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HCC ART STUDENTS DESIGN WWII MONUMENTS

By Mike Russo

BRIDGEPORT -- Housatonic Community College art students are playing a lead role in the plans for a World War II memorial monument earmarked for one of Bridgeport’s many parks.

Bridgeport’s Veterans Memorial Committee has been raising funds for the project and has been using drawings developed by HCC art professor Ron Abbe’s illustration students as renderings of possible monuments.

The fifteen students using the creativity and problem solving skills taught in Abbe’s class were asked to create illustrations of a monument that would represent the veterans of World War II.

This is one of many projects introduced to HCC art students who are getting a feel for meeting the demands of the trade, said Abbe, a Meriden resident. “Part of this course is working on real problems with a client who can suggest changes, and we are happy to do this,”

Similar projects in the illustration course include a cancer awareness project and an anti-teen drinking campaign.

Bridgeport resident Jennifer Carter, a 41 year-old returning student who changed her major from engineering to graphic design, created a drawing that combined a globe surrounded by a concrete maze with benches around the perimeter. “Through brainstorming and creative problem solving, I was able to combine these two concepts.”

Another student, Wanda Lewis, 50, from Bridgeport, created a wall depicting a soldier and emblems of all four branches of the military. The idea for her monument was inspired by a poem that states, “There has to be a reason all the men died for us. Until the war is complete, their dying was not in vain.”

She added that when she started in the art program that she didn’t even know she could draw. But through the direction and encouragement from Abbe, “little by little my drawings came to life.”

City of Bridgeport deputy chief administrative officer Brian Williams, who contacted Abbe at the suggestion of former student Robin Gilmore said, “We chose HCC because it’s a community-based college, and it worked out perfectly. They hit a home run.”

The Veterans Memorial Committee held a fundraiser on Dec. 6, Pearl Harbor Day, where the students work was displayed. “It was very effective. I was floored about how they used their imagination. It helped point us in the right direction,” said Williams.

The committee will need to raise anywhere from $35,000 to $100,000 depending on the design and site of the monument which has yet to be determined. The Pearl Harbor Day event raised $2000.

The 12 member committee not determined a design yet, Williams said, one of the student’s designs could well be chosen.

There will be similar events in the future to raise more funds. The student’s designs are currently on display at the Veterans office.

Since it moved to the new campus in January 1997, HCC's enrollment has increased 77 percent. According to the most recent statistics released by the Washington D.C- based American Association of Community Colleges, Housatonic was the Northeast’s second fastest-growing community college and its fastest-growing in terms of full-time students.

In response to increased enrollments and changing workplace needs both regionally and nationally, Housatonic has increased the number of programs offered from 43 to 63 since moving to its new campus. The campus is located at 900 Lafayette Blvd. in downtown Bridgeport, less than 150 yards off I-95 (exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1) and a block from the Arena at Harbor Yard..

Mike Russo of Monroe is a journalism intern at Housatonic Community College