Box Factory Student Art Show

Bridgman High School students exhibited their work at the Box Factory Student Art Exhibition in St. Joseph, MI. This annual event brings together student artists from across the region (30+ schools), showcasing a wide range of media and ideas from emerging young artists.

Many of our students displayed work in the exhibition, representing the skill, dedication, and creativity happening in our art program. Several Bridgman students also received special recognition:

• Anya L. received the Community Award.

• Paige T. was featured in the Emerging Artist category for high school seniors planning to pursue art at the college level. Paige will attend Southwestern Michigan College next year to study Art and Psychology with a goal of becoming an Art Therapist.

Opportunities like these not only celebrate achievement but also give students valuable experience sharing their work in a professional setting and engaging with the broader arts community. I want to congratulate all of our students who participated in this exhibition.

Oil Pastels with Art 1 & Advanced Art

Students explore the expressive potential of oil pastels through activities that emphasize both technical skill and experimentation. By introducing foundational concepts such as layering, blending, and creating texture through mark-making, I guide students in developing a deeper understanding of how materials can be manipulated to achieve a range of visual effects. Students are encouraged to experiment, take risks, and reflect on their process.

Ceramics with Art 1 & Advanced Art

This semester, my Art 1 and Advanced Art students created ceramics, exploring handbuilding techniques like coil building and slab construction, as well as experimenting with sculpting and glazes. Along the way, we discussed the work of notable ceramic artists, from famous artists like Maria Martinez to contemporary local artists like Laurie Sharkus. Seeing how these artists use form, texture, and glaze to communicate ideas gave students a framework for thinking about their own work.

Surrealism with Art 1

My Art 1 students just finished their Surrealism Drawing Project, and it was an incredible way to see how much they’ve grown this semester. After studying artists such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Remedios Varo, students explored ideas of their own within their sketchbooks.

Using the drawing and colored-pencil techniques we’ve practiced throughout the semester, students created surreal scenes filled with visual metaphors and unexpected combinations. They began by brainstorming then sketching a contour outline from imagination without a reference. Next they developed a value map and planned their color scheme. Once prepared, they moved into shading and coloring.

Even though the project allowed for a lot of creativity and fun, it also challenged students to think critically and to use the drawing skills they developed throughout the semester.

The final artworks showcased their growing technical skills and offered a glimpse into their developing artistic voices. I’m proud of their hard work and excited to share the results.

Reading Graphic Novels in the High School Art Classroom

It’s been four years since I incorporated reading and analyzing graphic novels into my high school art curriculum. While there have been challenges, I can say with certainty that it has been incredibly beneficial for my students.

I know some people may not think of comics as a serious or important medium, but graphic novels are a powerful way to teach visual literacy, explore symbolism, narrative, and art analysis.

In Art 1, we start with the graphic novel adaptation of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Almost American Girl by Robin Ha. We dive deep into character design, as well as essential aspects of visual storytelling such as page composition, panel pacing, setting, style, and mood. I chose The Graveyard Book because it was illustrated by several different artists, which gives students a chance to discuss a variety of styles and techniques. And Almost American Girl shows how Robin Ha’s illustration style is informed by her identity and cultural experience. Together, these books provide a strong foundation as students begin developing their own drawing and design skills.

In Advanced Art, students read Collected Essex County by Jeff Lemire and the graphic novel adaptation of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by E.M. Carroll. These works introduce more complex narratives and emotionally impactful visual storytelling. We analyze how the artists communicate mood, emotion, and tone, helping students see how visual choices can carry immense narrative weight. This helps to prepare them to develop their own artistic voice.

Bringing graphic novels into the classroom does more than supplement reading instruction (which, by the way, is an excellent benefit and the English teachers love it). It also teaches students to read images as critically as text, think deeply about narrative and style, and experiment with their own creative voice. It’s incredibly rewarding to watch them make these connections and realize that art isn’t just about perfect realism and mastery of technique. It’s about communication, storytelling, and style.

As someone who is currently writing and illustrating my own graphic novel, nothing excites me more than seeing students recognize that comics and graphic novels are not only valid forms of literature and art, but complex, dynamic, and absolutely worth reading!