Bridgette works with many different tools that most artists don't. She uses 3D printing, 3D scanning, and CNC milling in her work. She even wrote a book about it. She loves talking to children about STEAM education, especially regarding her Alice Sculpture. Below are two videos. The first is an introduction to the Texas Art Educators Conference. Bridgette was chosen to speak there about STEAM. The second is a video of her speaking at Young Women in Math and Science- Expanding your Horizons. If you watch the video at about 11 minutes, you can see a CNC machine milling out a body of the March Hare. This is how Bridgette Makes things big. Watch at 13 minutes, and you will see one of the hidden 150 things—something that is both in Bridgette's artwork and in the movie Toy Story and even in the Simpsons.
STEM education came about because the schools and the government were finding that fewer students were going into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math STEM. So they wanted to encourage students in school to study these subjects. Bridgette adds the A to STEM to make it STEAM. Art can inform other subjects. She wants to encourage young people, especially girls, to go into these areas of study.
Texas Art Educators introduces Bridgette Mongeon
- Why do you think students were not studying the subjects in STEM or STEAM?
- How can you make these subjects fun?
- Do you remember the artists post about baseball and interdisciplinary study?
- Do you think the hidden 150 thing shown at 13 minutes in the video is interesting? Have you ever seen it elsewhere?
- What type of STEAM do you think Coulson Tough used in building your school or other things?
