The Applegater

Applegater Winter 2018 3 Applegate School students will soon paint tiles to create a river flowing away from their tree mural. Photo: Courtney Zimmerman, Carrying Wonder Photography. elements of art—line, space, shape, value, form, texture, and color—and unleash their creativity using a variety of materials. Linda is currently collecting 33-1/3 LPs for a planned art project. If you have old, scratched records to donate, contact Linda through the Applegate School office at 541-846-6280. Two upcoming projects will have students working with guest artists. Felt artist Corbin Brashear is scheduled to work with all students at both Applegate and Williams schools. And Applegate students will once again work with muralist Jeremy Criswell, as the school's tree mural depicting Applegate life is about to grow. e next phase of the mural will feature the river, made with students' painted ceramic tiles, flowing away from the tree and around the corner of the building. Art education at Ruch Outdoor Community School is a model of a rich, comprehensive art program. Backed with long-standing, unparalleled community support, the students at Ruch participate in all sorts of artistic endeavors. Art teacher Cheryl Whitney includes instruction on the elements of art and design using a wide array of materials, as well as an exploration of genres and styles. In Cheryl's classroom, a basketful of greenware (unfired) salmon will soon be glazed by sixth graders. Once fired, the finished ceramic salmon will be installed outdoors, "swimming" up the sidewalk railing just outside the art room. Students in all grades learn about art history, traditions, and influential artists. Ruch principal, Julie Barry, explained that every grade level has scheduled "art days" and a "minimum of 60 minutes each week" with the visual arts. Grades six through eight have an art elective every Friday. Ruch students also are offered music instruction, band, and orchestra for grades five through eight, and vocal music for kindergarten through grade five. On Fridays in January, sixth through eighth graders will receive additional lessons on playing keyboards and guitars. Hidden Valley High School's (HVHS) art teacher, Ben Bickle, challenges his students to "generate new and original things" through their art and gives his students many and varied opportunities to flex their creative muscles, both individually and collaboratively. Other past and current projects include a poster contest sponsored by the Oregon Caves National Monument. In October, 20 HVHS art students collaborated to turn a section of H Street in Grants Pass into a beautiful and complex chalk mural for Art Along the Rogue. During the school year, students will repeatedly "create something new and unique," and, in April 2019, some of their art pieces will be featured in Southern Oregon University's Best of the Best Art Show (now in its fourth decade) for high school art students. A d m i n i s t r a t o r s a n d t e a c h e r s a c k n ow l e d g e t h e c o n s t r a i n t s a n d challenges of building time into the school day for arts education while satisfying the state's required core curriculum. Yet, as Jessica Durrant, director of elementary curriculum for Three Rivers School District, notes, the arts are thriving in the schools of the Applegate Valley because of excellent "building-level decisions and plans" and the support of our art-loving communities. Lisa E. Baldwin leb.97527@gmail.com The arts are thriving in the schools of the Applegate Valley. ■ ARTS IN SCHOOLS Continued from page 1 Greenware salmon are awaiting glaze at Ruch School. The Art Elective board at Applegate School is filled with students' artistic interpretations. Zentangle candlestick by Caleb Teel, a seventh grader at Lincoln Savage. The mural created by HVHS art students at the 2018 Art Along the Rogue celebrated 50 years of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, signed into law by President Johnson in 1968. Photo above: Mikell Nielsen. Photo left: Ben Bickle. HVHS art students celebrated the life of Robin Williams at the 2017 Art Along the Rogue. Photo: Ben Bickle. Fourth-grade artists at work in Cheryl Whitney's classroom at Ruch School. Photos by Lisa Baldwin except where noted.

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