Sophia Phillips

I worked with Public Art St. Paul this summer, a non-profit organization that primarily serves to advise the city on the implementation of new public artworks. I worked mainly with their eARTh Lab summer programming, which were weekly youth art workshops offered for free in Western Sculpture Park in St. Paul. These workshops featured a different teaching artist each week, who came up with an art project centered around the intersection of ecological concern and artistic expression. I had the opportunity to be the teaching artist of the final workshop, in which we made upcycled bunny and bee puppets from old socks. The attendees were ages four to twelve, and typically lived in the surrounding area. These workshops were my first time working with a large group of children, and I gained so much insight about early elementary education, and the ways that art-making can be used to teach valuable lessons about community and environmental care. 

Besides staffing the workshops, I also created a resource guide for future eARTh Lab workshops, including a guide to managing child behavior, alongside logistical information and instructions. This is intended to streamline and professionalize the onboarding process of future interns and volunteers. I am hopeful that this will also aid in making it easier for future workshops to expand their constituent base. Finally, I created a photo guide for the sculptures within Western Sculpture Park in order to make the website more comprehensive. Public Art St. Paul is unfortunately unable to add physical signage to the sculpture park due to environmental and financial restrictions. The photo guide, which will be added to the website, contains the information that would ideally be on physical signage in the park. 

Throughout the summer, I have grown much more comfortable and rooted in St. Paul. Not only did I spend a great deal of time in Western Sculpture Park, but I also attended numerous events in the downtown area. Through Public Art St. Paul, I connected with St. Paul residents across a wide range of demographics, who I otherwise would likely not have had the chance to meet. The fellowship truly brought me outside of the Macalester bubble, and I feel much more immersed in the city, not as a visitor but as a resident.