Logansport High School artists decorate town with color, creativity

May 15—Their work is everywhere.

On the side of Bonus Pints. At VFW Post 3790. Underneath the Third Street bridge.

Logansport High School art students have played a major role in helping the town become a vibrant oasis of creativity in rural Cass County.

Logansport, like every other school in the nation, has felt the funding pinch, but the school continues to support their art program as best they can.

"We do need funding but what we have I'm very grateful for," Michael Hill, a graduating senior who specializes in film said. "Everything we have is amazing. We have amazing people and what they can bring they always do and it's wonderful."

Bryan Hole, an art teacher who arrived at Logansport in 2006, agreed.

"I think Indiana has always had pretty strong high school art programs," said Hole, who grew up in Kokomo and attended Western High School. "While some of them have been depleted and some communities have lost interest in high school art, Logansport has always taken a lot of pride in its art program."

Art skills are always applicable

Becoming the next Warhol, Basquiat or Arbus may be difficult, but one doesn't need to be a starving artist. Art skills are applicable in many careers, and besides, the ability to put some extra dazzle into an office project or presentation could lead to some healthy raises.

There is little that senior Luna Tafolla can't do, so it's no surprise she has a gifted artistic vision to go along with her brilliant mind. She will take both to Notre Dame this fall.

"With art comes discipline," said Tafolla. "So I will apply that discipline to my studies in science and I will also take the creative aspect and be able to brainstorm and apply concepts to maybe designing equipment or technology or innovative research."

Jace Snyder, a senior who plans to attend Ivy Tech in the fall, said learning time management in art classes was something he will carry on to college. He said it was an important skill, especially for those taking AP art classes such as Tafolla and Morgan Pherson, who will continue to study art at the Herron School of Art at IUPUI after she graduates in June.

Snyder said Tafolla and Pherson are required to complete 15 projects during a school year in AP art.

"You have to schedule and plan (the projects) out which I think it awesome," he said.

Art teacher Nikki Ingalls said she felt like high school education was leaving the regimented instruction of the past and taking on a more hands on project based approach comparative to what art classes do.

Among the courses students can take are classes in both 2-D and 3-D art, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, fiber arts, ceramics, welding and jewelry.

Problem solving and thinking outside the box are two of the great skills that come with taking art classes, the teachers said.

"I know (art) isn't a popular or demanded field right now but it can teach you a lot of skills—how to design, brainstorm, be disciplined and time management," said Tafolla. "A lot of fields need those artistic aspects. It's strange to have a science and art combination but that just makes you that much more unique."

Hole said that not all of the students in the program are gifted artists. That doesn't mean they are wasting their time, however.

"They go through the program and find success in something they didn't think that they could do," said Hole. "That can make a big impact on them. It transfers over into other areas in their academic pursuits. I have seen students really take off just from that one little success in charcoal portrait drawing or something they didn't ever believe they could have accomplished. Even if it's not going to be their career or their passion, I think the experience itself can be very beneficial."

Art everywhere

From the flash of lighting across David Bowie's face to a somber memorial for fallen soldiers, Logansport High School artists have had plenty of opportunities to beautify the community.

"It's like leaving your mark on the earth," said Pherson, who has helped paint several projects within Logansport schools. "I'm hoping long after I'm gone it's still there. It's just a little piece of myself."

Students will be working on a project at Dykeman Golf course this summer.

"I love community work and I feel with students, especially high school students, it's supper important because in Indiana, rural or small communities—and even the larger ones—it's how do we get kids to stay here instead of moving outside of the town or outside of the state?" Ingalls said. "It makes the students feel connected to their community. They might want to go for an education somewhere else but then they have that point of attachment to come back and make their home better."

Jasmine Zimmerman, a junior, said one of the best things about being in art is becoming part of a community. She said art classes put students in a position where they need to express themselves both in the work and within the classroom.

"I feel like I am so much more involved with the school just by being in one art class," she said.

Zimmerman currently has a painting displayed on Artist Avenue, located on Fifth Street with work attached to the sides of The Gray Mill and Bonus Pints. Zimmerman is also working a sculpture that will eventually be located near Black Dog.

Hill has put his skills to work by making videos and documentaries about Logansport and Logansport High School while also helping with the school's 1 Berry Lane Podcast. He said being a part of the podcast was important to him because he wanted all Logansport students to feel like they belonged and were important to the school's culture.

"It's uplifting, said Ingalls. "I feel students have more care in their projects as well because it's for a public audience."

When the arts go missing

Is there a correlation between the defunding of the arts and the decrease in empathy in society?

Hill is quick to say yes.

"A general human connection is missing," he said. "The arts being defunded is causing people to not have that ability to have an eye-opening experience."

Charlie Griffith is in their first year at Logansport High School. They recalled a student worrying that a project he wanted to do about obesity and fitness might offend people. He eventually decided to tackle racism in sports.

"Showing he really cared about something — I was just so proud," Griffith said.

Griffith said they thought that art gives people a chance to be introspective and that is an important first step to empathy.

"Art really does open your eyes to a brand new world," said Zimmerman. "There's not enough funding for it. I feel like things would be quite different if everyone in the world had that ability to just be in an art room once a day to make something. It opens your eyes. It really does."

A great place for art

Classroom funding is difficult for every teacher. The teachers — and students — would love to have access to digital drawing tablets, a 3-D printer, laptops capable of running Photoshop. This summer, art students will get to work alongside Century Career Centers students on welding projects.

"We've been fortunate because we have had a really good budget in terms of materials that we use—paint, pencils," said Hole. "Our administration, if there is something we desperately need, they are very good at getting it for us."

For Snyder, Logansport already has the most valuable program assets: the teachers.

"I think our art teachers are some of the most qualified in the state," he said. "They all work great with the students. They are all really kind, respectful and they do so much work for us. Mr. Hole, he stays at school until 8 almost every night. He will drive people's artwork to South Bend (for a competition). People think of art as one of the easier subjects but these teachers do so much work it's insane. We are very grateful to have them and our art program would not be as great as it is without them."

Pherson said the teachers helped her both grow as an artist and as a person, saying she is much more confident as she heads to Herron.

For Griffith, the newcomer, they said they couldn't think of a better place to teach art.

"I love it so much," they said. "The program here feels extremely supported and we aren't on our own. It feels like a team. No matter where you work, it makes a really big difference. But when you work doing what you love with a team that also loves the same things you do it makes all the difference in the world."

The Logansport High School art gallery will present a selection of senior art to close out the school year. The gallery will be open to the public from 5:30 until 6:30 p.m. on May 15 as the department hosts their senior reception and scholarship night. Visitors should enter the school via door 5.