Classes fired up to make art

If you walk by the Briarcrest Middle School art class, you may smell burning wood or leather. No, the school isn’t on fire. It’s the middle school art class making new art from wood burning and leather tooling.

The class is learning the art of crafting. Teachers operated the torch as directed by students, while students held the water spray bottle to control the amount of burn. Students then brought their pages back inside of the art room to begin creating their art from the “damages.”

Recently, the class began hammering away as these seventh grade art students complete tooling their leather arm bands. The decoration for the band also includes using a pyrography pen to burn line designs on to the leather.

Paragon Bank is currently showcasing artwork from St. Louis Catholic School students in its Saddle Creek Banking Center. The art will be on display until April 30, and all members of the community are encouraged to stop by to view the art.

Paragon worked with art teacher Robin Durden to coordinate the exhibit. The art created by fourth grade students features silhouettes, and the fifth grade students created relief prints. In the process of creating the silhouettes, the fourth grade class learned that some of the most popular silhouette portraits were completed during the late 18th century.

The fifth grade students were inspired by Albrecht Durer, a German Renaissance printmaker. These student artists chose an insect and created a relief print that was put together in kaleidoscope form.

Student artists include fourth graders Cullen Brummer, Aidan Decker, William Johnson, Thomas Cassat, Campbell Gossett, Grey Hooper, Abby Martin, Christian Novarese and Will Perrone; and fifth graders McKenzie Patterson, Ava Witmer, Mia Soefker, Ben Wills, Matthew Shi, Anna Kate Wade, Gracie Leo, Audrey Zweig, Madeline Duffee, Mary Grimes and LuLu Baker.