Students turn art into a business

By Jim Sabataso
Rutland Herald
PROCTOR, Vt. — An art project has turned into a potential small business venture for a pair of Proctor Junior High School students.

When eighth-graders Brogan Sheehe and Connor Sweet teamed up to make an American flag out of fencing, they didn’t realize they had a knack for creating handmade wooden signs.

Now, the duo is working to turn that talent into a summer job.

Proctor Junior/Senior High School art instructor Drew Kutcher said the project is part of an installation art unit eighth-graders are currently studying.

“We learned about installation art, installation artists, public art and the effects that it has on people,” she said.

For their final assignment, students had to make a sculpture that could be installed in the building.

Sheehe and Sweet’s flag is currently on display inside Proctor Junior/Senior High School.

“My idea was to have art all over the school,” said Kutcher, adding that other student-made installations include paper flowers and a number of large canvas paintings.

Sheehe said the reason he and Sweet picked an American flag was simple: “We like America.”

The process for making the piece, however, took a bit more work.

The boys first bought and cut stockade fencing, which they then burned with a torch and painted with the requisite 13 red and white stripes, blue canton and 50 stars.

Sweet said it’s taken them a couple of weeks to complete it.

Initially, Sheehe and Sweet were each going to make a flag sign to keep for themselves but were so pleased with their work, they decided to sell it.

“I’m kind of liking doing it. So we might as well put it up for sale and see what people think,” Sheehe said.

They are currently accepting bids on the piece through their Instagram account @vermont_wooden_crafts. Half the proceeds will be donated to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, according to Sweet.

The boys said they picked that organization because they are avid fishers and hunters.

Kutcher said when she saw what the pair had created, she encouraged them to make a business out of it.

“I was like, ‘You guys could sell this for a lot of money and people would love it,’” she said.

While both said they are somewhat handy — having learned a few things from their fathers — completing the project required them to learn some new skills.

“I’ve never really worked with wood, except for just once in a while helping my dad out. Other than that, it’s all really new,” said Sweet.

Sheehe said his father owns a construction company so he already knew “a couple things.”

“Painting, I hadn’t really done a lot. I just kind of went from scratch and just did it. It came out pretty nice, I think.”

For now, Sheehe and Sweet are sticking with the flag theme, but expanding their repertoire to include other U.S.- and Vermont-related flags, like the flag of the Green Mountain Boys.

Kutcher commended the duo’s work, noting the amount of out-of-school time they put into the project, using tools they didn’t have access to in the classroom.

“They went above and beyond,” she said.

jim.sabataso @rutlandherald.com