The window display has assumed new prominence and importance as a means of expression. With passersby more reluctant to venture and gather indoors during the uptick in Covid-19 cases, looking on and in from a distance outdoors has morphed into a convenient mode of exhibition and advertising.

To that end, enterprising and imaginative students at Natick High School have come up with a way to bypass limitations imposed by the pandemic, a solution that will export the creativity from within the school’s walls and out into the community beyond.

The “Redhawk Walk” is an inventive variation of the town’s well-established Artwalk exhibition, but with a notable twist. Instead of artists’ work being set on display along sidewalks, downtown businesses will instead offer space within the shops themselves, stages-in-miniature behind the glass to hoststudents’ creativity.

Several downtown stores have expressed interest in hosting the students’ displays, and the weeklong event is planned to run beginning January 23rd. The exhibitions will in some measure follow the flow of its Artwalk cousin, being centered at shops along the Main Street and Rte. 135 intersection.      

The Redhawk Walk also follows Natick’s annual holiday window display contest, an event in which local businesses deck their windowsills with scenes of yuletide sentiment. QR codes were affixed to the windows, allowing passersby to quickly link to a site where they could cast a vote for their favored display.

Anna Victor is a Natick High School senior, part of a crew of stage managers who came up with and spearheaded the project. NHS seniors Allie Conwell and Daniel Zogby are Victor’s partners, helping usher the event into being.

They are members of the drama department that literally works behind the scenes to put on productions at the school. It seems a natural evolution then, that the three would alight upon the idea to stage artwork out in the public in such a clever way.

“It’s kind of a warm community event,” said Victor. “Something that theater could do to get engaged in the community.”

Yet the theater crew reached out far from behind the curtain to a wide variety of Natick High School clubs and groups, offering them a venue to participate in the event also. In what promises to be a cold winter in terms of social connection during the pandemic, the event is viewed as way to foster community, a means of artistic expression when such venues are in short supply.

The theater crew’s contribution will be dioramas of a musical they produced last month. The miniature replicas of rooms and offices served as transitions between scenes in the show, which audiences could sign up for and view remotely through a streaming service.

The dioramas were projects that the theater crew could work on at home, downsized versions of the sets they would build on stage in years past. They are just one example of the resourceful ways in which schools, art and expression have shifted shape (and size) to accommodate extraordinary circumstances.

The shop windows will feature forms of expression such as paintings, drawings and other such “static” forms of art. But all clubs were invited to participate in the project, including dance, choir and various culture groups.

QR codes will again be put to use on the storefront windows, and will lead interested parties to sites where they can view past performances and concerts by certain creative clubs. Via technology, these artists will still be able to showcase their talents, the fruits of those many hours of practice and rehearsal. 

“A bunch of students reached out,” said Victor. “It’s a pretty diverse group of clubs. We are learning and excited to see what people will come up with.”