There’s a new vending machine in town and it’s not your typical vending machine that you would think of. The Digital Media Arts (DMA) students of Kings High School have created art packaged up and put into a vending machine to put on display and sell to the rest of KHS. The machine, covered in cool prints and a bright LED open sign overhead, this new aspect of the hallways in KHS will surely get people talking.

KHS DMA teachers Kelly Shields and Cassandra Barnes had the idea in the fall. “What if we put an art vending machine in KHS? Would this even work? How would the students interact with it?” There were a lot of unanswered questions, but eventually they knew they would get it right.

They first purchased a gently used vending machine and then programmed it to the correct dollar amounts for the art that was to be sold. Then, it was time to make the art. Except, they weren’t creating the art. The students of AP DMA and the two DMA I classes were responsible for filling this machine. 

Students were tasked with creating something that would be interesting to a prospective buyer. No art could be included in the machine that contained themselves or a friend, because who would want to buy that other than a few close friends? Artists had to develop and curate art that most people would be interested in, and that was no easy task. 

Students could develop buttons, magnets, keychains, notebooks and other small items that would be cheaper and easier to purchase in a vending machine by KHS students. 

Current DMA I student and Senior Jorie Allison wanted to develop a temporary tattoo sheet and a keychain. As for developing the keychain, 

“It was very spontaneous and it would be really cool, we wanted to use our light graffiti project and I decided to use a little dragon named ‘Scramble’, and the sizing was weird but we ended up getting them printed out in the end and they were a huge hit!” As for the tattoo sheet, “We combined it with an Adobe Illustrator project and used their hand drawn sketches to convert to vector paths and then added color fill in between the paths to create our designs.” Allison said.

After not even a week of open operation, the KHS DMA vending machine has already sold out of a multitude of items including the keychains and tattoo sheets. There were over 30 buttons available at the grand opening and now a little over 5 remain with only a couple sticker sheets still left for sale. So far, the machine has been a hit with not only students, but school faculty and staff as well. Teachers are proud to purchase work that their students have created and even display it in their classrooms. 

The vending machine is a testament to how hard working the students in the KHS DMA program are and the art that is created thoroughly every day. The vending machine is a way to get it out into the community and show people what KHS DMA is all about!