The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Honing sometimes hidden talents
Work of students of all abilities, ages on grand display at district art show
MIDDLETOWN — High school art students who never believed they were creatively inclined are discovering sculpture and other mediums are well within their reach — boosting their confidence in the process.
Some of those in visual arts department head Julie Shvetz’s classes were surprised at what they could do.
“She’s not pushing us to be the best artist in the world, she’s letting us explore our own abilities our own strengths and talents,” Middletown High School junior Logan Wenzel said. “It’s a process. It’s not work scribbled down in a race and retrying. You build something wrong and it collapses, you’ve got to start over. It’s harder but also more rewarding.”
Senior Jack Passamano was unsure of himself taking his first real art class. The first day I said, ‘that’s not happening. That’s a little tough. But you get into
it and it comes easily now. You see it come alive, as you’re trying to find the right colors for all the little details.”
Both are among hundreds of students in kindergarten through twelfth grade whose creations are part of the 39th annual Middletown Public Schools Art Exhibition at Wesleyan University Center for Arts’ Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.
Their first project was accomplished using papiermâché: One made a panda and the other an alligator.
For their gallery project, the teens sculpted a Sponge Bob-themed set along with three other friends. It included little figurines and houses for the characters SpongeBob, Squidward, Sandy and Patrick, the Crusty Crab and Chumbucket.
“It was a really fun experience,” Passamano said. “Miss Shvetz has really helped us, and allowed us to take as much time as we needed. You get out of it what you put into it. If you’re having fun who can stop you?”
Connecticut now requires high school students to obtain at least one fine arts credit in order to graduate, according to Middletown High School art teacher Nicole Iovanne. “Our advocate who is retired really pushed for that for many years. It took quite a long time to get the state to get that in. Finally that will happen.”
Still, she pines for a time when art didn’t have to be mandated in the schools. “It’s sad we have to prove the worthiness of art, because so much problem solving and the way to process visual information, if you don’t have that, you’re leaving school without some really good skills and discovering your creativity,” Iovanne said.
Many of Shvetz’s students, in particular those new to art classes, didn’t anticipate their work being part of the show, but she was intent on including a wide variety of pieces. “You empower them, and, through that, you build their confidence.”
Those who may not be natural artists are also encouraged to do their best — often with surprising results. “As long as they’re completing all their required criteria I give them for something, they’re going to get a good grade and I’m going to be encouraging. I want to see you’re putting effort in,” Shvetz said.
“I want you to enjoy it. I don’t expect everybody to go to art school, but I want to instill a sense of enjoyment in the art and personal satisfaction with that. They’ve gotten that this year,” she added.
During classroom periods, the young artists encountered a multitude of problems with their pottery: “air bubbles, cracked dinner plates, cracked everything,” during a project in which they created dinnerware to hold fake food, Passamano said. “Next thing you know, it comes out of the kiln and it’s cracked in half. You can’t do much about it except retry and make it again.”
“Clay can be very temperamental,” Shvetz agreed, “but I always try to flip to the bright side of things. If something breaks, what can we do to change it? Can we do it over? Can we glue something together? I keep it positive.”
Passamano and Wenzel possess myriad talents. Still, they were uncertain at first of their art abilities.
“I’m a very serious kid. I like everything by the rules. However, I like to joke around with my friends, too,” Wenzel said. “I thought that would clash in here, but it helped me find more of a creative side to myself than I thought I would have.”
“I’m a little bit more nonchalant, so I let the wind take me. I let it all unleash,” Passamano added.
“Every situation somebody is going to encounter is different. You can’t predict if it’s going to work. There’s not just here’s the answer in a book. This is a mental break for kids, too. There’s so much pressure on them in other classes, and testing,” Shvetz said.
Anyone who believes they can’t draw may be surprised what they can do if they put the effort in, Iovanne said, stressing the value of repetition. “It may sound really boring, but you have to keep your practice up and repeat. If you’re not constantly working, then you’re not going to have success.”
Over at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, eighthgrade art teacher Sean Callahan helped his students collaborate on a computer robot sculpture from classroom scraps headed for the trash.
“He had them do a period of disassembling everything, which they loved so much,” Shvetz said. “He got to the point where he said, ‘enough disassembling, you need to start assembling now,’ which I thought was pretty funny.”
Art teachers choose a wide variety of ability levels to display. “You know in class what their working process was like. To reward them for all the effort they put in is really important,” Iovanne said.
For the elementary school level three-dimensional projects, creation continued right up until the opening at Wesleyan, she added. “At the last second, there’s always these straggling pieces you still want to pull for the show,” Iovanne added.
Sixth-graders at Keigwin Middle School who demonstrated important basic illustration skills also were included in the exhibit. “All of these goldfish they had drawn had beautiful quality of line, so, as art teachers, we really appreciated seeing that on that level,” Shvetz said.
The show runs through Sunday at the Zilkha Gallery, 283 Washington Terrace. Gallery hours are weekdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. For information, visit wesleyan.edu.