Matthew Garcia, an art professor at CSU Pueblo, and his design class are finding ways to bring student talent and art out of the classroom and into the community with the Bessemer Outdoor Museum (BOM).
The BOM is an outdoor space in Bessemer at 614 W Arroyo Ave, that has been a project of the CSU Pueblo art department for 2 separate classes. In spring of 2025 the “Socially Engaged Art” class worked on clearing out the space for the BOM. Garcia described the space, saying there were old cars, TVs, and washers that needed to be cleared.
One year later, an advanced design class is working on developing branding materials for the BOM. These design pieces are installed weekly and each student will rotate though the outdoor space by semesters end.
Much of the students’ work represents this artistic ethos. The class spent time in Bessemer before and while designing their work. Garcia explained the value of this experience especially in a design space and contrasted it to doing research online. “To really get informed… On an intimate level, you got to get into the community,” Garcia said.
The class had the opportunity to interact with neighbors around the space, observe the landmarks of Bessemer, and learn about the history of the area. “It’s the kind of research you can’t really do online. You have to be here in person, talk to the people here, and to people that have experience with the space,” Hunter Sandstrom said, student in the design class.
Sebastianna Walsh, student in the design class and the socially engaged art class described the experience of clearing the space, “… so cool. It was so fun painting the mural and getting to talk to the neighbors.” Walsh’s design work was being installed along with Sandstrom’s and she described it as depicting low rider culture across Pueblo as well as family within the community.
Community research and the space for the BOM are examples of how this design project separates itself from other design projects. “A lot of design students… think design is all about applied use. Like advertising,” Garcia said, “but really it can be just as influential as an art experience.”
Beyond this, much of what has defined the BOM as a project is the feeling of collaboration between the community and the classes who have worked on the project. Garcia described the class walking through the space and having conversations with people in Bessemer.
This is perhaps most apparent in the way the space itself has evolved. Turning the lot from a “community dumping site”, as described by Garcia, into a place for students to display their work, was a community project. “The neighbors have done a lot of work to keep it nice,” said Walsh. “Once we did this, everybody was kind of keeping it clear,” Garcia said.
Garcia, the students, and members of the Bessemer community have all been pieces of making the project work. This sense of collaboration and community-based artwork makes this project a unique and valuable one to the students and to the area. Another semester of the “Socially Engaged Art” class will continue work on the BOM in the spring 2027 semester.
