This year’s Artist-in-Residence, Joyce Dallal, showcased her installation Receptacle alongside Marlborough student artwork at  “The Other Toy Story” exhibition in Seaver Gallery on Thursday, May 5.

After cleaning out her son’s closet full of several years’ worth of toys, Dallal conceived “The Other Toy Story” art project to explore “the influence of toys on our social, psychological, and physical environment.”

Dallal’s installation, Receptacle, is a nine-foot tall wire trash can in the shape of a baby. Over the course of the exhibition, students and faculty from Marlborough will be able to “feed” the baby with used or broken toys.

Inspired by Dallal’s mission, Intermediate Sculpture students created a toy mandala consisting of second-hand toys. The sculpture–adorned with toy soldiers, rings, game boards and slinkies–was strategically structured to highlight the relationship of a child to his or her toy.

”We strove to emphasize the importance that children often place on color when choosing their toys, through separating the toys throughout the piece primarily by color,” Gulnar Tuli ’13 said.

According to sculpture instructor Marsha Jedd, her students gained an appreciation for Dallal’s “The Other Toy Story” project through this exercise.

”When we looked at the toys, we realized how beautiful their shapes and colors truly are,” she said.

All art will be on display in Seaver Gallery through Jun. 3.