Spring Photography with Art 1

Spring is in the air! As part of our ongoing photography studies, students explored the season with an eye for color.

In Art 1, photography is integrated throughout the school year as a series of short projects, most of which students complete outside of class. We explore some fundamental aspects of photography beginning with technical camera basics, then light and shadow, composition, and finally color. These projects help students to develop a critical visual eye, experiment with photography, and get valuable feedback and insight from me and their peers.

This assignment encouraged students to build on their photography skills from this school year (like contrast and composition) and to think critically about color.

Hungerford Art Competition

Two Bridgman High School students were recognized in the Hungerford Art Competition, an annual event sponsored by Hungerford CPAs + Advisors. This competition provides an opportunity for Bridgman students to showcase their work in a professional setting. This year’s winners are:

• Tierney T. (Sophomore)

• Alexa C. (Freshman)

Both students’ artwork will be displayed at the Hungerford office in St. Joseph, MI, where it will be viewed by clients, staff, and community members.

Partnerships like this are invaluable in supporting arts education. They give students the chance to see their work recognized beyond the classroom, build confidence in their artistic abilities, and highlight the role of creativity in the broader community.

We are grateful to Hungerford CPAs + Advisors for their ongoing support of student artists, and we congratulate Tierney and Alexa on this achievement.

Colorful Birds with Art 1

As we move toward the end of the school year, the Art 1 students apply their skills in acrylic painting by painting colorful birds. This assignment is part of our larger acrylic painting unit, designed to strengthen students’ understanding of color theory and painting techniques.

For this project, students were limited to using only the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) plus black and white. By mixing complex hues themselves, they gained a deeper understanding of how color relationships work, from creating subtle neutrals to mixing vibrant secondaries and tertiaries. The restriction encouraged experimentation and problem-solving, while also reinforcing the importance of value and contrast in painting.

The choice of birds as a subject offered both structure and creative freedom. Birds provide a wide variety of shapes, patterns, and natural color palettes for students to interpret, while the small 5x7 format kept the focus on careful color mixing and brushwork. Each student’s painting reflects their growing confidence in handling acrylics.

Art 1 Paints Fire

The Art 1 students have officially begun their acrylic painting unit with a small project designed to build confidence in handling a brush and understanding of one of the principles of art and design: contrast.

Before this assignment, students used acrylic paint to complete practice studies creating value and a color wheel in order to become familiar with mixing, blending, and handling the medium. With those foundations in place, their first small project challenged them to apply those skills in a focused and dramatic way: painting fire.

The subject of fire was chosen because it naturally requires students to create a strong glowing effect by balancing bright, saturated colors against deep, dark backgrounds. This exercise pushes students to think critically about value, layering, and edge work. It also helps them practice blending warm hues (red, orange, yellow) while still maintaining the bold differences that make the flames feel luminous.

Though small in scale, this project introduces students to essential acrylic techniques they will continue to use throughout the unit: controlling paint opacity, mixing a wide range of values, and using contrast to create visual impact. The results are dynamic, eye-catching, and an exciting first step into acrylic painting.

Revealed Layers with Advanced Art

New year, new blog style! You may notice a change in this blog: I’m moving away from posts with minimal text to more in-depth posts that highlight both student work and the learning behind it. These posts will give more context to the projects explaining the thought process, skills, and growth happening in our art classes. The goal is to provide a fuller picture of what our students are accomplishing while also documenting the teaching strategies and artistic experiences that make our program unique! Here we go:

The Advanced Art students completed a project titled “Revealed Layers,” in which they combined colored pencils and markers. This assignment encouraged students to experiment with multiple drawing media while expressing their ideas about what lies beneath the surface.

Students chose subjects that allowed them to reveal hidden layers either literally, metaphorically, or both. Some explored their personal memories and identities through symbolism, some took a literal approach showing something being revealed, and others literally revealed layers by employing collage techniques to create actual depth.

Through this project, students not only developed their technical skills like mixing media, layering color, and building depth, but also strengthened their artistic voice, making deliberate choices about composition, narrative, and concept. The combination of colored pencils and markers allowed them to balance fine detail with bold, expressive areas of color.

“Revealed Layers” is an excellent example of how advanced students move beyond technical exercises into projects that challenge them to communicate ideas, evoke emotion, and showcase their unique creative perspectives. I’m proud of the thoughtfulness, risk-taking, and skill each student brought to this project.