Student Katie Hammersmith is pictured creating a charcoal drawing of the actor who plays Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe. Throughout the course of one school day, Hammersmith said she also hoped to complete a “hyper realistic” charcoal drawing of Potter’s companion Hermione Granger, as played by Emma Watson. The artwork created during Marysville High School’s Arts Immersion Day will be listed in a silent auction to benefit a local organization as decided by the students.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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This week, the entryway of Marysville High School became an art studio, the courtyard was a canvas and classroom desks were converted into seats in a recording studio.
And, for one school day, students were just artists.
“It’s like I can show myself and do something I love,” said freshman Jovie Cheney.
The high school recently hosted its first ever Arts Immersion Day, allowing students to spend a day diving into the visual and performing arts.
Dozens of students spent an entire school day creating a piece of art that will be auctioned for a local charity.
Other students could spend their advisory period perusing the pieces in progress or doodling with chalk on the courtyard.
They also worked together to record a song – a student’s original arrangement of a pop song – in the span of just one day.
No matter how they got involved, MHS Assistant Principal Katie Morgan said the goal was to create “an accessible experience for every student regardless of experience level.”
Teacher Luke Ahern said Marysville is a community rich in the arts but it can feel “isolated” since it tends to exist in “pockets.”
“It’s really great to let kids see it can be accessible,” he said.
Morgan said the high school regularly has pep rallies and events that showcase sports and other extracurriculars, but there has “always been a desire to highlight the arts during the school day.”
Morgan said it can be difficult to put on an entire play or interactive art exhibit during class time, so “sampling was the answer.”
The Arts Immersion Day was sparked by the idea of high school students, Morgan said, calling it, “totally their brainchild.”
Students interested in the visual arts could apply to spend the day creating a piece that will be donated to an upcoming charity art exhibit.
Morgan said the benefactor and location are yet to be determined, but sales of the art will go toward a local organization decided upon by the students.
Students were provided with a 12-inch by 12-inch canvas – the theme was “Art Squared” – but were asked to bring any preliminary sketches or references to ensure they could complete their artwork by the end of the school day.
Sophomores Lilyenne Baker and Ella Abbey reflected the wide range of styles and subjects on display.
While Baker worked on a pencil drawing of two people in a scene inspired by a mood board of images, Abbey sat inches away, painting a colorful rendition of a famous Monet masterpiece from a new perspective.
“I get to look over and be like, oh my gosh! It looks so good!” Abbey said.
Sitting across the walkway, senior Spencer Cole’s painting of a beach scene was already shifting.
He said he started by measuring a checkerboard pattern and planning to create a pixelated image, but decided while painting to go with a different style.
“When you paint, sometimes things don’t flow,” he said. “There’s always a level of improvisation involved.”
Baker said it was “refreshing” to be surrounded by the styles of other artists. Abbey added that she enjoyed seeing how fellow students’ ideas matched their personalities and styles.
A few tables down, another sophomore, Katie Hammersmith, said she was surprised to see so many other students she didn’t know were also interested in art and learning more about their styles.
“I’m so happy,” she said. “This is my dream.”
As she worked on her piece, a charcoal drawing of Daniel Radcliffe starring as Harry Potter, she explained that she first dove into drawing portraits in sixth grade before developing a “hyper realistic” style the next year.
On Arts Immersion Day, she said she decided to lean into a style and subject she was very familiar with so she could “focus on speed.”
Only a couple hours and well into her first piece, Hammersmith said she was hopeful she could complete a second portrait of Emma Watson, starring as Hermione Granger, before the final bell rang.
In the performing arts space, students were encouraged to lean into something they may be a little less familiar with: singing in public.
“Here’s where the level of uncomfortable kicks in!” Teacher Brianna Bizarro shouted as students gathered around a microphone.
Students were asked to learn a few measures of a song by practicing with Bizarro, then recording it into a microphone with a group.
The recordings would be layered over each other to create a loop track of student Will Nuspl’s arrangement of “Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish.
Bizarro acknowledged that singing publicly can be scary because “your voice is one of the most personal things to people.”
She said she was hopeful the format created during the Arts Immersion Day would lead to every student feeling “successful” when they heard the final track.
Cheney, the freshman who participates in marching band, theater and show choir, said she invited a number of her friends to sing, encouraging them that “it’s always good to try” and framing it as a chance to “overcome fears.”
Art Teacher Kelly Friend also said she hoped the Arts Immersion Day would be an event that built students’ confidence.
She said creating art is usually something “we do behind closed doors,” so she was hoping to find a way to allow students to publicly “do something they feel good at” and encourage other people to acknowledge it.
Friend noted that all of the students participating had taken at least one art class, but many of them were never in a class together.
She said it can be empowering for students interested in the arts to be surrounded by peers who “love it just as much as them.”
“This is one facet of very dynamic students,” Friend said, adding that many students are also involved in a number of other extracurriculars.
Aside from the arts enrichment, Friend said the event reinforced many of the skills students are taught at school.
Students were required to apply to participate, propose their subject, prepare to create their piece in the allotted timeframe and use problem solving skills to ensure they did so. They must also make up the classwork they missed during the day.
Beyond that, Friend said the program allowed students to do something that would benefit others by raising money through something they created.
“The arts create our culture,” she said. “And these kids get to demonstrate the kind of culture they want to live in.”