Digital Design Academy students took their first field trip of the school year to The Lake Park Art District hosted by John Linden and Lake Park town Commissioner AJ Brockman on Aug. 28.

Ms. Baker met Linden last school year at the 4th Annual Inlet Grove Car Show, where he has been an active participant in the last 4 years. He came up with the idea for Ms. Baker’s students to not only meet AJ Brockman, but to tour the Lake Park Art District.

“Fast forward 6 months and 3 weeks into the new school year, Commissioner Linden really served as the best host for our field trip,” said Ms. Baker the Digital Design instructor.

Councilwoman, Julie Botel and the students started off the field trip by taking a tour of the two block long wall murals covering the entire back walls of the Brew House Gallery building, accompanied by the art class from Lake Park Elementary school.

“Once leaving the building, we entered the Kelsey Theater, where AJ and his team host everything from band shows, to church gatherings all the way down to wrestling matches,” said Ms. Baker.

Ms. Baker said that the students walked down the plaza to enter the wonderful digital world called DaVinci’s 3D Lounge. They were greeted by the owner Alex Lorenzo. He gave the students an in depth and hands on experience with creating art in virtual reality to send it to be printed in 3D. ”He then explained how we were heading towards an almost fully automatized future with 3D Printers printing everything from human organs,car parts, shoes, and many more objects,” she said.

The students headed to the end of the plaza to visit the Lake Park Art Gallery where they featured work from local West Palm Beach artists. The students were inspired, because they not only saw work that was similar to theirs, but they can begin to gain revenue through their artistic talents.

“It felt good that I went to the art museum to see all the other artists drawings,” said Anthony Morales-Perez, a Junior from the Digital Design Program.

Commissioner Linden and the Mayor of Lake Park Mr. Micheal O’Rourke sponsored a catered lunch from Wing Stop for the students and even provided desserts. Once lunch was over the students headed to downtown West Palm Beach to view hidden murals over the city.

“I love art, so to see the giant wall murals that I didn’t even know was so close to us was very interesting. There are many hidden wall murals around West Palm Beach that you would miss if you blinked, but my favorite part of the trip was the DaVinci 3D lounge, because the fact that you could make car parts and house models with just the tap of your screen was just amazing to me,” said Abigail Pickup a Junior in the Medical Academy.

The best one that surprised the students was under the drawbridge connecting West Palm Beach to Palm Beach Island, where the group discovered not one, but two life size murals painted over the waterways. The students also took a visit by the Historical Palm Beach High School building where the BE ART installation is on display. Ending the eventful day with ice cream from Rita’s in City Place before heading back to school.