Students are beginning to display their talent in the school’s hallways.
Thomas Jefferson is known for its great sports department, the Computer Magnet Program, and D.E.C.A. The long standing excellence of the TJ Art Department is beginning to spread its wings once again, and becomes a draw for students.
This school year has seen a few new displays showcasing the artwork that is being created by many of the talented, creative Spartans. One of the displays most admired by students is set up in front of the cafeteria, where brightly colored CD covers created by the advanced art students are on display, but this is just one of the many projects underway. “The students created amazing murals right before winter break,” said Art Teacher Brooke Stoyer . “I am working with the administration to get them set up around the school sometime soon.”
The 4th and 8th period classes are also working on acrylic canvases, which last year were given to teachers around the school as decorations for their classrooms. “The artwork makes a strong statement in my class. It’s a form of political and personal expression,” said Social Studies Teacher Edward Salazar, who received one of the art pieces last year.
Stoyer predicts that projects like these are going to be changing the scenery of the predominantly blank hallways. “I want the students to display their school pride and expose artistic TJ culture,” she said.
Students are also enthusiastic about leaving their legacy in the walls of their school. “I think that the work we’re making is really going to change the appearance here,” said Ana Camacho, a junior and newcomer to Stoyer’s 4th period art class. Most of the projects being made by students incorporate bright colors and simple everyday objects that showcase the artist’s taste and personality. “We want to make things that everyone will like; things that are simple yet nice to look at, and are our own original ideas,” said Camacho while painting one of the canvases provided by the art department as one of the group projects for this semester.
While trying to make the Spartan hallways a little livelier and entertaining, the art teachers also encourage their students to make their art known. “I want my students to enter as many art contests as possible, to be recognized for the amazing artwork they make in and out of my class,” said Stoyer.
Many of the students in Stoyer’s painting and drawing classes, as well as those in Catherine Salazar’s pottery classes, have entered local contests, and are working hard to demonstrate their dedication to art. “I’ve entered some of the work that I’ve made in Ms. Stoyer’s class into the monthly contest on the LowRider Arte Magazine. Her class has helped me get some of my work out for others to see,” said Alejandro Sanchez, a senior who has been in the art classes offered by TJ for the past three years.
“All I want for all future art students is for them to find something they have a passion for; something they can easily express through their art,” said Stoyer. Art is the passion of many students at TJ, and now more opportunities have opened up for them to display their art and leave their names branded around their school’s hallways, classrooms and stairwells.
