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Saguaro students played big Convergence role

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Students at Saguaro High School are no strangers to working with Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, but when two programs were selected to develop a unique attraction at this year’s Canal Convergence, they jumped at it.

Students in the visual arts and the robotics programs put their skills to the test in creating glass sculptures and solar-powered pedestals, respectively, for an augmented reality (AR) experience that can be enjoyed until the Convergence closes on Nov. 14. Canal Convergence began last Friday.

They spent parts of their summer and worked tirelessly throughout the school year with the goal of creating something beautiful and functional.

“I knew Saguaro High School had a very strong robotics team but we also have a long relationship with their visual arts department so it felt like that would be a good place to start,” said Natalie Marsh, director of Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation. Marsh first met with Christopher Brandt, administrative coordinator of math and science and robotics coach at Saguaro and SUSD’s fine arts curriculum coordinator.

Eventually, all parties met one hot June morning at a scrap yard that the city Solid Waste Department opened just for them.

Marsh, Brandt and Saguaro visual arts teacher Michelle Peacock sifted through bins of recyclable scrap to find materials for the artworks’ bases. “We were looking to find anything that would work so we could make everything out of recycled materials,” said Brandt.

The team found fencing that was once a part of an old baseball park.With material found for a base, the concept-development phase began.

Marsh reached out to Hoverlay, the AR company that previously worked with Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation, and pitched a unique idea.

“I wanted to take last years’ experience and gamify it by making it something that would keep people’s attention and be fun,” Marsh said. “After I spoke to the school, I spoke to Hoverlay and asked if they could create a scavenger hunt.”

Hoverlay instantly went along and Marsh once again expanded her team.

She contracted artist and Saguaro alum Bobby Zokaites to manage the visual design of the AR experience and design the frames for the students’ work.

Marsh also worked closely with former Saguaro robotics club president and graduate Kayli Battel, who was a Scottsdale Arts summer intern, to further develop the concept.

Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation produced the story of an artist visiting from out-of-town who lost pages from her sketchbook at the Scottsdale Waterfront.

Now, Convergence guests will look for solar- powered sculptures created by visual arts students and sit atop pedestals designed by robotics students. When a guest finds a sculpture, an animation of the creature will appear.

The creatures – a scorpion, a saguaro cactus, a white amur fish and a great blue heron – will provide the guests who find them with information leading to the missing sketchbook pages.

Once a page is found, guests will have to solve a riddle to capture the page. Once all the riddles are solved, a word

Showing off the solar-powered pedestals made by the Saguaro High robotics club are, from left, senior and club president Natalie Foster, junior Kritin Mandala and sophomore Alex Stephenson. The pedestals supported light structures made by

will be spelled out to unlock a 360-degree immersive experience.

“It’s sort of like scavenger hunt meets escape room,” said Marsh.

The skeletons are intricate artworks made of recycled glass.

“Because these boxes were meant to display the art, we had to construct everything around these pieces,” said Saguaro senior Natalie Foster, the robotics team president.

As the art pieces grew or were altered, so were the bases to house the works.

“Both of our teams had their own issues when structures changed,” said Foster. “As both of our pieces were changing into something different, we had to ensure a flow of communication to ensure that our pieces still fit tightly together.”

This project confronted students with things they had never done before.

Junior Kritin Mandala was tasked with welding pieces of steel for the first time in his life.

“It was interesting learning from Mr. Brandt how to weld and how to keep the flow going,” Kritin said.

On the visual arts side of the project, students like junior Marissa Phillips worked with glass for the first time – a task she admitted was initially intimidating.

Other students got a chance to display their strengths even as they forgot at times that their work would be on public display.

“It never really crossed our minds that this would be on display because we were so focused on what we were creating and we were so busy,” said senior Brian Murry.

One thing that did cross the minds of the students creating the glass sculptures was that these creatures were beginning to take on a life of their own.

“When you work on something for so long, it’s easy to get attached to it and want to give it a name and a personality,” Marissa said with a laugh.

Once the students got an idea of a personality for each creature, they began to let their imaginations run wild.

“We have such creative people in this class that when we see a sculpture or a piece, we almost make these personalities for them,” said Clara McKinley, a junior charged with creating the blue heron. “We all had the same idea of where the project was going so it really wasn’t hard to be creative and create a story for the sculptures.”

With these personalities created, Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation used the students’ ideas to select voice actors for the AR experience.

The students also added more life to the designs.

“With the cactus, some of us put animals on the cactus which shows the wildlife around it and makes it feel more real,” Marissa explained.

The intricate artwork that resulted from their efforts to create unique pieces the cuts the students sustained from cutting the glass.

“I’ve never had to give out so may band aids,” said art teacher Michelle Peacock.

The robotics team had its own share of creative hurdles to overcome while building pedestals that are 2 feet high and 3 feet tall.

For example, they had to work with batteries that were nearly 60 pounds.

The team also had to consider aesthetics more than it had on previous projects.

“We were thinking about how our pedestals could complement the art by painting the boxes by the same color and most of the placement of the interior electronics and solar panels was based on the aesthetics,” Kritin said.

“At the end of the day, we had to remember that what we made was something that complemented the art,” added sophomore Alex Stephenson, who worked on the pedestals’ electrical components.

While working on the boxes, students served as a test audience for Battel’s riddles as well.

“We were the test crew to see if peo-

Putting together all the pieces for the AR displays created by Saguaro students was a team effort that included, from left, Kate Dalton, Nikhil Sethi, Nina-Pearl Hamel and Brody Kladis. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

Saguaro senior and Saguaro Sabercats Robotics President Natalie Foster and junior Zoe Dailey helped create the stands for the AR light fixtures on display in Canal

Convergence. (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)

ple could figure out the different clues she had,” Natalie explained, admitting that a straightforward way to solve the riddles is with the help of a friend.

The students created four pedestals for the sculptures and spent their final weeks performing countless tests to ensure things work right.

“It adds a lot of pressure because if your part doesn’t work, then it’s on you,” Alex said.

For both programs, the days leading up to Canal Convergence were when the reality set in.

“It didn’t sink in until the end when we put the sculptures on the totems that this art is going to be displayed,” said junior Thea Neubeck, who mainly worked on the white amur. Now that the work is finished and ready for the public to interact with it, the students are anxious to show off their arduous work to family and friends.

“I can’t wait to show this to my family and give them an introduction to glass work,” Clara said. “You don’t see this type of glass anywhere.”

Others are excited to give the public a taste of what the next generation of artists and creative thinkers can accomplish.

“I am looking forward to seeing how this generation that was raised with technology engages with augmented reality,” Natalie said.

To which Clara added: “It’s really cool that our generation can give a new thing to the world.”

Natalie also is excited the students can display what can happen when two seemingly different fields come together.

“I want people to see that STEM and art are not opposites and how when they come together, they can create something exceptionally beautiful,” she said.

“One of the reasons we really enjoy working with Scottsdale Arts Learning and Innovation is because there will be thousands of people seeing STEM and art come together to create something that’s interesting and informative.”

Wiring one of the displays are, from left, Brody Kladis, Nikhil Sethi, Kate Dalton, Nina-Pearl Hamel and Christopher Brandt. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

If you go

Where to see their work

What: Canal Convergence When: Through Nov. 14, 6-10 p.m. Where: Scottsdale Waterfront, 7038 E Fifth Ave. Cost: AR experience is free Info: Visitors need to download Hoverlay app and go to “scavenger hunt card” at canalconvergence.com