CREATIVE COLLABORATION RESULTS IN PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION AT COAST EPISCOPAL SCHOOL’S GAIL KEENAN ART CENTER

Artist Rendering of School Waves outdoor art sculpture integrated into the entrance of the Gail Keenan Art Center

The collaboration of a renowned Mississippi Gulf Coast Museum, two acclaimed local artists, a Mississippi state agency supportive of the arts and 80 elementary students will come to fruition when the first phase of the School Waves outdoor sculpture is unveiled at 4 pm on Friday, May 9 at the Gail Keenan Art Center on the campus of Coast Episcopal School in Long Beach.

The concept and creation of the sculpture came about during an art opening reception at the Gail Keenan Art Center in early spring 2024. In attendance were Julian Rankin, Executive Director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, and Erica Larkin Gaudet, who is one of the museum’s primary teaching artists for its Public Art Enterprise Program, which allows individuals across fields of study to collaborate with artists and fabricators to create murals, sculptures, and other public artworks. The program fosters collaboration across the sectors of education, arts and culture, industry and government, and its completed artworks are inspired by history, culture, and landscape, and contribute to community pride, economic development, and workforce training. Larkin has been a frequent contributor to the professional art shows held annually at the Gail Keenan Art Center.

Learning of the program was serendipitous to Long Beach’s independent elementary school, which was in the midst of renovation plans for the gallery as part of a Capital Campaign program launched by the school’s board of directors in 2023.

Coast Episcopal School Head of School Jake Winter recognized that adding an outdoor public art piece was the perfect complement to CES’ Gail Keenan Art Center Improvement Project, which includes sound panels, interior and exterior painting, wood repair, door improvements  and the repair and repainting of the signature curved wall that graces the center’s entrance.

“We jumped at this opportunity,” states Winter. “Incorporating art into the exterior of the GKAC resonates not only the purpose of the gallery, but also reinforces the commitment to the arts that is a cornerstone of CES’ education.  Best of all, we knew that our students would be eager to put their own creative skills toward a piece of art that will be a permanent part of our campus.”

Winter reached out to CES Capital Campaign Manager Evelina Burnett to put together the pieces to make the project happen. Burnett had already reached out to the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, to obtain a matching grant through its Building Fund for the Arts to help offset the renovation costs, and she was able to include School Waves in the grant proposal as part of the exterior improvements to the building.

The Gail Keenan Art Center at Coast Episcopal School received $37,200 from the Building Fund for the Arts grant.  MAC awarded $3.5 million to 20 organizations in 13 counties in Mississippi through the BFA grant for FY2025. The funding opportunity provided through the BFA grant supports the much needed repair, renovation, expansion, or construction of Mississippi facilities that serve as sites for year-round arts programming in their communities.

“MAC is thrilled to support these vital building projects that enhance the arts and our communities in Mississippi,” said David Lewis, Executive Director of MAC. “Through this grant, we showcase our state’s commitment to our rich artistic heritage by investing in the spaces that foster the growth of our next great Mississippi artists, while providing enriched quality of life for Mississippians throughout our state.”

The School Waves sculpture’s design incorporates hand-formed steel sculptural bands formed into waves and adorned with glass fish that will follow the existing waveforms of the curved wall at the GKAC entrance.  The steel waves are being formed by Erica Larkin Gaudet and the fish by her husband, Mitchell Gaudet, at Studio Waveland. The fish themselves were created in clay by Coast Episcopal School’s 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Graders, with guidance from educators from the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA), and then fired in the school’s kiln; Mitchell used these as forms he filled with molten glass.

“School Waves is the perfect partnership between CES’ commitment to STEAM-based education and the Walter Anderson Museum’s Public Art Enterprise Program,” according to Evelina Burnett, “CES’ education model of incorporating Science, Technology, Art, Engineering and Mathematics into our classes has been used to bring School Waves to our school, where it will be enjoyed for years to come.”

“The Public Art Enterprise program fuses artistic creativity, blue economy, and community development, in partnership with artists, welders, STEM professionals, and students,” says Julian Rankin, the Executive Director of the Walter Anderson Museum. “It embodies Walter Anderson’s belief in humanity’s capacity to improve and transform our environments through imagination and applied skills.” WAMA’s Public Art Enterprise program is made possible by Mississippi Power, the National Recreation Foundation, Ingalls Shipbuilding, Chevron and Mark Everson.

The School Waves sculpture will be multifaceted and installed in several sections of the curved wall.  The May 9th unveiling will introduce the completion of the first section, with the remainder to be completed by the end of May.

Take the bait and buy a fish sponsorship! Glass fish available for purchase to support School Waves

To help support continued improvements at the gallery and campus, CES is offering sponsorships that include, as a thank-you gift, student-created glass fish. From now through the end of the year, art lovers, including but not limited to CES families and friends, can “Take the Bait, Sponsor a Fish.” There are four levels of sponsorship:

$150 Creative Cast Net:  Glass replica of the CES’ fish that are part of the School Waves Sculpture.

$250 Building a Base: Glass replica of the CES’ fish on a glass base and your name on the sponsor plaque.

$600 – Fish Trinity: Replica of the School Waves Sculpture with THREE CES’ Fish on steel waves.

$5000 Artistic Activator (Limited to two sponsors):  Family or business name prominently displayed on one of the two outdoor sponsor plaques PLUS one glass fish replica AND a Fish Trinity, School Waves Sculpture replica.

To sponsor or for more information, please visit bit.ly/schoolwaves.

The unveiling of the first phase of School Waves on May 9th, the first opportunity the public will have to see the unique sculpture, coincides with the closing reception of Paper Fools in Wonderland, the final show of the 2024-25 school year, one of three curated annually by Bay St. Louis Artist and Photographer Ann Madden.

The Gail Keenan Art Center was dedicated in February 2011 to the memory of the recognized ceramic artist and printmaker who was born in 1940 in New Orleans and passed away in February 2005.  Ms. Keenan’s ties to the MS Gulf Coast were strong throughout her lifetime, during which she had works exhibited in Santa Cruz, CA; New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KA; Ocean Springs, MS; Camden, ME; and Boston, MA, Ms. Keenan’s love for the arts continues to be honored in the works created and exhibited in the Coast Episcopal School signature art center.

At Studio Waveland last month, students watch as Mitchell Gaudet pours molten glass into molds they created at Coast Episcopal School

Coast Episcopal School has been dedicated to a life-long love of learning by developing the whole child – mind, body and spirit – and providing a joyful, unique and nurturing Judeo-Christian Community that inspires its students to imagine and create a better world.  Founded in 1950, CES is a member of the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS).  For information:  Coast Episcopal School, 5065 Espy Avenue, Long Beach, MS, 39560.  228-452-9442. headmaster@myces.org. Coastepiscopalschool.org.  For additional information about School Waves and purchasing a sponsorship to help support the public art sculpture, please email giving@myces.org or call 228-363-1973.