Arts Scene Thrives at Pres

The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed.

Photo Credit: Kate Heffernan

Presentation artists work in a variety of media to express their creativity. Exhibits such as these dot the entire campus.

July 6, 2009

Kate Heffernan  

Filed under Features

Saran-wrap people, ceramic gargoyles, black and white snapshots. This can only mean one thing: art students are hard at work. In this past month, there has been lots of activity in the arts at Presentation. From art classes to band concerts, these artistic students have shown their talents in several ways around campus.

This March, dance team took part in Nationals in Orlando, Florida. They placed second in small jazz, fourth in hip hop, and Junior Jackie Lee placed third with her dance solo. Dance team also put on a dance workshop in April for intermediate and advanced jazz and hip hop. Last week, dance team, after-school dance, and third and fourth period dance classes put on their annual spring dance concert. Freshman Katie Fauria of the dance team was very excited about the spring show. She says, “I absolutely love dance team. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. I love performing. It’s a great feeling seeing people’s faces light up.”

Presentation’s comedy team, Spontaneous Combustion, has also done many shows this year. Their last improv show was May 8. Captain of the team, senior Michelle Hair, comments, “It was a lot of fun. Even though we competed against each other, we still acted like one big family. I’m sad that this was my last Spontaneous Combustion Show.”

The musical side of Pres has seen many exciting advancements this year. Under the leadership of Mr. Lovejoy, Presentation choir performed at the CMEA choral festival on May 8 and, last week, participated in the Magic Mountain choral festival. This competition, “Music in the Parks,” was an impressive victory for Presentation. The group won first place out of 25 other choirs, junior Tiffany Merritt was named Outstanding Vocalist and junior Shelley Brunkan was named Outstanding Accompanist. “We are like a big family where class hierarchy doesn’t matter because all of the juniors and seniors are best friends with the freshmen and sophomores,” says senior Adrianna Stanley. “We have so much fun singing together.” On May 7 there was a choir and band concert featuring jazz choir, jazz band and the instrumental classes, and on May 18 there was a piano recital put on by the piano class where each student played a solo of their choice. It was a show designed to show off the accomplishments that each girl has made during this past semester—some of the piano students just started playing this year.

Many of the art classes this year have completed projects that can be seen all over campus. Ceramics, one of the more popular art classes, has been working hard on a variety of projects. Senior Laura Dion is taking Ceramics II this year. “It takes a lot of work to get the projects done well, but it’s worth it when you see the finished product,” she says. Many projects are on display in the main foyer and outside of the art room, including the surrealist dress, teapot, gargoyle and more recently, head sculptures. Some were also shown recently at the art show on May 14.

Ms. Ford’s Design II class has also done many interesting projects that have been largely noted throughout the campus. Their dresses are hanging in the hallway and saran wrap people can be seen scattered all over Pres. Their latest project is creating “funky furniture,” where they take apart furniture and make it into their own unique interpretation. Many students are designing different types of crazy chairs, lamps and couches. Senior Samantha Clark is creating a teacup clock out of a table. “The Design class has been very creative and has helped my ideas grow and become art,” she says.

Senior Brenna Donnelly has been in art classes for the last three years. This year she has been working hard in her Advanced Art classs–“Right now we are carving a plaster sculpture.” You may have seen some of her work in our library such as “Billy Got Scared” and her giant staple remover titled “Monster Remover.”

As a second-year photography student, senior Katherine Dwyer has enjoyed learning different techniques and creating her own photos. She says, “Photography is amazing because you can freeze reality in a frame.” Their current project consists of three separate prints. The first print is meant to emulate a famous artist. The other two prints are supposed to be created with the idea of capturing certain art elements such as contrast or line. Other past projects include portraits and sandwiching where they take two negatives and put them together.

Several seniors will take the artistic techniques they learned at Pres with them to college. “It has been an extremely successful year and I am really impressed with the work produced in all the classes,” says Mrs. Purdy. “It was nice to have two seniors with three and a half years of Drawing and Painting. Danielle Cartier will be going to Sonoma State University to major in fine arts and Sarah Sendig will be going to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and minoring in art.”

Presentation has had many exciting events in all aspects of art. Classes, concerts and competitions have been prevalent in the last few months and the creative side of Pres is in full swing. With the many activities, clubs and classes, it is easy to the arts in action right here in the school community.

Features, page 5

 Email This Story        Print This Story      

Tags: arts