For next year, art teachers Sean Redmond and Lauren Bauer have developed a new art class called Alternative Materials, which will allow students to explore “unconventional” art types and practices.
“It is definitely out of the typical expectation of the art course you would take in a school setting,” Redmond said.
According to Bauer, the class will be exploring a variety of art projects such as papermaking, punch-needling, weaving, rug tufting, stained glass, metal and jewelry working.
“These were some of the material explorations that [Bauer and Redmond] got to do in college,” Bauer said, “so we thought it would be really cool to be able to introduce these types of opportunities for students in high school.”
“We will run through our pilot year next year, seeing how it goes and what the interest level is,” Redmond said. “We are really hoping to get at least two courses packed in for the next year with the anticipation that we can both teach one.”
The curriculum for the new art class was a collaborative effort between Redmond and Bauer.
“We both spent hours writing the curriculum and then having to present it to the school board,” Redmond said. “Since we have been writing it together, we are probably the first two teachers that will be able to teach it.”
According to Redmond, the course hopes to introduce students to new types of art in order to make it “more accessible” for everyone.
“We feel like a lot of students have this idea that if they are not good at drawing realistically, they are not good at art or interested in it,” Bauer said.
Bauer and Redmond hope to discredit this idea.
“Nobody is going to be inherently amazing at it,” Redmond said. “It is a skill that you have to learn initially.”
According to Bauer, students with an interest in creating things “outside of the realm of what they know of art” should sign up for the class.
“There are no prerequisites,” Bauer said. “You do not have to take any other art classes.”
Many students previously and currently involved in art classes are “excited” to enroll.
“I know that we are going to make our own paper, and I am very excited about that,” sophomore Izabelle Taylor said.
Taylor has been enrolled in art classes since the beginning of her freshman year, as she enjoys art both “inside and outside” of school.
The unique curriculum of the class creates an interest for students like Taylor.
“I think it’s so many different types of art and so many skills,” Taylor said, “that it will be fun to know that you can do that [new materials] and then take it outside of the classroom.”
According to Redmond, anyone with an interest in making “little trinkets or crafts” should enroll in and try the class.
“This [curriculum] could be a potential side hustle adjacent to a career,” Redmond said.
For junior Mateya Bade, art is a hobby.
“I draw [people],” Bade said.
Bade has enrolled in “only one” art class during her time at the high school.