Ms. Catrina Wilson is now teaching all Beloit Junior and Senior High art classes, including independent study art. Students in independent study art work on their own projects rather than assigned ones, and their options include drawing, painting, pottery, printing, digital artwork, and sculpture. Wilson says, “The class is truly student-driven projects, everyone is doing something different and I like to keep an open mind to where that might lead. We focus on fine tuning craftsmanship and developing their artistic style.”
Wilson also teaches junior high art and high school Art I and Art II. These students are currently working on painting projects, and after completion most of the classes will be moving on to printmaking. Wilson says that she uses a teaching method called Teaching for Artistic Behavior. “It is choice-based, but students must complete entry projects to learn the techniques and procedures for the material. When the students complete the painting project they have choice between drawing, collage, and painting ‘centers’,” says Wilson.
There are also some changes to the supplies at art students’ disposal, including printmaking with Linocut, Gelli Plate, Woodblock and printing designs with Lego tiles, and silk screening may be available in the future. Some independent study students have made use of the pottery wheels with a new higher temperature and higher quality clay. Students also now have the option to work on fiber art, including weaving and embroidery.
Wilson is now also the Art and Photo Club sponsor. This year, Art and Photo Club is focusing less on murals, as they have done in previous years, and more on independent projects, being treated more like an independent study art class. On Saturday, Sept. 28, students displayed their personal projects at a booth at Millapalooza. More events like these are planned for the future, such as setting up an art box at Mitchell County Hospital to display personal projects that will be rotated out every month to make room for a new piece. The club would also like to set up a paint-your-own pottery booth at a craft show to raise money for supplies. Some Art and Photo Club members are choosing to touch up last year’s drip mural in the music department hallway, but the club will not be doing any large mural projects this year. Nothing is set in stone yet, but the club may be taking a trip sometime in the school year. Any students interested in Art and Photo Club are encouraged to try it out, and all are welcome. The club meets during PRIDE time on Wednesdays.
