With gray brick walls and cold tiled floors, high school can seem like a somber place to spend most of your time. But there is one thing that seems to brighten the halls of Milford- ART.
“I feel relaxed, like my mind can just go blank,” said Senior Zoey Ulrey, as she painted a beautiful landscape in her third hour drawing and painting class. “I don’t have to think about math or equations.”
Her painting was calm and serene, just like she described the class to be. “It’s not a lot of brain work. [I]t’s a chill hour and you get to listen to music.”
Students painted while subtle music played in the background. Tara Johnson, one of the two art teachers at Milford, walked about the students providing support and commenting on the student’s hard work.
She is really proud of all the artwork they have produced and wanted to make it possible for everyone else to appreciate it too. But with the loss of teachers and addition of two classes (digital photography and an AP class) one can only imagine how hard it must be to get all the necessary supplies for the courses. “The hard thing for me was going from four [art] teachers to two,” shared Johnson.
Thanks to the Huron Valley Educational Foundation (HVEF), last year the art department was given two grants in order to buy digital frames and tacking strips to display artwork in the offices and hallways of the school.
It was a major concern at first that students would rip the displays off the walls and destroy them, but everyone has respected and appreciated the art-filled halls.
As much as students love looking at the pictures during passing time, there aren’t many students involved in the art programs. With all the graduation requirements, students are stuck taking classes such as health, gym and BMT. They don’t have any room in their schedule for other alternatives they may enjoy more.
Johnson has a few solution, “Exciting and engaging projects will get more kids involved, and more students putting in time after school and coming to art shows.” One of the most exciting projects they’re working on now is a “Joiner” project, where students cut photos and put them all together into a big mosaic looking picture.
Along with the exciting projects, the art department has made a little art patio just outside the art rooms where kids with the same love for art can go to just hangout, work on projects, and enjoy a snack. To Johnson, days where they all get together makes it all worth it.
“Sometimes I feel as though not a lot of people are involved, but then I get those days when kids stay after school and we all do Raku Firings, (A type of glazing process that involves the burning of different materials onto pottery) eat snacks, and have fun.”
Even though the new classes bring on more challenges, the positive to the new courses is that students can get college credit and get a head start on building their portfolios.
Junior Logan Belz dreams to go to art school for graphic design and uses the art classes at Milford to learn useful skills early.
The same goes for Senior, Danny Smith who is interested in the new digital classes, he dreams of going into visual communications one day. Yet, his favorite class is pottery. “I’m really good at it. It’s fun to work with all the clay.”
Even if you don’t plan on making a career out of the arts, Johnson explains the skills learned can be used in any career field. “I don’t expect every student that takes an art class to go into that profession, but these days everything is on the web, you can use these classes for whatever you end up going into.”
So whether you take and art course for fun or to advance your skills for a career it is said to be a magnificent experience. If you wish to support the Milford arts, visit the art show on May 8th at 6 o’clock to 8 pm.
