Art programs showcase varied talents

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN CYNTHIA MARTENS
They may not hear the roar of the crowd when they score, but the accomplishments of art students are worthy of the same praisem say their instructors.

“There are kids who are going to excel in art who are or aren’t in athletics, but we definitely have some talented kids that will pursue and be able to use it-whether as a career or on the side,” said Rita Loewen, elementary and middle school art teacher at Hillsboro.

Loewen and high-school art teacher Martha Roach are in charge of creating an environment to foster art appreciation and develop the talents of students in USD 410.

An art teacher for 14 years in Hillsboro, Loewen was assigned the middle-school art duties about eight years ago.

In the middle school, Loewen’s students take art for one nine-week period, which means four times a year she sees new faces in her classrooms.

The focus at the middle-school level is to expand and develop the elementary curriculum of drawing, painting and clay in addition to some limited work in computer graphics.

“For middle school, it’s developing their skills a little more, a little more fine tuning in some of the same areas,” Loewen said.

Clay is the favorite medium at the middle-school level.

Loewen offers some computer graphics work when the schedule allows.

“It’s letting them design like a fictitious name of a singing group for a compact disc cover or a pop-can label,” Loewen said.

Most of the work in the middle school is displayed in the school display booth at least once during each nine-week session.

Last year, during Youth Art Month, Loewen sent one student’s art to Topeka to be displayed, but she does not usually enter her students in any state competitions.

“And then there’s an art show at the end of the year, where I display something from everybody’s work,” Loewen said.

In the spring, the middle and high schools celebrate “Fine Arts Night” in conjunction with the final music concert of the year. During the event, art work is displayed in the lobby in the commons area.

“I keep one piece of art from each student,” Loewen said. “So I choose what I think they did best, but I try to have each of our projects represented from throughout the year.”

One other avenue for showcasing the local talents of her artists is the various poster contests in the area.

“I have told them about three or four poster contests they could enter-giving them instructions and the information,” Loewen said.

One poster contest, designing art work for the Peabody Fourth of July celebration, is open to students of all ages in Marion County schools.

“There’s a peace poster contest promoting world peace that the Lion’s Club has had us do,” Loewen said. “We have done some of those, and some of our students’ posters have gone on to the next regional (level).”

“And there are conservation poster contests within the county that kids have entered over the years.”

After-school programs are also outlets for budding artists and enthusiasts.

Loewen is currently working with a small group of students on ceramics projects in a club that meets once a week for three weeks.

She also encourages her students to work outside of class by drawing in personal sketch books.

Each week, Loewen assigns a category of different things to look for and draw.

“One week, it will be to draw something you see outside, or another week, it will have to be a vehicle or a building,” Loewen said. “There are some wonderful drawings, and some of them are so proud.”

Martha Roach is in her second year as art teacher at HHS.

“We have drawing, sculpture, painting, print making, ceramics, photography and digital art-but they have to have Art I (first) in order to take those,” Roach said. “Digital art and photography are really popular.”

Roach displays her students’ work in the library, and at least twice a year, she arranges them in a display case by the front office.

They also have the opportunity to display their work on the school Web site: www.usd410.com.

“On the Web site, it’s anything we can take digital pictures of,” Roach said.

Students may choose to take an independent study, a program for seniors who want to work outside of what’s offered in the regular art curriculum.

Four students this semester are enrolled in the art independent study program at HHS.

Students planning to study art at college will usually take an independent study and are required to complete a portfolio and display their work outside the school setting, Roach said.

“There have been a couple of businesses who have been helpful in displaying their art work, and several kids’ parents take their art work to work with them and display it,” she said.

Although she chose not to enter scholastic competition this year, Roach replaced that with the Gerry Neustrom Young Artists Challenge competition in Topeka.

She submitted 37 pieces in the juried show, and members of the staff will inform her of the final selection results.

“At Gerry Neustrom, there’s $500 in awards-they’re called merit awards,” Roach said.

In April, another competition will be at Fort Hays, which is not juried. Roach chooses pieces to be displayed in her booth at the event, and awards are given to selected students.

Students are working now on art work for the Mid-Kansas League competition in May at Haven, where they will have the opportunity to receive medals and certificates.

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