AP Art History is making a comeback on campus this year, returning years later after being revived by senior Giorgia Mastrolorenzo, who spent the last school year securing enough enrollment for the course. 

“The process of making AP Art History class was basically just one of attempting to convince all the people I knew and a lot of my friends to just get the level we needed,” Mastrolorenzo said. “We went Ms. Wiseman, we put a sign up on the board, we talked to anybody and everybody. It took a lot of exposure.”

For Mastrolorenzo, making AP Art History a reality on campus was an important step in pursuing her passion.

“My dream career is to be an art historian, so I couldn’t imagine going through my high school career and not taking art history,” Mastrolorenzo said. “Ultimately, I just thought it was a really cool the subject.”

Art teacher Pernie Fallon, who taught the class in the past, is teaching the course once again this year with 19 students enrolled for 2019-2020.

“I always learn something new, and that’s exciting,” Fallon said. “The students are always bringing in tidbits of information about the works of art. Artists’ lives’ are very interesting. The works of art themselves are quite interesting. The class is really seeing how one era leads into another, how it all just kind of evolved and feeds. It’s about our humanity, and how we are all so different from each other and other creatures on earth.” 

Fallon has the unique role of teaching a class that goes beyond the lines of other history and art classes.

“We really delve into how to look at a painting or drawing or a sculpture, how to analyze it, how to make meaning of it, why it was made, why the location is important. There’s so many things we focus heavily on,” Fallon said. “I hope students really find an era of art that they fall in love with, and even things they don’t like so much, that they can appreciate it and have a better understanding.”

Looking forward to studying the early Mediterranean era, romanticism, and abstract expression, Mastrolorenzo hopes other students gain an appreciation for the class.

“I honestly couldn’t fault a single part of the curriculum,” Mastrolorenzo said. “Art history is the only tangible timeline of individual genuine achievement that has resonated with certain areas of society. It is just the most beautiful subject.”