Community-Generated Photo Booth
District staff are asked to be present and bring interactive materials to community events periodically. What better way to reach community than through an ‘exhibit’ designed with community input.
In 2023 local teachers Robyn Roberts, Corinne Neil, and teaching artist, Sonya Sankaran facilitated conversations with students at Clark St. Community School in Middleton, as part of their water-themed literacy learning series, that yielded concepts for a ‘photo booth’ outreach exhibit. Students took a tour of Nine Springs Wastewater treatment plant, created their own water colored toilet line-drawings and toilet-related poetry, and then went through brainstorming and sketching exercises to develop concepts. They painted the boards which will now be used at community events upon request, having many conversations about water all the while.
Science to Street Art
The Wisconsin Institute of Discovery’s “Illuminating Discovery Hub” began the Science to Street Art program in 2018, to bring university professors together with graffiti artists to both promote science learning and engaging creative thinking about how to artistically represent complex scientific themes.
On Plaenert Drive off of Fish Hatchery Road, near Wright Middle School, lies what was once a non-descript brick building, which has now been transformed with murals. This building, Pumping station #8, was selected as a participant for the site for one of Science to Street Art’s very first project’s.
The exterior walls of the pumping station were transformed by artists Ingrid Kallick and Mario Fregoso a map of microbiology and molecular structure in collaboration with UW-Madison scientists Dr. Jo Handelsman and Dr. Zach Wickens. The final design includes “hidden” (think glow-in-the-dark paint) messages about wastewater or what is going on behind the brick walls at that pumping station.
Bathrooms at the Madison Public Market
Coming soon!
Visitors to the Madison Public Market will have the opportunity to experience bathrooms like no others they’ve been to before.
Through a collaboration between the Madison Public Market Foundation, the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the City of Madison, the public market bathrooms have been uniquely designed bathrooms to serve as ‘learning lavatories’ or ‘P(ee).S.A’s, inviting visitors to learn about where the water goes and how it gets cleaned up after it’s flushed, and explore some ways they can play a part in protecting our shared water resources.
Art & Sons brought the vision to reality. Stay tuned for more information as bathrooms are unveiled in Fall 2025.
