The intoxicating smell of chemicals from the smeared paint on your face overwhelms your senses. The vibrant colors of primary paint colors red, blue, and yellow blinds you in a rush of creativity. In this setting, you are free to create art of your desire; art that correlates with you; art that expresses your emotions and thinking. 

By Andy See

It’s almost time to stop the strokes of the paintbrush on the canvas or the pencil sketchings on the paper. After a full school year of learning different art techniques, students learn a lot of things thartsat interest them, and the fun they had in the art class connecting with their peers. 

Mr. Harris, the studio art teacher at redwood highschool is excited to share his end of the year wrap up with his studio art students. He cherishes his students for the hard work they do in his class. He finds happiness when he sees his students trying to improve and grow their artistic skills. 

Harris says, “Well I had good kids this year. These guys… got really good this year and it was really exciting to see them do so well.” 

This school year, he had a lot of students who take art classes seriously, and their willingness to improve. He sees this drive and determination as something that should be commemorated.

He also says, “In fact one of our kids was best of show at the all highschool art competition this year.”

Mr. Harris is also a major factor in helping his students improve their art prowess to what it is today. He tries his best to give students advice, and the students who take his advice tend to improve. 

“This year we’ve had just kids who listened and want to take advice, and because of that a lot of them have gotten really good.”

Every year, new freshmans enter his studio art class, which gives Mr. Harris an opportunity to see how their art evolves from freshman year to senior year. With new students comes a new diverse set of art styles.

“I like dealing with all the different styles of people. I find probably ninety-eight percent of really good people trying to just make it in life.” 

There are a lot of memorable moments that should be mentioned. The art skills students learn opens doors of opportunities for them. Also with the school year coming to an end, students are looking forward to doing exciting things. 

Harris says, “It’s fantastic! Lot of kids had a lot of growth, really nice kids going on to different things, lots of seniors are going to do many, many interesting things.”

These last few days left of school are very bittersweet, especially for the seniors in studio art. 

He adds, “Like the seniors got to go to Grad-Night, and they’re starting to make the summer plans and stuff.”

There is always next year for a new group of fresh faces that will come along, and some familiar faces of students who decide to learn more from Mr. Harris. 

Mr. Harris says, “The Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmans coming up are going to be really neat kids to deal with.” 

Frank Ramirez ‘26 is a sixth period studio art student of Mr. Harris. He is an outgoing person who loves to create art with his friends. Whenever his friends need help and encouragement, they go straight to him. He has lots to share about his experience and his journey in studio art. 

Since his first steps in class to now, he has really improved in many areas. At first he was skeptical of what he should be doing and he put little effort into his art. But now he has found his place and his purpose. 

Ramirez says, “Well I definitely see my effort increase. In the beginning of the year, I was kind of going along with whatever we were doing, but now I’m actually putting in some effort.” 

There are so many good memories that were made this year. Ramirez has a lot of memorable moments in Studio Art class with Mr. Harris. 

“This one time I played this audio in class and it was really really loud, it was dead silent in the class and everyone heard me, so that was pretty crazy.” 

The most special part of Studio Art class is that the projects are based solely on the students creativity and ideas. Students are given a task, but they add a spin to make their art uniquely them. There are so many good art pieces he made this year. 

Out of every art piece made this year, his favorite is the abstract art project. 

Ramirez says,  “My abstract art came out really good this year, it was our most recent assignment.”

He believes that art is a very important skill to learn. Taking art can be beneficial because there are many things that consider the aspects of art and creativity. 

He says “Actually being an engineer! So learning how to draw 3D stuff like that is really good.”

Tori Ochoa ‘27 is another sixth period Studio Art student. She is a very kind and hard working student. She loves to talk to her friends and make art that expresses who she is. There are many things she’d like to share about her time in Studio Art this year. 

In this class she is able to express her emotions and ideas in her art. Studio art is a place for her to show her true self. 

Ochoa says, “I’ve grown because I learned a lot in art and it’s teached me how to express my feelings better when I’m doing abstract.”

She has many friends in class that inspire her to do the best she can do. Whenever she needs a push of encouragement, she goes straight to her friends. Communication creates an environment of motivation. 

She says, “Probably with my best friend Frank Ramirez because he’s also pushed me to always do my best in art, so it helped me a lot.”

There are many art pieces that she is proud of. Similar to Ramirez, her favorite art piece she has made is her abstract piece. 

She says “My abstract art, my abstract form, the one I’m working on right now.”

This school year is coming to an end soon. She has many things that she cherishes, some unforgettable moments that she made with friends and her teacher. This is a sad ending for Ochoa, but there is always next year to dive deeper into art and experience more growth. 

She adds, “I feel kind of sad because you learn a lot and it was fun, and we learned a lot of cool things.”

She has learned a lot of things. But one of the most important things she learned is to not conform with what others want. She learned to find and follow her ideas instead of being pressured to follow someone else’s idea. 

This class had a positive impact on her confidence and her creative growth that includes not being afraid of thinking outside of the box. 

Ochoa says, “To not be afraid to do what other people want you to do, and just express yourself and just be creative.”

Andy See
 

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