The senior class at Gibbons has had its fair share of shake-ups. A tumultuous four years full of online learning, the green and gold split, and numerous cancellations in the art department but now it seems like the Gibbons they were promised in 2019 is finally coming to pass. Senior Editor, Honora Quinn sat down with four of her classmates to discuss this topic, the following is transcribed from a recording taken on October 15th, 2022 originally as a group interview, however, the recording has been seperated to focus on the visual arts at Gibbons.

Preliminary:

Honora Quinn: How long have you been in the art department, and what program you’re representing here?

Luciana Kraus:  I’ve been in the art department for four years, and I’m representing the visual arts department.

HQ: Question 1: What teacher has had the most impact on you?

LK: 100% Miss Dason, I didn’t have her for my Art One or Two classes, but I had her for both of my APs that I’m taking this year and last year. And coming out of COVID, it was amazing to have like an actual AP, and an actual teacher there to like, give us assignments and really get to know us. So she was my first teacher in art, who I actually had a really good connection with.

HQ: Question 2: Upcoming Events: What are you most looking forward to? 

LK: I’m definitely really excited for the AP art exhibit this year, we had one last year as well. But the number of AP art students was a lot lower. So I’m really excited to see all the different, like art pieces that people come up with over the years, and have it like on display for all the parents and teachers and students to see.

HQ: Question 3: Why should students join the Arts at Gibbons? Especially if they didn’t as freshmen.

LK: My reason for why you should join the arts is that you can have a better opportunity later on in your academic years to go to those classes, like the APs that you can only take if you have taken one or two lower classes. So use them to get a step ahead to be able to take more, in my opinion, more fun classes. So, you know, most people take like, photography, or, you know, Intro to clay in like their later years, but they don’t really get that full art experience with like all of the classes,

HQ: Question 4: How has COVID affected your experience with the arts especially now that things are getting back to normal?

LK: Freshman year, like the second half of the art was absolutely terrible as well. But for kind of different reasons, it was, you didn’t really get a connection with your teacher, because you’d only seen the students and the teacher for like half a year. And then all of the assignments you didn’t really know you were doing. We had zoom classes, and we log on and had to just sit there and paint and it felt more like an assignment versus actually creating art, like for the fun of it. And then sophomore year, it was very rough, we had like two different assignments, one we did at home, and then one we did at school. And it just did not work. It was very hard to like actually want to put effort into the pieces of art you were making. And I found that most of the pieces, like in the class of people I’ve talked to who had taken that class, were just really not happy with what they made. But now like we have the normal year, it’s absolutely amazing. I have great connections, the teachers, with the students as well. And you get to like see everyone else’s projects and really like, see how everyone else is growing in their art or like across the year. And so it’s been a lot better actually being in the classroom.

HQ: Question 5: What advice would you give to your freshman self or freshmen starting out in the arts?

LK: As talking strictly to the people coming into the school who haven’t signed up for any of their classes. Please if you’re thinking about taking an art, any kind of art not just like visual art, but take it anyway/ From the people I’ve talked to who decided against taking art because they were like, ‘oh, you know, I don’t really draw or, Oh, I’m not really that into dancing or whatever’ you do. They don’t really get to experience it at all. Because if you don’t go in your first year, you probably don’t really go in your second year and by then it’s junior year and If you’re taking, you know, one of the intro classes and you don’t get that experience, so if you hate it, you can leave, you can go and take PE. But don’t not take it because you’re worried about, you know, not being up to the level of some of the other students or not taking it because you don’t want to have to take the PE independent study, it’s literally nothing. Don’t make that the reason why you’re not taking art. It’s not smart.

HQ: Question 6: What former students/upperclassmen had a big impact on you as an underclassman?

LK: So for me I don’t actually have a senior graduated person in the art, like visual arts programs that I looked up to it’s very difficult to find those connections because in the art one class and in the art two classes, you are with people of your same grade, but I did have Sean Kozak, who was from the theater department and he and my brother were very close friends and so that’s how I got to know him. And just every time he would or I would show up to one of the shows or every time he saw me in the hallway always made sure to like you know wave and like actually acknowledge my existence which I like as a freshman and as a sophomore like you really value that because you know you’re being seen you’re not just you know, walking down the hallway as like the little freshmen. So to me, that was very important and I’m still kind of in contact with him after he’s graduated. So that’s really sweet.

HQ: Final Question: What will you miss most about the Gibbon’s Art Department?

LK: Most of I think the thing I’m gonna miss the most is definitely my teachers because yes, having connections in the art program is super important, especially when you’re doing like critiques and you have, people you can count on to give you, you know, a good idea or recommendation on your art piece. Like that’s really important and strong. But I feel like having the connection, specifically that I have with Mrs. Dayson is going to be the most important to me to try to, like, continue to have because she’s been my mentor, she’s really helped me through college, you know, applications, and I’ve spoken to her about what schools I should go to, and if I should consider going to an art school, or if I should consider going to the taking a BFA or going for my Masters, and she’s really been there to like, help me along, so I think I’m going to miss her the most. Yeah, she was just such an important person in the art program.

This Concludes the Senior Spotlight on The Arts: Visual Arts Interview,

The subjects of which would like to personally thank their teachers, friends, family, and the Gibbons community for getting them all here to this point.