Description of the following video:
[Video: Herron School of Art + Design students are painting a futsal court in the playground area at an elementary school in downtown Indianapolis. Some students are standing up and using long-handled paint rollers; another is crouched down using a paintbrush. Apartments and other urban buildings can be seen in the background. An IU trident with “IUPUI Presents” fades in at the lower-left corner.]
[Video: Two Herron students help associate professor Danielle Riede straighten long lines of painter’s tape on the ground. The tape is used to indicate the design they’re putting on the court and to help paint accurately on the asphalt.]
Danielle Riede, an associate professor at the Herron School of Art + Design, speaks in voiceover: The futsal court that we created at CFI 2 is a wonderful example of how Herron interfaces with the Indianapolis community.
[Video: Riede appears on camera.]
[Words appear: Danielle Riede; Associate Professor, Herron School of Art + Design]
Riede speaks: This project was done independently through the Drawing III class …
[Video: Riede is using a long-handled paint roller to help distribute paint on the futsal court. She is talking to a student as she works.]
[Video: A close-up of the court can be seen, next to a close-up of a paint roller that is being used to decorate a part of the court blue.]
[Video: Riede joins her students in continuing to paint the court. She and her group of students are on the school playground, with the Indianapolis skyline behind them.]
Riede speaks in voiceover: … and with Indiana Futsal. But, at Herron, I feel like we’ve really been a leader in the community, and community engagement. Whether it’s in our …
[Video: Riede appears on camera.]
Riede speaks: … visual communication design department or in our fine arts department …
[Video: A close-up of the court, next to a close-up of a paint roller that is being used to decorate a part of the court pink.]
[Video: A female student is shown continuing to paint the court. She is standing up and using a long-handled paint roller.]
[Video: Riede checks the tape that has been put on the court to make sure it is even. She bends over and smooths the tape before standing back up and walking the length of the court.]
Riede speaks in voiceover: … the idea of public art has really changed from simply putting a sculpture in a public space to …
[Video: Three photographs are shown. The camera pans across the pictures to provide movement to the still images. The first picture is of the completed futsal court. The elementary-school students, along with the Herron students, pose for a picture on the court. The second picture is of Riede and her Herron students, kicking futsal balls on the newly appointed court. The third picture is of two elementary-school boys playing on the court, kicking the futsal ball. Another boy runs beside them.
Riede speaks in voiceover: … understanding the context of an area and what the needs of an area or a school are. It’s not only is the public art project visually engaging, it’s also engaging for the Indianapolis community and the students at CFI 2.
[Screen goes to black]
[IU trident appears]
[Words appear: IUPUI]
[END OF TRANSCRIPT]
When recess at the Center For Inquiry 2 school in downtown Indianapolis takes students outside, many gravitate toward the futsal court. Its bright colors beckon kids to run all over them – plus, who doesn’t love to kick a ball into a net?
The sport, similar to soccer but played with a smaller ball on a basketball court-sized area ideal for places without large expanses of grass, is one of the fastest-growing in America. The already inviting game can look even more so with a compelling playing surface, and that’s where students from the Herron School of Art and Design came in to help at CFI 2.
This fall, 16 students from a Herron drawing class collaborated to create a court, with the principal design by third-year art student Charlie Bourquein. The project originated with help from the IUPUI Sports Innovation Institute.
“I did a little research just to make sure it was the best possible court I could make for the kids,” Bourquein said. “I wanted it to be functional before anything else, but I also wanted to be sure there would be lots of colors.”
The court at the K-through-8th grade school is colorful with a purpose, as the shades of blue and green on one half are distinctive from the shades of pink and purple on the other half. Whether you’re attacking a goal or defending one, the boundaries are clear.
“There needs to be color, there needs to be creativity, there needs to be angles – and this court reflects that perfectly,” said Justin Becht, director of Indiana Futsal, a state association under the umbrella of Indiana Soccer and a partner in the project. “This court is very special, in the way that students were collaborating and engaging to create something for that space.”
It’s also the most special of public art projects – more than an installation on the side of a building or atop a hill, but one that will live beneath kids’ feet for years to come.
“There’s a game to learn, and there’s a beautiful painting on the ground,” said Danielle Riede, an associate professor at Herron School of Art and Design who helped guide the project via the school’s Basile Center for Art, Design and Public Life.
“There’s definitely a lot of fun to be had.”