Visitors to Boothbay Region Elementary School’s art room the week of May 8 may have been confused by a little mess. Piles of rope, bundled in a mix of bright orange, purple and green, were peppered around the classroom. The materials are part of a school-wide art project.

BRES art teacher Jessica Nadeau has collaborated with Maine artist Pamela Moulton and students from kindergarten through eighth grade to make a sculpture from discarded fishing materials. The art will be part of the annual Boothbay Region Student Art Show in Boothbay Harbor starting May 12 and Fishin’ for Fashion in June.

“It's a way for them to see 'Oh, we have this around us and we can make something beautiful with this thing that's just heaped around in piles,'” said Moulton. “(The art) comes from the children, they're really the ones that will bring this to life. We make it with them, and we give them the tools, but you see the energy they have and they're going to be super proud when this is done.”

Moulton’s website describes her as “a multi-disciplinary environmental artist rooted in world-building and collaboration.” Based in North Bridgton, her recent projects have used textiles and discarded fishing gear such as recycled lobster rope and nets, and she often works with students and communities.

This year, both Moulton and Nadeau were recognized by Maine Art Education Association. Nadeau was named Elementary Art Educator of the Year and Moulton was named Community Art Educator of the Year.

Nadeau was inspired by Moulton’s recent project at Payson Park in Portland. The public project had over 5,600 community partners from schools, museums, environmental organizations and retirement homes to make art that addresses climate change, according to Moulton’s website.

The collaboration began when Nadeau applied for a grant to bring Moulton to the Boothbay region to engage with her students.

“I thought that sounds amazing, all these kids working together for this larger purpose,” Nadeau said. “Bringing a real artist to make art-making real and incorporating so many things that are important to the history of our town. It's inspiring.”

The two have been collaborating on the BRES project since April. They are working with students to create the abstract sculpture with discarded rope, nets and other material taken from the Gulf of Maine that cannot be recycled through normal means. Students help by unraveling rope and attaching other elements of the sculpture to discarded fishing nets. The youngest students filled “magical bait bags” with brightly colored debris and shells that will also go into the piece.

Moulton said many of the children come from fishing families, so are familiar with the materials and are inspired to see them used in new ways. She added, it is important to expose students to art so they can immerse themselves in “not just art on the wall that you can’t touch.”

Nadeau hopes the project will help teach her students about resourcefulness, collaboration and how they can both be an artist and someone who recycles.

“So many of our kids, when they draw, they'll draw like one line and then instead of erasing, they'll throw the paper away,” she said. “So, it's just a way to kind of organically figure out how to teach them that we have all these things that we can just create with just sitting around our house.”

The sculpture was expected to be finished at the end of the week. Interwoven colors and textures were to come together, and the artists designed it to include modular parts so it can evolve and grow.

According to Nadeau, young students have a better time understanding abstract art, like this is, because they can freely create it. Many students start out wanting to create realistic art but get frustrated if it is hard for them. 

“I try to veer more towards abstract because it's organically successful for, like, 98% of the students,” she said. “The buy-in is there because it doesn't need to look like an apple, like it can be whatever you want it to be.”