Canton High School Rain Barrel Project
By Canton Citizen
CHS art students work on the Rain Barrel Project under the guidance of teacher Michelle Mendez.
Students in Michelle Mendez’s drawing and painting class at Canton High School are creating beautiful artwork — on rain barrels!
Thanks to a partnership between Canton High School and the Neponset River Watershed Association, and a grant from the Canton Cultural Council, Ms. Mendez’s students have an opportunity to mix art with water conservation.
The project began with a presentation about daily residential water use and the impact of drought and climate change on local water resources. Students learned about how much water it takes to grow food, raise livestock, manufacture goods, and water lawns. Students were surprised to learn that a half-acre lawn, receiving the recommended amount of one inch of water per week, uses approximately 13,500 gallons of water each time it’s irrigated.
Discussion focused on various ways to conserve water in a residential landscape, including the use of rain barrels, which capture rain runoff from a roof and store the water for future use. Rain barrels are used in many parts of the world where water conservation is essential, and they’re becoming increasingly popular in Canton.
The CHS Rain Barrel Project allows students to express their creativity on a 65-gallon plastic rain barrel and turn it into a functional work of art. The large barrels come from a commercial rain barrel distributor and are fitted with a screen to keep out bugs and a spigot for water access.
The finished barrels will be sold for $75 each at the Student Art Show, which takes place May 22-25 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Canton High School. Rain barrels will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and payment is by check only, made out to “Town of Canton.” Purchased rain barrels will be available for pick up after the close of the Art Show on Thursday, May 25. Proceeds from the sale of the barrels will be used to purchase a water bottle refill station at Canton High School, a project that students chose to support in order to reduce plastic water bottles in landfills.
For more information on purchasing a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted rain barrel, please contact Canton Visual Arts Coordinator Joyce Stenmon at stenmonj@cantonma.org or 781-821-5050 ext. 2201.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=36270
Posted by Canton Citizen
on May 19 2017. Filed under News, Schools.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
