DUTCHESS AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES — A billboard with art by James Wise of the Bard College class of ’26 was on view at 3391 US-9 in Hudson from Dec. 20, 2023, to Jan. 17, 2023.
Titled, “How Long Will We Be Driving?”, the billboard came about through a partnership with Bard Community Arts Collaborative, the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard, and Shandaken Project’s Public Arts Initiative.
Wise’s piece was chosen from projects done by students in an extended media studio course at Bard College taught by Julia Weist.
Her students made 2D projects that were reviewed by Shandaken, and 3D projects that were reviewed by the Village of Red Hook’s chair for the Public Spaces Initiative Committee.
The 3D works were installed at Richard Abraham’s Memorial Park in Red Hook. The pieces ranged from interactive sculptures to large-format photographic prints to sculptures of wood and metal. This exhibit was not open to the public; it was a pilot program with the idea of future collaborations in mind.
Student Elena Schneider ’27 said, “Being able to make something to be displayed in the landscape where we live pushed me to create something I really care about and am proud of.”
Of the class, Weist said, “If you can create art that affects a viewer, moves a viewer in the parking lot of a grocery store, which is where our billboard project is located, you’ve succeeded profoundly as an artist.”
Wise’s piece was selected for the billboard outside of Hudson by Shandaken as part of its Public Art Initiative 14x48, which has exhibited “new work by contemporary artists across New York State since 2021.”
The title refers to the increasing reliance of society on artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential loss of human independence with such things as self-driving cars, Wise has explained; it questions the very use of cars in the face of global warming. The figure at the center of the work, an avatar created with AI, reminds viewers that AI is a field dominated by white males.
Explaining his approach to the work, Wise said: “My main concern was in conveying my concept as clearly as possible. I wanted the billboard to blend in, so I researched local insurance billboards for a base.” He added: “After layering and collaging the AI images I’d generated from various local insurance-themed prompts, I ended up landing on the final product. I was always cautious to keep my work as close to the source material as possible, while still subtly distinct under closer inspection.” Wise created the billboard by layering more than 50 AI generated images.
Photo courtesy Bard College
A Bard College student installs her sculpture at Richard Abraham’s Memorial Park in Red Hook. The installation was part of a pilot program with the village of Red Hook’s Public Spaces Initiative.
Pine Plains teacher Jim Benincasa takes a parade lap.
Over the course of the school year, students build their car from parts supplied by Factory Five. They’re given assembly kits for one of a number of different roadster models. Pine Plains Racing built a Shelby Cobra.
On Saturday, cars from seven area schools were put to the test by professional drivers from the Dyson racing team. Pine Plains was joined by student crews from Owego, Arlington, John Jay, Ketcham, Dover and Roosevelt. All in all, nearly 250 students participated in the program. The cars are all street-legal, and are sold at auction. Pine Plains had already found a buyer before their car hit the track at Lime Rock.
“It takes a team to get a winning car to the track,” Mark Dougherty said. He’s the Build Director for the Winners Circle and travels to the participating schools to oversee and advise students on the project. “They’re trying to build a car, but we’re trying to build people.”
Students emerge from their custom-built racecars after taking a lap around a testing track at Lime Rock Park in Lime Rock, Conn., on Tuesday, May 19.Madi Long
At the project’s outset, the high schoolers join either the build or marketing team. They’re responsible for the car’s construction and telling its visual story, respectively. That wide array of interests is essential to the program’s mission, said Winners Circle Program Director Matteo Lundgren. “There’s real collaboration, and that’s like the real world. I love empowering young minds to think for themselves,” said Lundgren. “So when my buddy Pius had an idea to bring the trades into high schools, in a way that wasn’t isolated just for gear heads, that was pretty cool.”
Pius Kayirra is the Executive Director of Winners Circle. “The program has morphed into so much more than we could have imagined,” he said. “One thing I’ve learned is that if you give kids opportunities, they will never let you down. That’s really what WCP is about — coming together and realizing we are a team with a unified goal. ”
Two students from Pine Plains, Jackson St. Bernard and Luke Blackburn, offered proof of Kayirra’s belief. “It’s a lot of problem solving and a lot of new skills,” said Blackburn. “I’ve never worked on a car with this kind of power.”
“I already had something of a background working with my dad in the garage,” added St. Bernard, “but I learned a lot about fabricating things. We made a couple of brackets for the overflow tubes in the car.”
For a full breakdown of the program and photos of the cars, visit winners-circle.org.
The car built by Pine Plains students sits and cools down after a hot afternoon of track testing on Tuesday, May 19, at Lime Rock Park in Lime Rock, Conn.Madi Long
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