It feels as if it were only yesterday the Arts Building was the major hotspot where students spent their free periods. This busy environment even held various English classes, which are now located on the opposite side of campus. Now that the Vitale Student Center has been built, the Arts Building lobby is possibly the quietest area at school.

“The last time I went in the Arts Building to study or hangout was last year,” says junior Caroline Colburn.

Despite its decreasing popularity as a student hangout space, the visual arts courses offer assignments that require abstract thinking, creativity, and application.

With Mr. Munson as a teacher, you can learn to paint monochromatic landscapes, create public sculpture design proposals, and create reduction lino cut prints. In a pre-AP studio art class you can learn to draw portraits and create photo transfers. In the mixed media class you can sculpt relief sculptures and create concrete casting.

While students in basic photography classes are learning about the functions of the camera, Photoshop, and different ways to capture an image, AP Photography students are encouraged to express truth and perception in an image.

“My AP photography students just wrapped up first semester by putting together a portfolio of design elements, and now they are starting to work on their concentration portfolio,” says photography teacher, Mrs. G.

The year-long AP Photography course is made up of two separate portfolios. The first portfolio is a set of twelve images that represent the eight elements of design: emphasis, balance, unity, repetition, rhythm, figure and ground, proportion/scale, and contrast. The second portfolio is a set of images that revolve around a central theme, also known as a concentration. An AP Photography concentration portfolio must evolve over time and tell a story.

“My AP photography concentration is representing an individual who looks back on her childhood and into her future,” says senior AP Photography student Sierra VanSuch.

“My concentration is a series of images that are taken with the long exposure setting on my camera to capture motion. It represents that life is moving very quickly in front of us,” says senior AP Photography student Miller Condrack.

Although it may not be a place you choose to work on your math homework, consider how the arts can offer so much more and find yourself in an arts class this fall!

If the Arts Building seems desolate, consider the myriad of interesting coursework and creative individuals behind the doors who share a passion for the arts.