Painting Happiness Around Riverbend
As adolescents begin to expand their interests throughout high school, it is essential for school to be a place that creates opportunities to bring students with similar passions together. This provides these students with an environment where they can bond with their classmates over shared interests and build strong and long-lasting friendships.
This is precisely what the art club at Riverbend High School has set out to do, as it has opened an environment to any and all students at Riverbend who are interested in art, despite their level of artistic experience or talent. The art club allows art-driven students to collaborate and share their art as part of a cooperative, art-loving school community.
Three-year art club member Sofia Alfaro explained that the art club is open to more than just students who currently take art or have taken an art class in the past. The only requirement for the club this year is an interest in art. During the club meetings, you don't have to create anything outstanding. It's simply a place to have fun, build friendships with those around you, and put whatever you desire onto paper.
The club typically meets weekly, and each meeting begins with an exercise to bring the artistic vibe to life in the room. The exercise displays a prompt on the board for each student to follow. Alfaro gave an example, "They will give a random prompt such as draw some sort of creature wearing a hat." Alfaro continued, saying, "It's something fun to get your mind flowing and thinking."
Once everyone completes the prompt and is in the artistic spirit, the day's main activity begins. The activity can range from creative drawing challenges to watercolor to decorating holiday cards. For example, a particularly fun activity during one club meeting consisted of each table receiving a card listing two items, and each student could draw a picture with their own rendition of one of the items.
Although there are guided activities, the students can also work freely on other art-related projects. For example, sometimes students use this time to work on art from their art class. Alfaro described a time when she and a friend used the time to draw a portrait from a photo Alfaro had taken. They then got the other club members to judge the drawings. Alfaro recalled the memory fondly, saying, "It was funny!"
Alfaro enjoys the club's vibe: "It's pretty chill, and pretty calm. You can kinda do your own thing if you want to… You're open to do whatever you want, as long as it's related to art."
Overall, everything done at each club meeting is purely for fun, but if students make something they are particularly proud of, they can submit their artwork to be featured around the school or on the Riverbend Art Club social media accounts.
This club has positively impacted the Riverbend community, providing a place for art-passionate students to spend time, grow friendships, and bond with each other.
