Students in Art III and IV have set up installation art around the school, which is very different from the work that the students would normally showcase. A total of seven projects line the halls, a few of which will become a permanent display. The art started being set up at the beginning of the month and will be displayed throughout the school for at least two or three weeks for the non-permanent fixtures.
“The Mattress Factory [inspired us to] promote some new, unusual art. It’s nice to see [the students] look at different artists for inspiration,” Mrs. Kaylee Haggerty said.
Many students have never had the chance to see or create installation art, and this project gave them that opportunity. Installation art uses a whole room or area as the art piece.
“It can go from simple to complex, and most of it has meaning,” Senior Emily Pope said.
In some cases, the art is made to be a permanent fixture and built on the site where it will stay. An example of this form of art would be the nature murals hanging on the wall outside the cafeteria.
Seniors Belinda McNear, Kayla Rosenkranz, Nevin Sprecker and Leslie Miller made the hanging rain cloud outside of the main office.
“It’s hard to do because it sounds like a really good idea…but it just took forever,” McNear said.
Senior Niki Vargo along with Juniors Tara Gardner and Morgan Greco worked to create an origami mural featuring Albert Einstein’s face.
“Mr. Dadich wants to permanently keep it up if it looks good enough, so I’m looking forward to that,” Junior Morgan Greco said. “This project is not just us sitting at a table painting something; we are actually decorating the school.”
The FHS Alumni poster project, created by Juniors Karlee Quinn, Samantha Alford and Carolyn Conedera, sits outside of the main office and features photos from old yearbooks, made into a pawprint shape.
“[The installation art project] was pretty fun, but I’m excited to be going back to regular art because it was so stressful,” Conedera said.
The strings project (on the window in the hallway outside of Mr. Aaron Fitzpatrick’s room) mimics work of installation artist Gabriel Dawe .
“We got to express ourselves in any way we wanted to. The way [my group] intertwined the strings represented how close we are, and when you take a step back from the project, it looks different and interesting, like we are as a group of people,” Senior Taryn Rider said.
Haggerty and the art classes request that students admire the art but to not touch because it is fragile.