By Rukhshona Islamova |LHS News|
The Earth without art is just eh.
So Lincoln High students are going to try to liven up the Earth with their art. They’ll be doing that at Constellation Studios, an art studio located at S 21st and O Street.
The building is adorned with a mural on its side and soon that mural will feature artwork from Lincoln High’s, very own artists. During second semester Art teacher Michelle Clifford’s Painting 2 class will be working around the central theme of “memory.” Each student will come up with ideas and paintings individually and then near the beginning of March they will brainstorm their ideas to come up with a collective piece/design to which everyone can contribute.
So far the class has 10 students and will be held during eighth period. Having the class at the end of the day is going to be much to their advantage, because then they can go to the mural with all of their supplies and finish the day out there, Clifford said.
Clifford reached out to Karen Kunc, the director and founder of Constellation Studios, about Lincoln High using the small parenthesis of space on the mural that is open to other artists. Kunc was a professor of Clifford’s at UNL, so they had previously known each other, and Kunc was very willing and excited about the idea.
“She said yes immediately and has been a big help already in giving me suggestions,” Clifford said of Kunc. To help pay for a project this large, Clifford started a Fund-A-Need on December 7th hoping to raise $300.
“Currently the mural supplies are 58% funded, which means $200 has come in already!” Clifford said. Most of the donations are from other Lincoln High employees and LPS art teachers. Clifford’s goal was determined after she placed online orders of the paints she wanted and added up the total. The amount of money they end up collecting after three months, will determine how much paint and other supplies are purchased.
Clifford wanted to make her painting class special with the help of this project.
“I wanted to do something “big” with my students,” she said. “I think advanced art classes, which are typically smaller and have people who really love art, are a great place to do those cool things like field trips, art shows, community projects, etc.”
You can donate to the Fund-A-Need at https://foundationgive.com/campaigns/5061/lhs-mural-painting-at-constellation-studios
