This is the time of year, The Toys for Elephants project class would normally be delivering a fleet of enrichment toys to Emily and Ruth, the Elephants at the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford. Circumstances this year turned out to be a little bit different. Students in the 2020 Massachusetts College of Art and Design Toys for Elephants class did not let these circumstances get them down however, they just found a slightly smaller group of clients at the zoo. The Monkeys!
Read More10 Years of Toys for Elephants
This week each year is a special one for Handshouse Studio & the Buttonwood Park Zoo. Students from the Mass College of Art & Design Toys for Elephants class deliver unique enrichment objects they have designed & built during the course of this semester-long Handshouse Studio workshop to Emily & Ruth, Buttonwood Park Zoo’s resident elephants. This week would have marked the 10th consecutive year of designing, building & delivering enrichment objects for these elephants & their managers.
Read MoreBuilding the Trojan Horse at Home
Check out some of the models made by student Olivia Wiktor of the Trojan Horse, part of the Making/History: Trojan Horse Project. Originally the class goal was to continue research done in past workshops and classes by extensively studying the form of the horse, and creating several versions as 4-foot models made of wood. When the class had to move online, the project had to be adapted. Olivia, an Architecture student at Mass College of Art, was able to alter the classes CAD drawings of the Trojan Horse model, & using her Rhino skills, scale them to a few different sizes so fellow students could create layered horse models with the kinds of materials they could work with from their own homes.
Read MoreToys for Elephants: Thailand 2020
Handshouse Studio traveled with the Toys for Elephants project to Thailand again! A group of 15 people from 5 different colleges from the US and England, traveled together to Thailand this past January to design and build both enrichment objects for Elephants, and tools for elephant keepers to improve life for elephants at BEES Elephant Sanctuary. (continue)
Read MoreMini Banjo Workshop for High School Students
On Norwell Cares Day, September 20, 2019, Norwell high school students joined Handshouse Studio for a one-day workshop making historic gourd banjos.
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