art – AHS NEWSPAPER

“I Am More” Art Exhibit Brings Mental Health Awareness to AHS

May 6, 2024

By Tommy Kruecker-Green
STAFF WRITER

The “I Am More” exhibit was hosted in Andover High School library this past month. AHS Health teacher Holly Breen arranged to have artist Amy Kerr’s work displayed as an opportunity to raise mental health awareness among students in an impactful way.

Kerr’s awareness that she was “more” than her mental health struggles led her to embark on a creative project and artistic mission that would help others as well as herself. She would hear people’s stories of challenges they faced and then draw their portraits in places of their choosing that reflected their interests and values, or their “happy places”. The resulting pastel and colored-pencil portraits along with the sitters’ stories have been displayed in a number of venues across New England, including hospitals, schools, malls, government buildings, and libraries.

STAFF PHOTO / Minati Thota
Senior Harini Iyer looking at “I Am More” art exhibit.

Breen learned about the exhibit through The NAN Project, a group that speaks to the school’s junior health classes about mental health and supporting friends in need, and arranged to have it be exhibited at AHS. The exhibit creates an opportunity to promote conversations about difficult topics like mental health, disabilities, and addiction.

“I think it is important to help students learn in different ways. This learning experience helps students gain empathy for those who are living with different challenges,” said Breen.

To that end, Breen made sure that AHS health classes visited the exhibit in the library. Students were asked to write about which portraits they found most impactful. Other classes also went to view the exhibit and discussed what they saw. For many, it did what it was designed to do. It provided an opportunity to initiate dialogue about the complex realities of mental health challenges.

It might seem self-evident that we are more than the sum of our parts, and certainly much more than the challenges that we face. Yet, for many people facing mental health challenges, perspective is missing. Their fundamental being and intrinsic nature is overshadowed by the challenges they face. Amy Kerr’s brainchild, “I Am More,” brings that to the fore.

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Student Volunteer to Fill Haverhill’s Streets with Art

December 6, 2023

By Lojyn Elkotory
STAFF WRITER

AHS Seniors Julia Rodenberger and Zara Hayat paint through the hallways of Haverhill as they host an art gallery in downtown Haverhill, capturing the attention of everyone who attended the event on September 30.

Guided by their art teacher, Meghan Michaud, Rodenberger and Hayat embarked on a mission to showcase the talents of their peers. They reached out to former classmates and neighboring high school art students, creating a diverse collection of artworks. “Zara and Julia were both juniors but had to participate quite a bit because they were in an advanced art portfolio course,” Michaud said.

STAFF PHOTO / Lojyn Elketory
Meghan Michaud, Zara Hayat, and Julia Rodenberger pose in front of an art exhibit.

The artists who showcased their pieces have explored various techniques and materials as they navigate their way through the art gallery’s transformation theme. Mars Tasiopoulos, a current senior at AHS, used photographs of industrial cityscapes as a canvas, infusing them with acrylic paints to depict nature’s view over urban landscapes.

Hayat’s piece, featuring her grandmother’s handwriting overlaid with poetry, showcased the delicate fusion of heritage and artistry. “She had to take her grandmother’s handwriting and learn transfer methods to duplicate that onto the surface of the painting,” Michaud said,” she wasn’t just using portraiture; she was applying new skills by learning how to incorporate other people’s handwriting into her work.”

Organizing an event of this scale was not without its challenges. Coordinating with artists from within AHS and neighboring towns, required a lot of planning. Some students faced last-minute changes, and others stepped up, showcasing their resilience and commitment to their craft. Rodenberger reflected on the students’ participation, “To just take opportunities… sometimes it can turn out to be really neat. Take advantage of that.”

The success of this event paved the way for future collaborations. Michaud stated, “[AHS] used to do a collaborative art show with the Greater Lawrence Educational Collaborative.” She is in contact with other high school teachers “to try to do a similar art show where we get to show the best of many high schools in a location.”

