On Monday, Feb. 9, art classes went tothe Parade Company in Detroit for a field trip. Students from sculpture, ceramics, and painting class went on that field trip to experience how art works in real life. It was a big deal for the art teachers Lauren May and Emily Carlson who arranged the trip because they never handled that many students before for field trips.  

May is hoping that students learned about art from this field trip. In the Parade Company, a bunch of people work together to create one specific sculpture. Everything starts with sketches and then the whole building process finishes with painting and joining every part together. 

“I think it’s important for students to understand that art exists around us everywhere. It doesn’t just exist in a classroom, and that there are actual careers for people who are in the creative arts,” May said. “I had some students reach out to the parade company to see if they could job shadow people that worked there after it was over.” 

Another art teacher, Emily Carlson, could not bring her drawing class because they already needed two buses for the field trip, and adding her drawing class would have required another bus, increasing the budget. Carlson thinks students enjoyed that field trip. 

“That was the most students I’ve ever taken on a field trip, but they were great. They were very well behaved, and really engaged,” Carlson said. “I can’t say necessarily about sculpture students, although they were giant sculptures, but in painting, students learned how the brush techniques that they were learning and the value development they were learning translates into real sculptures.” 

Isabela Rodriguez ’26 went on the field trip as well. Rodriguez was stunned when she saw the heavily detailed parade floats. Rodriguez’s favorite artwork was the Sesame Street float. For her, the most surprising part was to know how old everything is, and how they kept them properly maintained.  

“I learned how the parade floats were made. They were made using chicken wire and muslin. It was really interesting to learn about because it’s something you don’t really see when you see a parade float just for a passing moment,” Rodriguez said. “I will definitely want to go on more art field trips, because they’re just super fun.”