Artist Visit: Inspiration to Create
Sophomore Josephine Thrasher (left) and senior Jane Vereen (right) sit in the Media Center during the Jason Thrasher Artist Visit on Feb. 21. Josephine was glad she and her classmates were able to learn about his career. “I think it was good for people to hear what my dad does because whenever people ask what he does, I just say he's a photographer, (but) they don't really know the whole story,” Josephine said. Photo by Isabella Duncan
Established in the Spring of the 2021-2022 school year, the CCHS Media Center and fine arts department came together to conduct Artist Visits in hopes of inspiring creativity in students.
With the success of Artists Visit in the past two years, Media Specialist Angela Pendley and fine arts department teacher Amanda Price will continue to conduct similar events throughout the current school year.
Pendley and Price aim to bring a variety of artists into the building to show students different ways they can implement creativity into their everyday lives.
“Spring (of 2022) was when Ms. Price and I really started talking about what it would mean to have artists come into the school to speak to art students or students who are interested in art,” Pendley said. “And so really kind of just shifting (making a living as a writer) to, ‘How does a (person) make a living as an artist and if they're not a full-time artist, how do they work that into their lives and to talk about their work and life as an artist?’”
CCHS sophomore Josephine Thrasher has attended two artist visits in the past year including her father's visit, Jason Thrashers, and believes they are important for students at CCHS.
“Clarke Central offers art classes and photography classes, but a lot of people don't actually know what they do or what they teach you. Seeing someone that can be a role model and show you what you could be doing is really inspiring and pushes people to actually want to take those classes,” Thrasher said.
Above: COMFORT: Clarke Central High School Media Center Specialist Angela Pendly attends Jasons Thrasher's Artist Visit on Feb. 21 in the CCHS Media Center. Pendly has collaborated with colleagues for the past two years to provide students access to professional artists in hopes of inspiring the youth. “(Creativity and art) were things that brought me comfort during my teen years,” Pendly said. “I think like there's such an onslaught of social media and all of the things that today's teenagers are dealing with that I think just being able to sit and talk about creating and then fill your brain with all those ideas for you guys to turn around and figure out what to do with those ideas, I think is important.” Photo by Isabella Duncan
Pendley hopes the voices of professional artists can inspire creative students at CCHS.
“Typically creative fields are oftentimes, ‘Don't go into that, you'll never make a living.’ (or) ‘That's fine for a hobby, but you're never going to do that professionally.’ But there are so many people out there who do it professionally,” Pendley said. “I think those are (the) voices that our students need to hear, not just the naysayers of, ‘This might be your dream, but you can't make it happen.’” Pendley said.
Story by Olivia Hendershot
Olivia Hendershot is a junior at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the iliad literary-art magazine. Hendershot hopes to expand iliads outreach as well as make positive improvements to the program. In her free time, she likes listening to music, sketching/painting and hanging out with friends.