Youth Art for Healing

Members of the CHS Art National Honor Society created eight “Under the Sea” themed paintings for the pediatric triage and hospital rooms at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD.

The artists will be honored at a ceremony at the convention center in Silver Spring May 3, and their artwork will be displayed May 4.

“The best part of the project was seeing the finished products and what everybody was able to create,” senior and group leader Emilie Butchko said. “I learned that it is difficult to be the leader of a group, but that it is rewarding to help people.”

The student artists have been working on the paintings for most of the school year. With such a long time dedicated toward the project, each member was able to contribute to and work cohesively with the rest of the team.

“My favorite part about making the paintings was seeing the collaboration of work among groups,” senior and Art

Honor Society president Carly Rosenfeld said. “Everybody came up with at least one or two characters or objects that ended up on the painting and it came together very nicely.”

Additionally, the long time span of the project enabled the members of each team to take leadership roles to help finish the projects on time.

“I was really impressed with a lot of people during this project,” Rosenfeld said. “A lot of kids stepped up and became leaders for their groups, and it helped so much with getting the paintings finished.”

Strathmore Hall Metro Sculpture Project
As a part of a competition created by MCPS, Metro and Strathmore Hall, students in Advanced Ceramics have been working on creating six large totem pole sculptures that will be permanently displayed outside Strathmore Hall and the Grosvenor Strathmore Metro station.

Student artists are working in six groups, ranging from individual artists to teams of five, to construct the statues. CHS had six designs selected for full-scale building, which is the maximum amount allowed for one school.

The project required more collaboration from student artists than usual when creating a piece.

“We normally make projects individually, and it was really fun to work with other people on this project,” senior Sharanya Suresh said. Furthermore, having the ability to work closely with several other artists for most of the school year brought many groups closer together than they may have initially anticipated.”

“The best part was working with my awesome teammates and building the friendship we all have today,” junior Frannie Phillips said.

Additionally, while ceramics may seem strictly an art-related field, student artists have come to realize that precise mathematical calculations are essential to the construction of a large ceramic sculpture.

“I learned about the mechanics of art, and that art really isn’t all about just throwing together an abstract piece to look cool; it’s about making precise measurements to ensure the structure of your piece will withhold force of nature,” Phillips said. “There is a whole science behind art that I never knew was there until I started this project.”

The project is still ongoing but is expected to end by the end of the school year.

According to Art Resource Teacher Brendan Roddy, the artists are putting the “finishing touches” on the scultures this month.