Harwood’s virtual art show overcomes COVID-19 challenge
March 4, 2022 | By Erika Nichols-Frazer | The Valley Reporter
The 10-minute slideshow of the virtual Harwood Semester One Art Show features dozens of images of student art work including photography, graphic design, crafts, drawings and paintings. Click the images to enlarge and see the student credits. Screenshots.
For the past 25 years or so, community members have attended student art shows at Harwood Union High School at the end of each semester.
Poster by Conner Hebert
Family members and friends got to see what their students had been working on and students got to share their work with the community. COVID-19 changed that.
After nearly two years without in-person student art shows, Harwood’s art department did what artists do – it got creative. Work across a variety of media that students did in fall semester art classes was assembled into a 10-minute slideshow. The department then created a QR code that can be scanned to see the video.
“We as a department talked about the best way to get student artwork into the community,” Harwood arts teacher Nathaniel Furlong said. “A QR code seemed like the best option at this point.”
The images include photography, digital art, ceramics, paintings and drawings from students taking art classes at Harwood. More than 150 students shared their work in the digital art show.
Department Chair Wendy Rand said that while live shows are amazing, “this way it’s out in the community” and people can see student artwork. Furlong added that students are excited about being able to share their work with family and friends out of state.
“Art is so important right now,” said Furlong, who teaches graphic design, photography and digital arts at Harwood. “It’s a way to step away from COVID and find something creative.”
Krista Verriotto teaches Art I, Art II and individualized art at Harwood. “Having a hands-on class is really helpful” for students, she said.
Scan this code with your phone to see the slideshow.
Last semester, her students worked on creating personal logos, some of which can be found in the show, drawing paper sculptures, color theory, surrealist eye projects, block printing and more. While her courses remained similar during the pandemic, the way the school is sharing art with the whole community has changed.
Furlong’s digital arts students took easily to the new art-show format. “It’s pretty natural for them,” he said. All art students at Harwood now use digital portfolios to document their work, so they were familiar with the process.
Rand, who teaches ceramics, said, “It’s definitely a challenge to take good photos,” though it’s something she encourages her students to do regularly.
Furlong added that the digital art show will be available forever, so students can look back on their or their friends’ work for years to come.
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With COVID restrictions easing now, the art department hopes to return to an in-person show for the students in the spring art classes.
This story was originally published in The Valley Reporter.