November 17, 2004
Students take art to the next level
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Eighty high school students spent a day in the life of a college art student Friday during Art Campus Day at Northwestern Michigan College.
These juniors and seniors spent their morning taking a college-level art class, choosing among monoprinting, watercolors, photography and computer graphics. Members of the Northwestern Michigan College faculty taught the classes and seven students currently in the program assisted.
The visiting high schoolers also toured the campus, checked out the Dennos Museum and ate lunch in the college cafeteria - a highlight for many. The day ended back at the Fine Arts building where instructors and students in the program answered questions.
Attendees came from schools including Frankfort, Mancelona, Northport, Allen Park and Manistee as well as local high schools.
Most of the attendees have immersed themselves in the art offerings at their home school, including Jamie McDonald, an 11th grade student at Traverse City West High School. McDonald is taking a ceramics class this semester and previously completed drawing and painting classes at West. She is considering an art career but not sure yet what that means for her.
With the daunting decision of what to study where after graduation - just 18 months away - she attended the Campus Day to learn more about her options.
"There's a lot of guidance here, which is good," said McDonald during her watercolor class. "I'm thinking maybe if I don't go to another school of coming here."
The day closely mimicked college as students completed an exercise or lesson they would if enrolled, noted Carolyn Scott Risk. Risk, who has been an instructor at NMC for 15 years, guided her watercolor students-for-a-day through recreating three apples.
"When I asked my regular class what to teach them, they recommended the apples," said Risk, who is also an artist in Traverse City. "This is a real technique, they use a graded wash on the edge, with darker going to light to show roundness."
Ten students from Allen Park High School and their teacher and chaperones drove more than five hours to spend two days and a night on campus. The schools sends the 'best and most promising' art students every other year to Traverse City to expand their horizons, said Cheri Hall, a teacher at the school.
"This is a great art program and a beautiful campus and I want to expose them to some really great art programs - this is one of them," noted Hall. "It's opened their eyes that it is possible for them to go to something other than a big university and still get a high quality art education."
Northwestern Michigan College offers two tracks in visual arts: an applied science degree in visual communications and a fine arts transfer program.
Samantha Mason, a 12th grade student at Allen Park High School, was interested in the transfer option. She is strongly considering a community college for her first two years to not only save money but boost her grade point average.
"I do great in art but not so great in other classes," she admitted.
Although Mason loves the Traverse City area, she planned to look at other community colleges before choosing.
"We have the Center for Creative Studies near us, Henry Ford Community College and University of Michigan Dearborn," she said.
Kristin Harvey, an art teacher at Frankfort High School, brought seven students to the Art Campus Day. She noted that her students 'dig animation' and most had signed up for that workshop because their high school does not offer a class in it.
"Whether they end up here or not, it is a great service that NMC is providing just to get them here," she said.