perfume bottles that capture environmental pollutants – took the stage to yet another ovation, capping off an amazing evening and program year. Both groups will be hard at work between now and their ten day trip, when they continue to pursue their passions and further develop their ideas at the ArtScience Labs Annual Innovation Workshop @ Le Laboratoire, the Idea Translation Lab in Paris.

Let’s hear it for Green Code & Carbon Capture Perfume! The 2011-2012 Boston ArtScience Prize Virtual Worlds Paris-bound groups!

Boston ArtScience Prize Finals & Awards Night

Boston ArtScience Prize Final Presentations took place over two nights in May at the Idea Translation Lab @ Cloud Place. The program has grown so large that a single evening could not contain the six hours of presentations! Later the same week, on May 3rd, we hosted Awards Night, when the prizes for each group were announced, and the Paris-bound students were unveiled. Remarkably, the Boston ArtScience Prize was once again able to fund all of its graduating groups – this year an astonishing 34 teams!

The evening began with an exhibition at Cloud Place, with a large crowd that mingled among the students work on display. The event then transitioned to our neighbor’s place – the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Theater – where the students were honored by speakers that included Michael Goar, Deputy Superintendent of Boston Public Schools.

Of all the groups that were not awarded the trip to Paris, one group, EvoMe, comprised of Ursile Louis-Jacque and Anna Li from Boston Latin Academy, and Angela Su, Michael Migliozzi, and Kenneth Tang from Boston Latin School, truly stood out to the jury and program staff as one of the hardest working, most dedicated, and innovative groups in the history of the program. In a special award, EvoMe was granted $7,000 of project funding for the continuation of their amazing idea, which is a social media application that aids users in getting to know themselves better.

…And The Winner Is…Go With The Flow!

There were many amazing successes, stories, and projects from the 2010-2011 Boston ArtScience Prize, but only one group can be Paris-bound. Out of an astounding 24 groups, Go with the Flow took home the program’s highest honor. The group is comprised of four members (Hamdi Mohamed of Odyssey High School, Connor Shea of Boston Latin School, Jeannetty Nova of Parkway Academy of Technology and Health, and Amal Hussein of Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, with mentors Susannah Lawrence and Amy Lithimane) who seek to create a fresh, innovative series of site-specific public art installations that communicates how people around the world struggle to gain access to fresh water. As the highest funded group in the Boston ArtScience Prize, the team will continue to pursue their passions and further develop their idea this summer, culminating at a 10-day innovation workshop at Le Leboratoire, the Idea Translation Lab in Paris. Congratulations Go with the Flow!

Boston ArtScience Prize Finals!

Boston ArtScience Prize “Future of Water” Final Presentations took place on April 29th at the Idea Translation Lab @ Cloud Place! The event was a huge success, and the prizes for each group were announced to the public for the first time. Incredibly, all 24 teams that finished the program received funding. Shower Power, Water Works, Progress for Water, Fantastic Aqua 3, and Water Benders were runner’s up in the program, receiving the 2nd highest funding level. Glo-Bal, Hydropods, T.A.K. Water Dome, FasH2On (Fashion H20), and COWACO (Community Water Connection) were our Sprinter Teams! H20 Next, Water Tanker, Jelly Slap, Blitzball, Biodegradaball, SOIF, Icy Lava, InFlow, AquaJam, Water Flow, Go Figure, Lotus Flotus, and Vapor Vortex were our Innovator Teams. We are hopeful that all groups will stay with us throughout the summer and continue to work on developing their unique & exciting projects!

Dave Olsen visits Boston ArtScience Prize

In March, the Boston ASP hosted visiting artist Dave Olsen. Olsen is a third-generation commercial fisherman that spends his other ten months a year engaging in a mystic/shaman Beuysian-style living art, currently highlighted by his assumed character Vulture. His work with water, in-character art, and self-documentation spoke directly to many of our student’s projects under the year’s “Future of Water” theme.

Esther Solondz visits Boston ArtScience Prize

Rhode Island-based artist Esther Solondz visited the Boston ArtScience Prize this week as a guest speaker. Esther uses rust, salt water, and other corrosive materials in her work to haunting effect. Her talk touched on the many ways that science informs her art and captivated the crowd with her history as a true artscientist.

Boston ArtScience Prize Teens Meet Lajos Héder!

In late January, a few Boston ArtScience Prize teams traveled to the Cambridge Water Treatment Plant to take a project-related tour of their facilities. The teens were graciously met at the CWTP by the great Lajos Héder, an environmental and public artist that has done amazing work around the world with his partner Mags Harries. Lajos discussed his design of the 2,500 square foot terrazzo map of Cambridge, installed on the floor of the plant, and then walked with the teens to discuss their projects.

Fall Semester Ideas-in-Progress Exhibition

On December 22nd, the Boston ArtScience Prize had its fall semester Works-in-Progress event. This feature exhibition of students’ developing ArtScience Prize projects allowed the teens to show off work that illustrates their creative process to the public. With opportunities to discuss their ideas with distinguished guests, peers, and members of ArtScience Labs, the teens learned valuable feedback in their project ideation as the fall semester came to a close.

Singapore Student Visit

In early December, The Boston ArtScience Prize and the Idea Translation Lab @ Harvard hosted a group of teens from St. Joseph’s Institute in Singapore. The group traveled all the way to Massachusetts to participate in a two-week Idea Translation Program. They worked closely with David Edwards, the local ArtScience Labs staff, and visited many local cultural institutions to develop their ideas, which were later presented to the Boston ArtScience Prize students and staff. The students are now back home continuing their project ideation.

Fall Showcase

ArtScience Prize staff held an intimate gathering at Cloud Place with founder David Edwards on November 12th, 2010 to introduce the program’s fall 2010 classes (see our Program Preview) and participate in several student experiments and interactive exhibits. Much of the work featured at this event will be included in the larger Works-in-Progress exhibition on December 22nd, 2010 (see Upcoming Events, above, for further information).

Future of Water: Expert Panel

This past Friday the Boston ArtScience Prize hosted a panel of experts on this year’s theme, The Future of Water. Approaching water from a myriad of perspectives and answering teen questions were Janet Echelman, the world famous water artist (www.echelman.com), Adam Schlosser, the Principal Research Scientist in the MIT Center for Global Change Science and Assistant Director of Research for the Joint Program at MIT, and Chris Pazos, Melinda Vega, and Nick Cohen of various branches of the Mystic River Watershed Collaborative (http://mysticriver.org). The panel was set up to be a point of inspiration and learning for the teens, focusing on the three areas of art, science, and societal impact.