Hastings High School is a school of many diverse classes, offering ones from many different subjects, especially art.
The school has three different art teachers, some teaching more then one. The art classes offered at Hastings High are art fundamentalsⅠ&Ⅱ, pottery/ advanced pottery, drawing/ advanced drawing, and advanced sculpture.
Ms. Schlichtman, one of the three art teachers in the high school, teaches six different classes of art. She teaches art fundamentals one and two, pottery, drawing, and painting/advanced painting.
“I really enjoy drawing class. It’s just an introduction to all different mediums. So we have some assignments that are just with pencil, and others with charcoal and chalk, different types of pastels, and pen and ink,” Schlichtman said.
Schilchtman mentions how having to teach so many classes can be tiring, but she holds her head high when teaching. Her classes contain much self-work time, and students utilize it the way it’s needed.
“The hardest class I have to teach is art fundamentals two. It just seems like the projects we do even at an introduction level take a lot of time, and I feel like the students are rushed, but we have to keep moving. That class deals with more 3-D art and that’s new to a lot of students. It’s hard to learn new things in such a small amount of time,” Schlichtman said.
Although these classes go by fast, the projects give students new opportunities to try different mediums of art. These classes could be a starting point for a students interest in a career path; new experiences are helpful. Mr. Marquardt who is another one of the art teachers and teaches a total of six different classes; advanced drawing, beginning and advanced pottery, beginning and advanced sculpture, and studio art.These classes have different experiences for everyone. Some list one as their favorite while others might have differing opinions. All different mediums of art attract different people and hold room for new findings.
“I really just enjoy the 3D aspect of it. Between sculpting and pottery classes, I definitely get the most out of them because I get to teach more, but studio art is probably the most rewarding,” Marquardt said.
Studio art is a class offered to seniors at Hastings High who want to put a resume or art portfolio together to display at a public art show. They have to pass an advanced art class before going into this.
“You get to see seniors put their art together and create original artwork and put their own personal touch to it. So that’s probably my ultimate favorite,studio art, but the other ones are close. Seniors get to put about eight pieces of their art into a portfolio that goes to an art show that we display for the public. They get to chose the medium for the eight pieces and base if off of one theme, Marquardt said.
This is the last step for seniors wanting to persue more than the classes offered at Hastings High. There might be a big group or just a few wanting to pursue this career path. Classes at the school can sometimes become large, putting extra work onto the teachers who have to make sure everyone understands the subject matter.
“The hardest class to teach is probably the drawing class. You can demonstrate so much but when it’s a larger class, you can only make sure so many understand in a day and show them. Sometimes they learn by watching, and it can be hard to teach that many students. Smaller classes like pottery get to be more hands on and experience everything for themselves,” Marquardt said.
Hands on experiences for students become extremely helpful especially to those whose learning style is just that. Art becomes much easier when there’s good explaining and demonstration. The last teacher at hastings high, Mrs. Nielsen, teaches three classes; art fundamentalsⅠ&Ⅱ, and natural fiber arts. With only having three classes here, Nielsen fills in at the middle school during her free periods.
“My favorite class to teach is probably natural fiber arts, we do yarn paintings, a resist project which deals with silk, large weaving and we make paper and books,” Nielsen said.
Natural fiber arts gives students a different opportunity, being able to experience new things like yarn, silk, and making paper. This class is offered to sophmores, juniors and seniors, requiring to have completed both art fundamentals before registering.
“Art fundamentals two is the hardest class I have to teach, just because its new skills for students and the first time for everything is always a little difficult. Most students find the 2D things easier, like painting or drawing instead of yarn and silk, but it’s a fun class overall.” said Nielsen.
Through new skills and large classes, the art classes offered at Hastings High are great opportunities to find the career path many art-interested students are searching for.
“Each of us bring totally different ideas to the art department because we all have our strengths, and we’re all much different in the way we see things which is good because we can bounce ideas off of each other, art is a great hobby to be involved in with so many different people and ideas,” said Marquardt.
