Goshen art students continue to grow over the summer

Dani Messick, Goshen News, Ind.
·2 min read

May 29—GOSHEN — Four Goshen High School students will be off to summer apprenticeship programs in the field of art.

Jennifer Rangel-Valdez and Jesus Guijosa-Torres will participate in Notre Dame's Snite Art Museum's Summer Apprentice Program, while Rayna Gonzalez and Keaton Hunter will be at the teen week program at the Touchstone Center for Craft near Pittsburgh.

At Notre Dame, students will receive two weeks of instruction from a Master's in Fine Arts painting student, followed by an exhibition.

At Touchstone, students will be working in ceramics and glass.

"This community is rich with potters and ceramics," said GHS ceramics teacher Betsy Poling. "We're in this sort of pottery mecca. We have internationally known artists in the community who got their start — some here, some at Goshen College."

In her 22nd year as an art teacher, Poling has been at Goshen High School for nine years. She gained her ceramics experience during her time at Goshen College.

"I'm just thrilled that we live in a community where we have these resources," she said. "It just makes sense that we would have a strong ceramics program at Goshen High School."

Poling said she offers many different ways to present information to her art students.

In the final weeks of the school year, Poling took the opportunity to use ceramics class to teach students about the history of ramen noodles.

"I learned that ramen didn't even originate in Japan; it originated in China," junior Mireya Aleman said.

They made teapots and bowls to enjoy an authentic version of the dish on the final day of school.

"There are lots of different ways to get to the end," Poling said. "You could make a bowl. You could just teach, 'Here's how you make a bowl,' but you can also I think deepen understanding and tie in some history, working across the curriculum if you approach it from a different standpoint."

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.