Art students are painting up new features in the library with the tables serving as the canvas.
“I had these seven really boring, bland, 90s, honey colored wooden tables, and I wanted to bring some color into the library,” librarian Chelsea Hamilton said. “I figured the best way to do that was to see if we had some really talented artists who wanted to put their work out there for students to see and they got to, come in and paint.”
The project gives students the chance to explore a new medium that they do not get to use much in class and gives them new experiences.
“Ms. Fallon asked me if I wanted to paint the tables with my table group and I was like, ‘yeah, that would be fun,’” sophomore Solstice Owens said. “I think this is good practice with paints because I don’t get to paint a ton so this is extra practice that I really need and I get to work with a different medium that are not used to and that’s kind of nice.”
Through painting with their groups, students are able to collaborate instead of the typical individual work they do in class every day.
“It’s usually a pretty individual subject and this gives them a chance to work in a group and to make decisions as a group and then to produce as a group,” art teacher Pernie Fallon said. “It’s not just one person doing a work of art, it’s teamwork and from that they learned how to work with each other how to come up with the best idea out of several, how to mix colors and how to apply paint and, and just make a decision as a group instead of an individual artist.”
Hoping to increase color in the library, Hamilton looks to incorporate even more student work throughout the space.
“Part of the library is to showcase students and what they like and what they’re good at, so I’m trying to incorporate more of that in various ways,” Hamilton said. “So like at the beginning of the year we had my little whales that they all colored and I rearranged the shelves and I want to get more artwork. I want to get different varieties of things that students have made or have worked on in class and projects and things to just display for others to see.”