Ok, so as a kid who wants to go into art in college I’m pretty mad and upset right now. Some of the art classes I was looking forward to taking may not run next year.
I plan to take as many art classes as humanly possible before I graduate, and due to the fact that kids are either scared to take art classes after basic or just have no interest, I may not be able to take these classes.
I am currently in an art independent study, and studio art. Next year I plan to take sculpture, art in advertising, AP studio, oil painting, acrylic painting, photography, graphic design, and drawing. Due to low numbers, some of these classes, such as sculpture and art in advertising may not even be able to run.
I think that kids must not understand that these classes are FREE. You don’t have to pay a penny to take them. In college these opportunities will not be the same. It will cost you probably around $1,000 to take an art class in college, and that might not even include supplies if you have to buy your own. These classes are an opportunity to have fun and learn to do something that, later on in life, will be much more expensive and difficult to take.
I have taken an art class every year since I started at Londonderry High School, and I have loved every single class I have taken. Just because you may not have liked basic design, doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy taking other classes. I have a friend that took basic design and didn’t like it nearly as much as I did and she now takes sculpture and tells me about how amazing it is Every. Single. Day.
You may think art is not your thing, and that’s ok. All I ask is that you understand the opportunity you’re missing when you fly through high school taking nothing but basic design.
Maybe you liked graphic design, well then you’d probably like art in advertising. Maybe you liked ceramics, well then you’d probably like sculpture. Maybe you liked painting in basic design, well there are both oil and acrylic painting classes right at your fingertips, and you’re just letting them slip right through like water.
Just give an art class a chance. You never know what you may be good at or like until you try it.
The article “Why Art Matters” was originally published in the April 2017 edition of The Lancer Spirit magazine. The full poster of this image, created by Zoe Deiffenbach, is located by the stairs next to classroom 420.
