Portfolio | Benches

Benches

ACT stands for Applied Creative Technology, where students and teachers work as a team with community business partners to develop real-world design, technical, and business skills. Project-based learning has been “proven to increase long-term retention, improve problem-solving and collaboration skills, and improve student’s attitude toward learning” (J. Strobel, 2009).

For many of us, it was in the shop and art classes that we accelerated and discovered the talents and capabilities that would enrich our lives and inspire our careers. Sadly, over the past few decades, schools across the nation have seen a dramatic shift away from these hands-on creativity and skill-building courses.

Through this innovative program, students will be learning everything from product design and fabrication to branding, marketing and sales. In addition, they will be learning to create digital files and operate high-tech equipment such as laser engravers and CNC routers. In creating these nature-related products, students gain a deeper understanding of the animals and their habitats, while on the business
side, they will be developing their math skills through basic production and accounting exercises. In the making of these wonderful products, students will be building pride and confidence while discovering marvelous new opportunities for personal expression and growth.
We not only strive to help students prepare for a highly technical future, but to develop an inquisitive mindset that leads to a lifelong love of learning and growing.

For over twenty years, the Rainforest Art Project has been engaging children throughout the United States in projects that bring lasting beauty to their communities, while giving participants a deep sense of pride and ownership.

Beginning in San Diego’s Barrio Logan, the Rainforest Art Project has expanded to bring beautiful sculpture and mosaic art into neighborhoods from Brawley and Calexico to San Quintin Mexico and the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona.

In 2018, the Rainforest Art Project team was contacted by the Butte County Office of Education to work with young fire victims. In response to this urgent need, Mr. Wayne Cook donated a beautiful shop facility at 20th and Locust Streets in Chico to serve the entire North State. Other Community Partners have donated lumber, equipment, and services, which enable a broad range of extraordinary projects, such as the beautiful “Ascent” sculptural mosaic at the Hotel Diamond.

This year, we are excited to start the creation of the largest mosaic project of its kind in the US.

At over six-hundred feet long, and featuring sixty murals, this will be an extraordinary and lasting tribute to the majestic Feather River, the City of Oroville, and to communities throughout the watershed.

Using many of the same time-honored techniques that were employed with the great Roman and Greek mosaics that remain with us to this day, we will strive for a level of excellence that will bring enormous pride to our communities and to all who participate.

Like any project of this scale, it will be divided into many smaller tasks. The common feature of every mural will be the water, as it comes from the high mountains, through peaceful streams and meadows, into the high lakes, then crashes down through the great canyons to Lake Oroville and on to its confluence with the American River in Marysville. There are many different ecosystems along this dramatic journey that the students will study and use for inspiration while creating their designs.

Our team will work with school teachers, volunteers and community leads to create the drawings as accurate as possible in representing the animals, plants, and flowers that are found in the region. Designs will be enlarged and edited to assure that they flow with the overall theme. Once the designs are approved, our professionals will begin training participants to proceed with the mosaic process.

We are excited to get started on this three-year project and look forward to working with all the schools and families joining our creative family!