Story by Emma Coleman
Art Teacher Suzy Smith, who teaches Visual Arts and Foundations of Drawing and Design, hopes to capture this through the Sketch Challenge, “It’ll just have them draw something they’ve never done,” she said. Drawing something everyday forces students as well as Smith, who is participating in the challenge, to do more art.
The challenge was issued to Visual Arts Students, who can use pencils, paint, or even collage to create something that expresses the day’s prompt which could be anything from ‘Love’ to ‘The object to your left’. The prompts allow a variety of distinct art to be made, “It’s fun, I can chose my own thing to create,” said Freshman PJ Higgs.
Unrestricted prompts allow for more creativity and uniqueness in the work created, “It’s just out there and inspires people to try different things. I can work with what she doesn’t tell me,” said freshman Ally French.
Prompts are also meant to challenge students and prepare them for more advanced art classes, like IB, where projects require more creativity, “It does challenge me,” said French, “she made me work outside my comfort zone, it will help me in the future with technique.”
Students can share their work by posting a picture on Instagram along with the hashtag sketchfebruary, “[Sharing artwork] helps you build confidence, it inspires other people, you learn from other people, and it helps you build your own skill,” said Smith. Posting pictures on Instagram also allows students to see the work of other professional artists, “There’s people with amazing style and technique. A lot of people can look at your art and you can look at everyone elses,” said French.
Instagram and social media have made sharing art much easier. Recently every visual arts student created an art Instagram account. It is used when students go on scavenger hunts throughout the school, looking for things like symmetry and color schemes. They post what they find for Mrs. Smith to look at, “I like that because you don’t feel so pressured,” said French. Students post their finished projects which allows for a variety of people to see and comment on them.
Through the Sketchbook Challenge and looking at their peers art student artists learn their strengths and weaknesses. All of which helps them improve their art skills, “I figured out what I could do. It definitely helps me,” said French.
