Last weekend I took part in my first Macaulay STEAM Festival. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. All I knew was that each class from Seminar 1 and Seminar 3 would be presenting some kind of project to other Macaulay students and professors. Our group worked on an audio guide on a painting by Red Grooms that we discovered on campus. It was interesting to learn about the art found at Baruch and see how it connects to the student body. We printed out a poster of the painting that we analyzed, Masters at the Met, which we then would show other students and talk about what we discovered.
Unfortunately, not many people came to see my group’s poster. We were overshadowed by the large array of other projects, particularly those done by the science seminar. A few students came by and we shared some interesting information that we learned but nobody listened to our audio guide. The festival itself was so busy and full of students sharing their work so it was a little disappointing that our project didn’t receive much attention.
Even though our project didn’t attract a large audience, I still really enjoyed my time at the festival. Walking around the different rooms and seeing all the different projects from students from different schools was absolutely fascinating. I was particularly intrigued by the projects that involved making paint out of natural ingredients. One group made paint out of blueberries that was edible while another group used different spices and flowers to extract colors and make a variety of natural paint. It was very interesting to learn about the process of creating the paint and I even had the chance to test the paint that the students made. A group from another class at Baruch made a book highlighting the different landmarks of New York City and the history behind them. Another group made a song inspired by the different sounds of the city. All these projects involved a great amount of creativity and I really enjoyed seeing the amazing ideas my peers came up with.
While the STEAM Festival was not exactly what I expected, I still think I gained a lot from the experience. From discovering Red Groom’s painting and learning about the artist to seeing the diverse array of projects at the festival itself, I saw that our city is so rich in art and culture. The Steam Festival combines the arts and sciences to showcase the different aspects of NYC and how we as students can uncover them. I was glad to see that our campus is full of paintings and photographs because art is such an important part of our city’s culture and being able to showcase that at the festival was incredible.
