Arts & Entertainment
Slow down
to see
12
th
Street’s
story
Public art installations
are fruit of technical
students’ labor
Story By Abby Badach
Contributing writer
M
ost people who live and
drive in northwestern
Pennsylvania probably
don’t think too much
about 12th Stree, unless
they need a quick way to
David Deane, a welder
with Gene Davis Sales and
Services, installs panels
on a sculpture called
“Fruits of Labor” in August
at the corner of East 13th
and Holland streets. The
community art project
was created by artists Ron
Bayuzick, Ed Grout, Tom
Ferraro and the students
at Erie County Technical
School. JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE
get across town.
TIMES-NEWS
Slow down, though, and you’ll realize you’re
traveling on a more interesting route — one
that’s rich with history, tradition and stories of
Erie’s industrial past, as well as the promise of a strong future.
One tried-and-true way to get people to slow down and
think: public art. That’s what inspired the Art & Industry
Artist Residency Project from Erie Arts & Culture, which is just
completing its third public art installation along Erie’s historic
industrial corridor.
“We wanted people to understand that when you’re on 12th
Street, it’s an important place for industry in our community
and an important entry into our city,” said Amanda Brown
Sissem, executive director of Erie Arts & Culture. “We knew we
could benefit from some new public art, and that was still the
end product of it. But the process became just as important — if
not more important — than the finished pieces.”
To create the three final pieces, the Art & Industry project
brought together three key groups: faculty and students from
Erie County Technical School; local manufacturers; and Erie
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Arts & Culture teaching artists. At the heart of the project is a
deep pride for Erie’s manufacturing heritage — both celebrating its history and training students for emerging jobs in the
sector’s future.
From the very start, the ECTS students were central to the
project. They sketched, designed and welded; made presentations; took tours of local plants and businesses; and immersed
themselves in local history research. ECTS students from
different programs — art and design, metal fabrication and
more — worked alongside each other and learned from each
other in a way they don’t always have the opportunity to do in a
classroom.
“You name it, they worked on it,” Brown Sissem said. “That
was really something that the manufacturers pointed out that
they need their next generation employees to do. They need to
be able to work across disciplines to get the job done.”
Take “Fruits of Labor,” for example — the second installation