Summer Arts Academy ends with comic relief
The Incredible Hulk was melting in her green duct tape costume by the end of the Duct Tape Fashion Show on an 88-degree June morning in the Edwards Courtyard.
Taylor Monahan, a 9th-grade Conway High School student, was modeling a vivid green duct tape suit that she was literally taped into, so by the end of the show she was ready to shed her superhero image. Emmanuel Obgonna, a rising 12th grader from Irmo High School in Columbia, helped peel the tape off and free her from her Hulk misery.
"They'll put up with a lot for that 15 minutes of fame," said Susan Slavic, director of the Summer Arts Academy and a CCU associate professor of visual arts.
The Hulk was one of 13 comic characters constructed and modeled by 36 students of the Academy. It was the culmination of the two-week residential arts program for gifted and talented students.
Duct tape comic characters included Haku the dragon, Zee Captain, Sniper, Mimi & Max, Sailor Mercury, Deadpool, Opus, Poison Ivy, Bat Woman, Wonder Woman, Storm and Green Lantern.
Three teammates worked to fashion the three-person dragon, with one person (the tail end) walking backward. The project, which took "hours and hours," taught the students patience and the importance of planning, according to dragon girls Hikari Yobayashi and Ella Bergdoll-Oberhammer, both 10-graders at Myrtle Beach High School. Mary Sheehan was the middle dragon girl.
The three girls chose the dragon because "a dragon with three people has never been done before." Last year, the same trio constructed the giant bird Kevin from the animated film "Up," another show standout.
Slavic said the students learn new skills, including how to work with new and mixed media and how to live and work together. "They learn there's a lot of power in visual literacy."
Following the fashion show, students and parents visited an exhibit in the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery that featured all their art projects, ranging from sculpture to digital projects to painting and mixed media.