Shaping up to be Famous: Ceramics Students’ Work could be Published in Action Research

December 6, 2023

By Minati Thota
STAFF WRITER

“I feel like even if you aren’t an art person, Ceramics class could be a really fun part of [your day],” claimed Emily Ross, the instructor of the class in question. She believes that students could unexpectedly enjoy ceramics just as she did as a teenager.

Ross began her journey with ceramics in a high school class, but couldn’t incorporate her passion for ceramics into a career as smoothly as she could fix a crack in clay. She was met with many roadblocks. Being accepted into a top ceramics school did not prove as magical as she thought. She describes the city as one having “more cows than people,” which left her searching for a new school and a creative avenue that fit her best.

When she finally found her love for teaching ceramics and finished her undergraduate degree, she was ready to move into the workforce. Getting back into teaching ceramics led her to pursue a master’s degree in Art Education.

An exciting path for art students and curious learners in general, Ceramics and 3D design has become a popular course at AHS. Students get to work with clay and create functional, artistic designs as they learn essential skills of construction, carving, smoothing, and more along the way. Taught by a student herself, this class is made authentic by the shared perspective Ross offers to her students. Student and teacher, to her, are “two sides of the same coin.” Her experience in a studio as a student helps create the perfect environment for her own students at work. She has now incorporated the work of her two worlds into a project many students are curious about.

Ross is pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and her coursework involves reflective practices around her teaching work at AHS. “The course I’m taking is called Action Research,” says Ross, “and the class is really an extension of everything that we do as effective educators.” Collecting and recording her students’ diverse ideas, creative processes, and studio work isn’t a new process, but this time Ross plans to showcase this work and data in her class of art educators at UMass. Everything from the first idea to drafts to impulsive changes in plans is documented. “[It is] a great way to study the effectiveness of my teaching on our students because it leaves so much room for interpretation and exploration,” Ross said.

This project, of course, required consent from both students and families, which led to some “very official-looking” contracts being sent home to parents and guardians. “Because I’m doing it [for] an outside source… they need to have that official process,” said Ross, smiling about the students struggling with the contract’s heavy language.

Ross says she didn’t want anyone to worry or feel pressured by it, but student response has been quite positive. People have chosen to offer their work as a part of the research, where their names will be held confidential. Some have also consented to allow photographs of their work to be included, which Ross truly appreciates. Her data includes statements from the students and in-progress reflections, which are interesting reads even for other students. Ross loves the way students take creative risks and incorporate their various other interests into their work; biology, activism, music, pets, and all kinds of ideas have been crafted in clay in her studio.

The student’s work will be unaffected by the research. So students with and without their work being showcased have been working on their clay as usual. It doesn’t change much in the Ceramics studio: only a few moments when the instructor is quietly walking around trying to capture hands working on shaping and sculpting clay. Sparking conversations about identity-driven stories, Ross loves hearing about the students’ varied academic and creative passions coming together in their sculptures.

Ross encourages students to engage with the arts. “We can be so focused on honing in for, like, a career path these days.” Even for students who aren’t ‘art kids’, or think they aren’t like Ross did, “It feels like a place of rest. And also of self-discovery, and comfort.”

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Artists: Assemble, AP 2D Art Class Awaits

February 13, 2023

By Samantha Sun
STAFF WRITER

The Advanced Placement (AP) 2D Art and Design class, introduced at Andover High School this year, requires students to create a portfolio that incorporates 2D pieces to show off their art skills and depth of understanding on a chosen topic.

This course helps students “create a portfolio to get [them] into college or to pursue a career, the kind of thing you would show in an interview,” said Meghan Michaud, who teaches the class. “This [class] could be about pushing that study further so that you are prepared for advanced study beyond getting into the program.”

Usually, after Portfolio I, in which students create a similar portfolio, students would move onto Portfolio II. This year, Portfolio II was replaced by an AP class, which is a plus for those desiring to pursue art beyond high school. The prerequisites for AP 2D Art and Design are Portfolio I and 1.5 credits in fine arts.

“The big difference this class has from other art classes is that it’s much more self-directed,” said Abby Clement, a senior at AHS who is taking the course this year. “We create our sustained investigation question and the ideas for each project.”

