MCA House Float
Mount Carmel art students, ranging from eighth grade to twelfth grade, joined the Krewe of House Floats in January 2021. They worked together to design, paint, and create MCA-themed decorations, turning the house next to campus where Sister Camille Anne, Sister Beth, and Sister Mary Ellen reside into a spectacular MCA House Float. Decorations include a larger than life rosary, wooden cutouts of mascot-themed students, hand-painted class flowers, a shimmery purple, blue, and pink bunting and more. Students enthusiastically spent class time, and in some cases Independent Study and after school, working on their colorful and creative projects.
The students designed, painted, and constructed each house float piece. They learned how to translate their ideas into 3D forms, how to build to scale, how to execute bracing and supports, and how to weatherproof art for site-specific installation.
MCA House Float on WWL
The Making of a House Float
MASCOT-THEMED STUDENTS
Students painted wooden, mascot-themed students measuring around seven feet in height.
ROSARY BEADS
Larger than life rosary beads and wooden hands took a considerable amount of collaboration from several classes. Students used a foam cutter to create holes in plastic ball pitt balls and small foam balls. The foam balls were painted gold. The medal and cross were done in papier mache and sprayed with acrylic spray paint.
Two CUBS, A Cross, AND An ESCUTCHEON
The two Cubs, Coco and Camille, the escutcheon, and a cross were created on Coroplast, a corrugated plastic. The Cubs were hand-painted with acrylic paint and the detail work on the escutcheon was created with paint markers.
CLASS FLOWERS
The flowers were designed from contour drawings created by the students. After designing the petals, students carefully adhered wire between the top and bottom pieces to give the petals flexibility and movement. They primed the flowers in exterior acrylic paint to seal the board, painted colorful details, and then sculpted their creations so that they would resemble real flowers. They finished with metal leafing and a spray sealant for extra protection.
SCAPULAR
Teamwork was essential in completing the detail-oriented scapular. The hand-lettered work and the painting of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and baby Jesus were completed by a large group of students.