The 25-26 school year has a new opportunity for any student who has been enrolled in an AHS art class for at least one year. Ceramics is a new elective class being added, and it will be taught by Mrs. Dougherty. In this class, students will be able to explore ceramics and pottery for a full year. Mrs. D said, “I have so many plans in mind for the new ceramics course! I would love to participate in the Empty Bowls of Rome community event and maybe even have a vendor booth at Tribe Fest this fall.” In this class students will learn to use a potter’s wheel along with many other techniques to create masterpieces.Students that have signed up for the new ceramics class are full of ideas for class projects. Evey Flagello, freshman, said, “I’ve seen where they let elementary students make a drawing of an animal or character they created and then the ceramics student can make their drawing out of clay and make it come to life.” AHS students are excited because of the endless opportunities for this new class.
Armuchee High School’s 2024-2025 school year has opened numerous opportunities for students to grow in their talents and discover new activities they enjoy participating in. One of our pathways, electives, and part of the Fine Arts at AHS, is Visual Arts. This class focuses on working with different mediums. Mrs. Dougherty, art teacher, said, “I love to teach art because it’s such a versatile course. We get to do a little bit of everything, which means there’s something for everyone to enjoy.” The art room is a place for all students, artistic or not. It provides an outlet for creativity and a chance to focus thoughts other than school.
In the AHS art class, students learn to use different mediums such as graphite pencils, colored pencils, watercolor paint, acrylic paint, and clay. With every new medium there is a project to go with it. Ava Lee, sophomore, said, “I enjoyed the project where we had to draw a picture looking outside of a lens.” Art students were challenged to create a drawing of a scene or object through glass with graphite pencils. Abbie Carson, senior, said, “My favorite project I made was ‘Through the Keyhole.’” Students, using acrylic paint, had to paint with the perspective of someone looking through a keyhole. Mrs. Dougherty is always coming up with new projects to stretch the abilities of her students so that they can grow as artists. Projects are also a great way to push the artistic abilities of students. Tessa Swanson, senior, said, “The zentangle project was the project that challenged me the most.” In this project, students had to meticulously draw different lines and doodles to create a design and piece of art.
Art students agree that taking art is great for artistic freedom. Halyn Ballard, freshman, said, “Even though we have requirements for all projects we are really free to do what we want and make whatever we are creating unique.” While there are parts of any piece that have to fall under the topic of the project, Mrs. D gives every one of her students the opportunity to be creative and experiment with new ideas. Carter Benter, sophomore, said, “I like getting to be creative and I’m not completely limited to what I can make.” There are endless opportunities to create something new every time students walk into art class. Evey Flagello, freshman, said, “Art gives me a break from all of the academic classes and allows me to do something that I enjoy.” Many students take many rigorous classes, and art allows them to have a break in their day and have creative freedom. AHS’ art class is an amazing opportunity to grow in creativity and learn new abilities.
