March 27, 2024

Scenes from the Art Room: Spring 2024

These photos offer a glimpse into our busy art classes, where students are diligently working on their final projects. Spring marks the season for art shows and contests, and our artists are busy preparing to exhibit their work. The AP Studio students are gearing up for their final portfolio exam, just a month and a half away! With the addition of more advanced courses, including AP Studio, we've had access to a greater variety of projects and art materials than ever before. It truly has been an extraordinary year!


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March 26, 2024

Drawing II: Dictionary Design Drawing

In Drawing II, students are challenged to create a cohesive artwork based on four words that share the same letter. This exercise encourages students to explore creative ways of combining different visual elements into a single piece of art. By focusing on a specific set of words, students are required to think outside the box and stretch their imagination to produce an artwork that tells a story or conveys a particular emotion or message.

Through this exercise, students practice their skills in composition, color theory, and drawing techniques while also developing their ability to convey complex ideas through visual art. This exercise serves as valuable practice for students pursuing AP Studio Art, where they will be challenged to produce a portfolio of artworks that demonstrates their mastery of various mediums and techniques.


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Radial Design Project

Through the use of templates, rulers, pen and ink, Design students created abstract radial designs using positive/negative shapes, overlapping and texture. View the gallery by clicking on the image below!

March 25, 2024

Drawing II: Mixed Media Grid Drawing

In Drawing II, students were challenged to create a cohesive artwork using a variety of art materials. This exercise expanded students' skills in the use of graphite, colored pencil, ink, scratchboard, paint marker, watercolor, and acrylic paint.

Through this exercise, students practiced their skills in composition, color theory, and drawing techniques while developing their ability to convey a single image. This exercise serves as valuable practice for students pursuing AP Studio Art, where they will be challenged to produce a portfolio of artworks that demonstrate their mastery of various mediums and techniques.


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March 24, 2024

Design Class Complementary Animals

Given a three dimensional pyramid form, Design students used their imaginations along with additional posterboard to create real or imaginary animals. Students finished their animal sculptures with color based on a complementary color scheme. Designs were assessed on originality, neatness, and overall use of color.


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December 28, 2023

Artist-Mug Project

In Ceramics I, students created hand-built mugs inspired by a famous artist. It was the student's task to reimagine the mug's rim, body, foot, and handle, transforming it into a sculptural artwork meant to be viewed in-the-round. The finished pieces were evaluated based on criteria including creativity, design, texture, visual flow, neatness, and the skillful application of glaze to enhance the work.


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AP Art Update 2

The following gallery showcases the latest creations by the Advanced Placement class from this semester. AP Studio Art is a year-long art course for students interested in a rigorous and focused study in two-dimensional visual art. At the end of the year, students will submit 15 works of art for evaluation by the AP College Board for college credit. Each portfolio includes a concentration, an in-depth exploration of a particular topic of the student's choosing.


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2023-2024 Painting I Gallery

Our Painting I student, Henry Mathre (Class of 2024), began the year with a unit on watercolor, exploring various watercolor application techniques. The mastery of these skills was highlighted in the final watercolor piece titled "Into the Wild." After a brief exploration of acrylic painting, he began a service learning project: creating an Edgar Allan Poe-themed design for our English Teacher's podium. Upon the successful completion of this task, he then proceeded to paint the entire village of Newark within an ongoing winter mural! Congratulations to Henry on an outstanding semester, and we appreciate the impact you've made at NCHS!


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Art I Graphite Drawings

These pencil drawings are the end result of a semester's worth of shading exercises by first-year art students. Many of these students had no prior experience with shading, but with dedication and practice, they were able to produce impressive work.

The students brought in their own photographic resources to work from, and utilizing the techniques they learned throughout the semester, they were able to contour draw and reproduce the highlights and shadows in their images. The end product is a collection of realistic drawings that showcase the progress and development of the students' new-found talent!


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December 27, 2023

2023-2024 Ceramics I

The gallery showcases the creations of first-year ceramics students, pinch projects-iPhone passive speakers, texture tiles, and coil building works. These initial projects serve as the building blocks for further skill development in Ceramics II, where students have the freedom to pursue more diverse projects.


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December 17, 2023

2023-2024 Drawing I Scratchboard Drawings

This gallery showcases the scratchboard drawings of Drawing I students from their first semester.


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December 10, 2023

Art Department Student of the Semester

Newark Community High School is proud to provide a Student of the Semester program to recognize individual students for their dedication and achievements. This award acknowledges outstanding performance by selecting one exemplary student (grades 9-12) from each department. Congratulations to Sarah Zarko for being awarded Art Department Student of the Season! Sarah's unwavering commitment to excellence and her exceptional work ethic have earned her this honor. Way to go, Sarah!

