Students use artwork to express themselves.
By: Sarah Winkelman
Using soft, soothing music to help set the mood, art students at Crossroads North Middle School allow the creativity to flow from their fingers onto their canvases.
Students in grades 6-8 take classes with art teacher Gayle Fine-Mihalko, a teacher who believes in setting a tone with her students that allows them to totally focus on their work in small, intimate classes.
"I think it helps them be more creative," she said.
In her classroom, students are allowed to be as creative as they want in expressing themselves through their artwork. Over the course of the school year, students have made self-portraits of themselves that incorporate some personal aspect of their lives, created sculptures of their shoes using clay, created vessels depicting an aspect of their culture and designed paper sculptures.
"In everything I want the kids to incorporate some of themselves into their work," Ms. Fine-Mihalko said. "Art reflects life."
For the paper sculptures, Ms. Fine-Mihalko contacted artist Calvin Nicholls at the Follet Library Resources to tell him that her students were studying his work. She sent photos of the students’ projects to him and now images of their work have been included on the library’s Web site.
"I really like to correspond with the artists," Ms. Fine-Mihalko said. "I teach the students art history as part of my lessons and if we are studying contemporary artists I always try to get in touch with them and let them know what the kids are doing."
The students recently completed a district-wide art show where numerous pieces of their artwork were on display. Ms. Fine-Mihalko said the students in her classes love art and feel challenged to create something beautiful. Right now, the seventh and eighth-graders are working on abstract expression pieces that symbolize the images they reflect of themselves.
On Friday, seventh-grader Dario Rethage was diligently working on his piece, carefully tracing over the lines he had drawn in black ink before mixing paints to get the perfect color.
"I’m really into music and art," he said, pointing to his drawing. "There is a huge guitar in the background and an artist’s palette on the side. At the bottom is a piece of music with notes and a small electric guitar."
In his pictures, music and art are intertwined since both are things he is passionate about. Dario had just started adding color to the picture, but he said by the time he’s finished the painting will be awash with bright reds, yellows and oranges with a few blues and greens thrown in for good measure.
"I want to do the musical notes in different colors like the rainbow," he said.
Seventh-grader Erika Mandel said she’s been working on her creation for four days. Her piece is a beach theme because she spends most of her summers at the beach.
"It’s got a sand castle, flip flops, a sun, waves and buildings," she said about her picture. "First I had to sketch it out in pencil on paper and then go back over the lines in marker. Once that’s done I can start painting."
Erika said she would be using oranges, blues and greens in her picture all colors that remind her of the beach.
Seventh-grader Michael Lopez also opted to do a beach theme for his picture, mainly because his true passion is surfing. He also added in a lacrosse stick because he plays and some music he likes to listen to.
His picture includes a surfboard, waves, sand, music he likes to listen to and other beach paraphernalia all things that make him think of the beach, which is where he spends his days every summer.
"I’m always at LBI over the summer," he said.
He said he plans to paint his picture colors no one would ever associate with the beach, just to be different.
"I want to combine colors together to make it stand out," he said.