T&D Correspondent

ST. MATTHEWS -- On a wall near her desk, Julia Fanning, Calhoun County High School media specialist, displays a framed copy of the school's mission statement, which reads: "The mission of Calhoun County High School is to ensure all students achieve their maximum potential by providing challenging, innovative and educational experiences in a positive learning environment in partnership with home and community."

On Oct. 22, Fanning helped demonstrate that the statement is producing positive results when the school held a private viewing and reception for its art students and their parents, district office personnel and school board members.

Fanning and Tiffany Spencer, Calhoun County High art teacher, wanted to honor the students and give them exposure for "the exemplary work completed under the direction of artist-in-residence Russ Petty." Petty, who resides in Pinehill, N.C., specializes in mural painting. He spent one school week with the students, Oct. 8-12, showing them how to paint on furniture using various brush strokes and techniques that work on three-dimensional media.

"I thought it would be difficult at first," said Brittany Riley, a senior who worked on one of eight tabletops. "But after I learned the technique, it wasn't. It was both challenging and fun to paint furniture, and I enjoyed the experience of doing something different."

Riley and classmate Harley Venable worked together to recreate "Stewart's Farm," one of the works of South Carolina Gullah artist Jonathan Green. Other students selected the works of artists such as Picasso and Monet for their chairs, Spencer said.

"Students from every level of my art classes worked on this project. We had help from the shop department with the sanding and priming before Mr. Petty arrived," she said.

After the tables were painted, sealer was applied. Then another department furnished glass for the tabletops, Spencer said.

One tabletop replica of Jonathan Green's "Forgotten Swing" shows the vivid colors that distinguish many of his works.

"The project was very creative and helped me to explore the different ways to draw," said sophomore Joshua Phillips. "It expanded the imagination."

Fanning said the idea "sprang from a desire to make the environment more esthetically appealing."

"Two years from now, we plan to be in the new media center after renovations," she said. "I wanted more light and color -- something to attract them (the students) to the media center and give them ownership in their learning environment."

The project was funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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T&D Correspondent Gloria Smitherman can be reached by e-mail at gjsmitherman@aol.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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