Artist-in-Residence Program Boosts Greenwood Curriculum

BY SCOTT CAMPBELL

The austere hallways of Greenwood High School are gradually beginning to acquire a more lively and polychromatic appearance. Displayed throughout the building are murals, produced in recent years by students under the direction of secondary art instructor Jill Deimler and a series of visiting professional artists.

Through its Arts in Education division, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) administers the Artist-in-Residence program from which Greenwood has benefitted. For such purpose, it makes available to interested school districts a list of approved practitioners.

In Greenwood’s neck of the woods, the program is managed by the Perry County Council of the Arts (PCCA). It is dubbed ArtFlow, deriving its title from the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers that cut through the affected territory. A comprehensive arts-in-education service, it incorporates 13 school districts in Juniata, Mifflin, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder and Union Counties.

“We’re proud of the program,” says PCCA Executive Director Roger Smith. “It wouldn’t be possible without the support that we receive from the Council on the Arts in Harrisburg. They expect a lot from us, and we expect that the kids get a lot from the program.”

Such residencies, which range from 10 to 180 days, include experiences in both visual and performing arts for elementary and secondary students. ArtFlow grants cover up to 50 percent of residency costs and are matched by the host districts.

“We’ve had an artist-in-residence for four of the last five years,” says Deimler. “For the last two, the First National Bank of Liverpool provided additional support through the Education Improvement Tax Credit program.”

“Not only do the artists assist and direct the students in the creation of permanent art works, but they also provide career insights,” says Deimler. “The students benefit in many ways by working with a professional.”

Greenwood’s latest visiting artist was painter Earl Lehman, who concluded his 10-day tenure at the Millerstown school on May 14. Lehman supervised the production of four murals. At the date of his departure, they had yet to be completed. Deimler continued instruction in his absence, and the finished pieces were installed over summer vacation by the District’s maintenance staff. “We tried working with classes that met only every other day this year,” explains Lehman, “but there simply were not enough contact hours to finish the job while I was there.”

Lehman is not atypical of the artists in the PCA program. He is an accomplished professional and boasts 21 years of experience as an instructor at all levels, from elementary to adult. The Jessup resident graduated magna cum laude from Kutztown University in 1978.

“Painting is fun,” he declares. “And it is challenging, frustrating, rewarding, engaging and stimulating. It is a demanding intellectual activity not understood by most people unfamiliar with the complex underlying nuance and calculation beneath the surface presence.”

Lehman quips that he is “bi-lingual,” at ease with both representational and non-representational styles. At Greenwood, his students worked in the former, laboring on thematic compositions that were dominated by organic subjects. He constructed the surfaces on which they painted, using plywood and 1’’ by 2’’ boards on the back for reinforcement and mounting.

The murals project fit well into Deimler’s elective painting unit, which consists of students from grades nine through 12. Lehman helped the members of the class decide on the content and composition of each mural. Photographs and actual forms were made available for references as the students began to draw and paint. Acrylic was the medium, applied with a variety of brushes.

Although the imagery is representational, strong brush strokes are clearly evident throughout each mural. This is due, in no small part, to Lehman’s own style. The students had several opportunities to observe their mentor while he deftly produced several landscapes as instructional exercises.

There was an effort to correlate subject matter to the final location of each mural; for example, musical instruments on one that is installed near the high school music department.

Lehman moves among the students as they work. He plies them with questions. “Does it work? Is it interesting? What about the negative space? Think about what you could drop in there, if anything.”

Sophomore Katrina Dice works on the panel with a music motif. She hovers inches above the surface, and speaks while carefully painting. “You could select what mural you wanted to work on. I liked the subject of this one, more than the others.”

Four years into Greenwood’s elective art program, senior Rob Jones is spending his last few weeks in Deimler’s room. Surrounded by others, each at work on a particular portion of a mural with an agrarian theme, Jones labors intently on a stylized pink pig. “You start on part of the mural, and you finish that part,” he says. “It’s yours. No one else works on it.”

At the end of this session, which is  Lehman’s last with the group, the larger murals are stood up against a wall. Lehman offers his opinions. He discusses colors, shapes and gives suggestions for future consideration. He also commends the strong points.

This was Lehman’s second consecutive residency at Greenwood. In previous ones, also 10 days in duration, Judeth Pekala Hawkins directed projects that included a mural painted directly on one of the school’s hallway walls (2006), and fabric banners that are suspended from the cafeteria ceiling (2007). In 2005, David Woods supervised the installation of an ambitious mosaic tile mural between entrances to the cafeteria.

The experience will continue for Greenwood’s students. In June, the District approved a residency for the 2010-11 school term. HBG