After working with the Bubbler to create a mascot mural to brand their classrooms with positivity and color, students in the Metro Jail classroom followed up with a request to learn how to sew and to create their own graduation gown with Metro Panther colors to be used in the upcoming graduations in their classroom. This is when the Bubbler checked in with Emily Popp, Jennie Bastian and Bird Ross to figure out the ways in which we could develop an iterative production series, while the Jail teacher, Tina Geier, went to work on developing a process and gaining permission to use sewing machines in the Jail.
Once the plan was ironed out the artists worked as a team to walk students through the production of individual first draft gown projects followed up by a collaborative final gown made of durable leather. The students finished in time to proudly wear the gown and take photos in front of the panthers mural, and future students will continue to wear during their high school graduation ceremonies for years to come.