In the course, students choose a sustained investigation question to explore. A sustained investigation is a body of work in response to that question. Students research, read articles, and refer to visual examples, artists, trends, and compositions. “They pick their own topic, but we spend a great amount of time brainstorming and making sure there is research to back up those ideas before we pursue it and all the different tangents that a possible question could go into,” said Michaud.

Students are to be accurate and put effort into both their artwork and information.

“Rather than completing assignments, we can use our own creative liberty to explore other topics,” said senior Alva Yanowitz. “[For] my topic, I chose to investigate human relationships and human connection.” She is creating art that expresses what it is like to have a relationship with someone who is struggling with mental health or addiction.

STAFF PHOTO / Samantha Sun
Alva Yanowitz works on an art piece.

Students are allowed to use any type of 2D mediums at their disposal, and the limits are very loose, giving room for creativity. “I’ve done one [piece] digitally, one in crayons, and one in pen and then scanned and edited digitally,” said Clement. “It’s been fun experimenting with mediums I haven’t worked with before, like crayons.”

The class is very fast-paced and engaging. By the end of the course, students are expected to submit a portfolio of what they have created: a sustained investigation that includes 15 high quality works, documents of research to explain each piece, and 5 additional works that show the depth of their progress. AP 2D Art and Design is highly recommended for “students who are wishing to pursue a career in the arts and have the kind [of] dedication and creativity [to dive deep] into the content and pursu[e] all the possibilities,” said Michaud.

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In-crease in Origami Around AHS Brings Joy to Students

April 7, 2022

Eva Liss
STAFF WRITER

STAFF PHOTO / Eva Liss
Origami cranes filling the cafeteria’s broken vending machine

Wondering about the rise in origami around Andover High School? Look no further. Freshman Calvin Kinley has been making origami cranes and placing them around school with no plans to stop.

He started making the origami creations sometime during late December 2021/early January 2022, although he’d been interested in origami long before that. He was introduced to it in third grade at West Elementary School through an artists and writers event called WERAWC. The pink, green, and yellow cranes have been put all around the school. Mostly, they’ve appeared in the broken vending machine in the cafeteria, where they get the most traffic from students coming in and out. If you want a crane, the vending machine can be opened to take one, as long as you are careful with the vending machine and the cranes themselves.

STAFF PHOTO / Eva Liss
Calvin Kinley mid-restock of the vending machine

“I wanted to turn [the machine] on,” said Kinley. “I’ve heard it’s pretty broken, but I feel like there’s still a way, whether that’s hiring someone to fix it, or starting a GoFundMe and stuff… I think it could happen, and I think that would be awesome to have it dispense cranes.”

Kinley had thoughts of fixing the vending machine himself. Unfortunately, he discovered that it would be nearly impossible to do, as AHS is planning on selling it. For now, Kinley restocks the machine when he has enough cranes, sits back, and watches people puzzle over how exactly to get the cranes out. He mentioned that he’s seen people try to stick their hand up the food slot to get cranes out, not knowing that the machine’s door opens easily.

STAFF PHOTO / Eva Liss
Calvin Kinley restocks the vending machine with cranes

“People like to see it. It’s interesting. It’s something different,” said Kinley. Although there haven’t been many teachers who have responded to the origami figures, Kinley said that many of the people he knows have become emotionally invested in them. “There’s been a few separate times where people have sent me pictures of the vending machine and been like, ‘Was this you?’” he said.

When it comes to specific pieces Kinley makes, he said the cranes are by far the quickest, with dinosaurs a close runner-up and unicorns the slowest, although he enjoys making them all.

Freshman Ace Peterson, one of Kinley’s friends, agreed with Kinley on the prediction that there will be no stopping. He said he’s even seen Kinley give the cranes out to people, and that he has a jar of all the origami Kinley has gifted him.

“It’s very amazing,” said Peterson. “Not in a huge way, but I think it’s brought people joy.”

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Travel Through Paintings

May 26, 2021

The AHS National Art Honor Society created a series of beautiful posters showcasing destinations around the world through different art styles and a variety of art materials. “We can’t do…