AMENIA — Despite the looming bad weather on Saturday morning, Feb. 25, the Webutuck STEAM fair was a resounding success. The Eugene Brooks Intermediate School (EBIS) gymnasium was the site of about 40 projects presented with titles ranging from the whimsical to the thoughtful.
Co-chairs and middle-school science teachers Danielle Fridstrom and Christine Gillette were gratified to see the results. “We were happy with the turnout this year and learned much from the enthusiastic participants,” Gillette noted, adding, “I think the key piece for getting students to participate is to encourage them to pick something that interests them. Whether it be dairy farms to corgis or Jolly Rancher candies, it is important to choose something they are excited about. This then makes the project fun and not a tedious task.”
As to differences in fairs from year to year and ongoing similarities, Fridstrom continued: “It was terrific to see the creativity this year — even jokes were added to ‘This Project is Bananas’! We always struggle getting seventh- to 12th-grade participants so we are thrilled to see any of them show up and present.”
That latter group was represented by 11 students with projects ranging from top winner “Gummy Bear Osmosis” to technical explorations like “Archery Science,” “What Puts the Pop in Popcorn?”, survey studies (“Jolly Rancher Preferences”), keen observations from real life in “Digestive System of a Cow” and the sobering “We Destroyed: The Oceans.”
On the value of the yearly fair, Fridstrom said, “It’s a great opportunity to practice doing science …While we certainly do lots of hands-on things in class, we’re always amazed at the kind of things students come up [with] to investigate, and it’s always exciting to see the investigations into things we don’t know answers to.”
The spirit of youthful playfulness was in evidence in projects with titles like “Tiny Dancers — Homopolar Motor,” MacGyver Award winner “Elephant Toothpaste,” and the hilarious and informative “This Project is Bananas!” by the ebullient Schultz sisters, Charlotte and Alivia.
The role of older student “listeners” was touching to observe. One was Gillette’s daughter Zoe, who reflected, “We get them to open up and reveal more than they thought they knew,” adding that it seemed wise that participation in the fair is a voluntary effort based on students’ deep interests.
Exploring our region’s natural resources with a family angle, two Lawrence siblings with firsthand knowledge explored dairy cows, one with the use of a drawing previously made by their mother and overlaid with anatomical terms relating to the bovine digestive system.
In terms of environmentally focused work, two projects took a broad view toward solving a problem that may seem intractable: plastic waste, particularly in our oceans. In “We Destroyed: The Oceans,” Lyla Kern and Andy Mersand, both seventh-graders, looked at the decomposition rate of plastic and paperlike materials in three conditions: plain water, water over time, and water containing enzymes. Though some materials may be labeled “flushable,” their investigations showed that those claims may be less than accurate.
Taking off from one of science history’s great serendipities, fourth-grader Zoe Gellweiler’s project, “Milk Plastic/Bioplastic! The Single Use Plastic Solution,” explained how, in 1897, German scientist Adolf Spitteler’s rather clumsy cat was responsible for the invention of casein. Pronounced “kay-seen,” the word refers both to the protein in milk that provides its white color as well as a type of plastic made from it. An overnight spill of formaldehyde into the feline’s milk bowl resulted in a hard, horn-like substance that was eventually used to make combs, buttons, buckles, beads, handles for various implements, pens, game pieces and even bowls until the 1930s.
Zoe’s project suggests that food wrap films made from casein could help to solve the problem of single-use plastics, since casein plastic is stronger and biodegradable under home composting conditions, without the toxicity of petroleum-based plastics. Whether our habits can revert to pre-petroleum practices or the deep links between the plastics and petrochemical industries can be undone are issues for adults to ponder.
The program ended with all participants receiving gift bags, some students getting book vouchers from Oblong, and winners in various categories claiming their prizes and certificates of participation. As adults helped to pack away projects destined for the County Science Fair at Dutchess Community College in late March, or the district’s upcoming Math and Science Night, several young scientists dashed around the cavernous gym, seeming to enact some basic principles of kinetic energy.
More information, and pictures of winners in all categories, are available on the Webutuck Central School District website -www.-webutuckschools.org
Second-grader Lois Musgrove indicates one of her favorite parts in her investigation of fossils. Photo by Deborah Maier
Each piece makes a gift, a note or even a Christmas tree seem more personal, more considered, and more connected to humanity. Since then, demand for her personalized, hand-lettered tags, ornaments and cards has only grown, appearing in mailboxes across the region and at shops like the Cornwall Whale and Marton & Davis in Chatham, New York. Her precision is remarkable, and to watch her create these one-of-a-kind pieces is an art all unto itself.
In recent months, we’ve seen a deluge of stories on digital replacement. Data managers, bankers and even therapists are being replaced by computer programs in mass waves of layoffs. But what many still find surprising about the proliferation of nonhuman competitors in the job market is how it’s affecting the arts. Illustrators, animators, photographers, musicians and even on-screen actors are being supplanted by bots touted as “artificial intelligence agents.”
But calligraphy — and handwriting in general — has been in the crosshairs of mechanical progress for centuries. There was a time, if you can believe it, when writing anything required ink, paper and sometimes even a living, breathing human scribe. No typewriters, no word processors, no voice-to-text programs.
Then came Gutenberg’s printing press. Sure, it changed the world for the better, ensuring a greater distribution of ideas, and helping spark some of the most important political movements in history. But it also marked one of the first moments when technology replaced the artistic work of the human hand. Over the centuries, printers, designers and technologists have continued to innovate. Today, with Photoshop or Illustrator, an entire universe of alphabets exists, from ornate and embellished to precise and futuristic — all designed to replace the human hand.
Melissa Gamwell, crafting custom Valentine’s Day cards in her office in Cornwall. Kevin Greenberg
Yet, despite this centuries-long assault from technology, Gamwell has found her own way to thrive. Largely self-taught, she combines her drawing and industrial design background with an old-school New England childhood in Maine that involved “very tangible, hands-on, creative problem-solving using many materials.” Raised by “parents who loved antiquarian books, often filled with hand-written dedications,” hers was the kind of upbringing in which “traditional practices were cherished and flaunted” — a time and place with “hand-painted lettering on churches, street signage, the stones in beautiful churchyard cemeteries, and log books.”
Those early impressions have stayed with her, heightening her appreciation of sometimes overlooked details.
“There’s so much ephemera floating around with traces of beautiful handwriting to see everywhere, even now in Connecticut,” she said.
Even in a digital age, she keeps technology at a distance.
“You will not find ChatGPT on my phone, and you will usually not find my phone on me,” she said. Instead, she opts for a notebook, a scrap of paper or the back of a receipt. Sometimes, she goes even further, gathering black walnuts from trees on her property to make the specialized ink for her practice.
Gamwell’s approach to her craft is also philosophical. “There is no better feeling than working through something with your own brain and your own hands, even if you find it less exemplary than you would hope. And it only uses the water you’re already consuming. Do you need to convey an idea? Draw it, however horrific or childish. Write it, even if you never learned proper grammar — because you’ve always had programs do it,” she said.
“Sometimes I think that everything I like is ‘historic’ but it’s really that I just find more value in the traditional methods, which are still alive and well, and desperately in need of stewards for the future.”
After nearly 400 years of pressure, it’s encouraging to see handwriting — an art form that once seemed destined for obsolescence — still thriving, one careful stroke at a time. And thanks to Gamwell, perhaps there’s a new generation of observers, collectors and future calligraphers ready to carry it forward.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his wife, artist Lane Arthur, in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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