What floats your boat?: Art students row across pond in homemade boats

By Kyle Inman

October 14, 2010 No Comments

After building a homemade life jacket last week, professor Neil Lawley’s 3-Dimensional Design class designed and built boats that are capable of carrying a person across the pond on campus next to James McCarthy Drive.

The basic requirements of the project are that it be well-designed, both aesthetically and functionally, be able to buoy the students’ weight in the pond and be re-useable. Students were allowed to build the boat out of anything but wood using as much found and recycled materials as possible.

The life jacket was an individual project whereas the boat assignment is a project with four groups of three people each. The pilot of the boat wore one of the previously created life jackets while rowing across the pond.

Sophomore Emily Huffman and the members of her group made a boat in the form of a shark.

“We made the shark of a barrel with noodles on the side.” Huffman said. “It has a shark face and tail and is named ‘Jabber Jaw.’ Our paddle is made out of PVC and we got the barrel from Dan’s New and Used.”

Sophomore Katelyn Piper said that this is basically the same concept as the personal flotation devices except on a larger scale.

“I learned to be cautious of structure,” Piper said. “It has to be able to hold up in water. Even though we used duct tape, we can’t just throw it together; we need to make it look nice.”

“Making the boat actually makes you want to get into it,” Piper said. “It is very fun. The idea of testing out our boats puts a fun spin on it because you get to see your results.”

The class tested out their boats in the pond on Oct. 8. All of the boats floated and made it across the pond except for one boat. The boat floated, but got stuck when the pilot got in. Professor Lawley quickly got the boat and pulled it to shore.

Dick Campbell, a spectator, said that he loved the exhibition.

“I think Professor Lawley is teaching the kids that school can be fun,” Campbell said. “They have plenty of time to work and it is important for these young students to have some fun along the way.”

“They really used their imagination and were very creative,” Campbell said. “It was excellent to watch.”

Professor Lawley said that the project was a great success.

“The students worked very well as a team,” Lawley said. “The designs were great and I think they did a great job. Most importantly, they all had fun.”