Student art adds color to Macon Middle
For the first time in nearly a decade, students at Macon Middle School are back in the art room.
When the program was cut in 2012, fellow educators and community supporters formed “ARTS for MCS,” a movement dedicated to the preservation of visual and fine arts education. The group attended monthly school board meetings, urging officials to recognize the value of arts in schools and to push for funding. This year, their efforts to restore art in the lives of students are one step closer to fruition.
Among the collective effort to save the school’s program is Chris Bell, local artist and former history teacher at MMS. For four years, Bell taught social studies and after-school art out of the same classroom. By providing extracurricular opportunities for students to experience art, the momentum to revive the program was at an all-time high. But when COVID-19 hit, the attention and funding was shifted elsewhere, and the after-school program came to a halt. Bell remained an advocate for a dedicated art class, and late last year, the opportunity to rebuild the program arose from COVID relief funding.
“I jumped at the chance, because for the first time what I really wanted to do aligned with my ‘day job.’ Even though I was a history teacher, I always considered myself an artist who just happened to teach,” he said with a laugh.
After eight years in the classroom, Bell returned to the very art room he sat in as a student. While the future of the program is unknown, he believes it is the first step in the right direction.
“Having art in school isn’t just for the kids who are the artists of the group,” said Bell. “A lot of people find fulfillment in it. There are some really important developmental aspects associated with it, especially at this age level. Some kids have a hard time coming to school, I didn’t even want to come to school, but art was something I could look forward to and I know that’s the case for a lot of the kids. They may not like a single class, or they may not be good at any other subject right now, but some of them just love to do art.”
In the program’s first semester, Bell’s classes have showcased multiple projects, involving different mediums, styles, and subjects. All assignments adhere to the North Carolina standards for art education and emphasize not only visual and fine art, but real-world problem-solving skills, new vocabulary and exploration of career opportunities in creative fields. Collaboration with other classes, like STEM, teach students the value of teamwork. The lessons from these multifaceted projects can easily be applied in other classes.
“It’s not always about the kids that want to go on to be artists like I did,” said Bell. “There are the students interested in architecture, set design, graphic design, all sorts of things they can do with what they learn in art class. If they want to take advanced classes at the high school level, I believe they need to explore art during middle school.”
Projects have ranged from paper mache masks to origami modeled from the architectural design of the Epcot center, and learning to tame oil pastels, a notably quirky medium. Bell also incorporates assignments that allow for more creative liberties, like his abandoned car project. Inspired by the ability to see beauty in the desolate, students were tasked with drawing abandoned cars and writing an accompanying story about how it got there.
“One of the real success stories this semester was a colored pencil pop art project,” said Bell. “I brought in Halloween candy and asked the kids to photograph their selections. This touched on a little bit of product photography, which is a valuable skill that any business or advertising agency would look for. Then they had to draw it, paying attention to details like fonts and colors. They really knocked it out of the park.”
Another favorite project is the ongoing series of murals within the school. Students have helped with the large-scale paintings across campus, while actively playing a part in beautifying the school. Bell says he enjoys this project because of the positive reception from his classes.
“It was really cool to see them make the school their own and make it more colorful,” he said. “They’ve all been so precise, because they care about it looking good.”
Bell has begun planning for the future of the art program, but once the COVID relief funding runs out, the position is at risk to be cut again. Opportunities for the program to be funded by the county do exist but rely on interest and continued support from the community, administration, and students. Bell says he chose to start the program this year because it would be harder to deny it again in the future once momentum for the cause has picked back up.
“I have no regrets taking the position. It’s been so fulfilling and much needed,” he said. “I would like to keep the momentum going through the positive work we are doing in the kids’ lives. It’s a burden we share as a county, and a priority for our children to have exposure to visual art.”