November 6, 2023

AP Art Update 1

The following gallery showcases the latest creations by the Advanced Placement class from this semester. AP Studio Art is a year-long art course for students interested in a rigorous and focused study in two-dimensional visual art. At the end of the year, students will submit 15 works of art for evaluation by the AP College Board for college credit. Each portfolio includes a concentration, an in-depth exploration of a particular topic of the student's choosing.


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September 9, 2023

Sandwich Fair Art Awards

Every year the Sandwich Fair Board offers junior artists to enter their artwork for judging. From graphite drawings to paintings to ceramics, our students entered their creations into the 2023 Sandwich Fair.

Congratulations to Leah Thanepohn, Rachel Zarko, Stephine Anderson, Adam Redmond, and Emma Dierzen for their award winning artwork! Leah and Rachel were awarded 1st Place Ribbons for their artwork, a graphite drawing and ceramic sculpture respectively. Stephine and Adam were awarded 2nd Place Ribbons for their graphite drawings, and Emma was awarded a 3rd Place Premium for her painting. Way to go, NCHS Artists!

Special thanks to all who participated. Remember to enter your artwork into next year's Fair, and you too will have a chance to see great art and win prizes yourself!

Leah Thanepohn, Class of 2025

Rachel Zarko, Class of 2024

Stephine Anderson, Class of 2026

Adam Redmond, Class of 2026

Emma Dierzen, Class of 2026

June 5, 2023

2023 Graduation Program Cover Design

Congratulations to Kelly Christian (Class of 2023) for creating the first-ever cover design for the 2023 Graduation Ceremony Program. The design, a painting from Kelly's Painting II Class, featured a bridge symbolizing the graduates' path to the future, a sunset, spring flowers, and a gold frame. The design served as a stunning backdrop for the entire graduation ceremony when it was projected on stage. Kelly's ambitious and successful project truly deserves recognition. Way to go, Kelly! Special thanks to Mrs. Kala and Mr. Lesak for their efforts in ensuring the project's success!

May 17, 2023

Congratulations on a Successful Show!

Congratulations to the advanced artists and chorus for a successful evening. The advanced artists did a fantastic job showcasing and discussing their artwork at the best attended show yet. It was an awe-inspiring display, highlighting ceramics alongside drawings and paintings. A special thanks to all our guests, including current art students and alumni, for their support of our NCHS artists! Bravo to the NCHS Chorus for yet another exceptional performance, showcasing songwriters across the decades. Farewell and best wishes to our graduating senior artists and musicians – you will be missed!

Ceramics II Water Fountain Project

The water fountain project combines engineering principles with artistic visual design and expert ceramic construction techniques to create a functional and visually appealing water feature. This project represents the pinnacle of ceramic education, offering students the opportunity to design and transform their initial sketches into a functioning work of art.

Emily D., Class of 2023

Carter D., Class of 2023

Lexie R., Class of 2023

April 21, 2023

Congratulations, Artists!

Congratulations to Kelly Christian for award winning artwork at Morris EX-ibit Gallery High School Invitational Art Show! Kelly was awarded a second place out of over 60 works of art from six area high schools for her watercolor painting entitled Country Sunset. Special thanks to Lily Britz for her participation! The show is on display through the end of the month at the EX-ibit Fine Arts Gallery in Morris.
Kelly Christian, Class of 2023
"Country Sunset", 11X14, Watercolor Pencil
Lily Britz, Class of 2024
"Hazel's Zinneas", 11X16, Colored Pencil

March 9, 2023

Baseball Service Learning Project

A successful service learning project was recently completed by Kelly Christian, who painted signs for the NCHS Baseball dugouts on a large scale. We extend special thanks to Mrs. Morel, our Athletic Director, Coach Skwarczynski, Coach Cooper, Mr. Mulligan and Coach Hissong for their efforts in ensuring the project's success!

Photo Courtesy Coach Cooper
Photo Courtesy Mrs. Steffen

March 7, 2023

Art I Clay Food Sculpture

The following clay sculptures were created by first year Art students. Through this unit of study, Art I students became familiar with artists who have investigated the role of food in artistic expression such as Claes Oldenburg and Peter Anton. Art I students then created food "sculptures" out of clay and were assessed on use of texture to produce value contrasts, "in-the-round" thinking, craftsmanship, and proper use of handbuilding techniques. Art I students were also assessed on accuracy of color, use of color value to accent textures, color intensity to control brightness, originality, and overall presentation.

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