Session: Construction + Community, Fall 2022

Artists: 14 students

Materials: redwood 2×4, tube steel, MIG welder, welding safety equipment, chop saw, drill and impact driver, deck screws

Description: This fall session marked the 2nd year of Construction + Community, ushering in a new cohort of high school builders. To kick off the building year, we partnered with People’s Programs Oakland to fabricate outdoor furniture (planter boxes, Adirondack chairs and steel benches) for their community garden. In cutting the lumber and building the frame for the planter boxes and chairs, our students learned the basics of using a chop saw, a drill and an impact driver. The Adirondack design was deceptively simple to the eye but required some tricky angles from our students! As for the steel benches, they were a fantastic project for our students to learn and practice MIG welding. Under the instruction of our shop manager and metalworker Augusta Sitney, each student welded steel tubes to create a simple frame, to which Augusta later added brackets. Our students also created and attached wooden tops for the steel frames.