Beyond 23 is a collaborative project partially funded by CultureSource and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s Washtenaw Artist Grant. It pairs work created by art students from Ypsilanti Community High School with work created by art students at Ann Arbor’s Huron High School. Beyond 23 refers to US-23, which is the freeway that acts as the unofficial barrier between the two communities. Both groups of students have a “beyond 23”.

 

Students are given out-of-use public school library books from the defunct Willow Run Community Schools to find text to respond to. They can alter the pages however they’d like; with acrylic or tempera paint, by crossing words out, by drawing over pictures, or anything else they can think of. The pages they’ve marked are cut out and wheatpasted to custom 12” x 12” frames. This process is repeated multiple times allowing pages to overlap and be removed, resulting in worn billboard look.

 

When both sets of students have finished, all 64 12” x 12” frames will combine to form one 8’ x 8’ statement piece