Get to know Watertown High School’s Art Program and the amazing students awarded as November’s Art Students of the Month. The high school provides numerous opportunities for students to express themselves through fun and educational art classes such as Ceramics, Painting and Drawing, Typography, and Photography. These classes are produced by Miss. Uryase, Mrs. Schlatter, and Miss. Rahal who all work extremely hard to create new and fun ideas. This helped this year’s students to step out of their comfort zone, becoming more confident in themselves and their creations. Each teacher selected one art student to recognize for the month.
Miss. Uryase elected Senior, Jimiyah Brunette as an Art Student of the Month for November. Jimiyah is currently taking AP Art and the piece chosen is presented as, “The Consumer.” “She has a great work ethic and brings a positive energy to class.” Miss. Uryase believes Jimiyah worked extremely hard to meet her deadline and her final result exceeded the expectations. When speaking with Jimiyah, she explained how and why she made it. “I painted the background red and used charcoal over it. Then I made the dollar sign out of receipts and painted it with green watercolor. For the paper bag and woman, I used paper and colored it in with marker.” Jimiyah’s art is meant to portray the joys and detriments of shopping. This symbolic piece is very influential and sends a great message to its viewers.
Miss. Rahal elected Senior, Kaydence Soule as an Art Student of the Month. Kaydence is currently taking Photography and the photographs chosen were part of a “White on White” category. In this assignment, students folded 2 pieces of paper however they like and then take pictures of these papers to create an interesting photo out of something as simple as paper. Miss. Rahal said, “The process was easy for her and she needed little guidance, and the pictures didn’t feel forced at all.” She stressed how natural and composed they were. Kaydence described the process of taking the pictures, saying, “I took the image, turned it black and white, made four of them, clicked it together like a puzzle piece, and created a mirroring effect.” This task seemed all but difficult for Kaydence.
For the final Art Student of the Month, Mrs. Schlatter chose Senior, Lucy Kite who is currently enrolled in Ceramics and Sculpture. Mrs. Schlatter says Lucy never takes the easy way out and her work is always well thought through. “Lucy has been actively challenging herself with each project from her early work in Intro to Ceramics and Sculpture, and to the current work.” Lucy created this sculpture by, “Getting a template of Chinese takeout containers and then sculpted all the pieces together. I used slabs, added some detail, and smoothed them for finishing touches.” Lucy persevered through this assignment as her idea was complex, and required advanced skill in the area. “What made this project challenging was there were so many pieces to put together.” Lucy said that without the templates it would have been extremely difficult to construct. Thankfully the outcome was flawless and incredibly interesting.
The amazing art program at the high school wants to encourage its students to be their best as people and as artists. Art Student of the Month will do just this for them. Congratulations to all of our award winners and keep up the great work!
