Every year, for the past eight years, Bob Zabrosky has come and visited Eric Hoover’s art classes to help the students learn new techniques. This year during his 20 days here, he is helping the classes with working on a mural for Hoover’s classroom.
“I helped out with some things. Hoover and I worked together to engineer what we wanted to represent. I was more of a technical adviser,” Zabronsky said.
Hoover’s ceramics classes all drew an idea of what they would like to see as the background and a group of people decided which one was being used.
“We used the scream by Edvard Munchin as the subject matter,” Hoover said. “We had each student in the Ceramics classes to come up with their own twist on scream. So what you see on the table is a mix of the one that was chosen.”
Junior Elle Dalby’s idea was the one that was chosen. She came up with the imagery of it being “don’t cry over spilt milk.”
“She chose the creation of man and used the scream and used don’t cry over spilt milk on why the guy was screaming, which was kind of a play on words,” Hoover said.
Dalby came up with this idea because she wanted an event that would cause the expression on his face, which led to Dalby and her sister, Brooke, thinking of “don’t cry over spilt milk.”
“I asked my family for help coming up with ideas for the sketch,” Dalby said. “I asked them to think of an event that would cause the expression shown on the main subject of the artwork and my sister Brooke replied ‘spilled milk,’ in reference to the saying don’t cry over spilt milk and I thought that would be funny.”
Dalby’s family liked the idea of incorporating another classical art piece into the mural also when deciding on what to design.
“We also thought it would be cool to add in a reference to another classical art piece so I put in the hands from Michelanelgo’s Creation of Adam,” Dalby said.
Hoover’s community service worker, senior Samantha Young, had cut out 80 slabs of clay that the mural is going on.
“I cut out the big slab pieces,” Young said. “So the scream, the hands, the milk carton, the people, all of that I rolled out the slabs and traced and cut them out. I put things on it. I smoothed out all 80 of the tiles.”
Zabrosky wanted to leave it up to the students to work on it and only stepped in to help when needed. He was hoping for it to be a learning experience for them.
“I am a firm believer that when you come into schools you develop kids’ art. I could come in and do this all myself and it would look great, but that’s not what it’s about,” Zabrosky said. “It’s about the students and what they are capable of.”
Several students in Hoover’s classes have been helping with creating the mural.
“It’s been a lot of literal heavy lifting because the clay is really heavy,” Young said. “It’s been very tedious to keep it from drying out. It’s been going really fast and we’ve had a lot of people really putting in a lot of effort into it, which is nice.”
Students got to choose if they wanted to help with creating the design or the tiles, if they chose to work on it.
“Some [students] will work on creating the design, while others will just make the tiles. Everybody sort of got involved in some type of way, no matter what it is,” Zabroksy said.
Dalby stays extra time to help with working on the design, in hopes of it turning out to be what she drew.
“I created the sketch, sculpted the main figure on the mural, and have been working on sculpting other parts and smoothing it out,” Dalby said. “My favorite part of creating the mural is seeing ideas I came up with be made into something like this. Thanks to everyone who has worked on it, it is looking really cool.”
Hoover offered all of his ceramics students the opportunity to work on it, but could focus on their assigned projects if they would rather to.
“I offered every kid that I have the opportunity to work on it, but quite a few people didn’t want anything to do with it. Some people did want to work. It was up to them who wanted to work on it,” Hoover said.
The students who are working on it have added different layers to the mural to add definition and an effect to it.
“I would say it’s coming out even better than I expected,” Dalby said. “The definition that we’ve added by raising some areas and carving out others creates a nice effect. I guess that there are many other ways that it could have gone, but so far I’m very happy with this one.
While Zabrosky will not get to see the mural being finished, he still shares his excitement to see it on his next visit to Altoona.
“I don’t get to see it because the students will be painting it. My favorite part will be when it’s up on the wall. That’s when it’s done,” Zabrosky said.
This project was funded through the Altoona Area School District Educator in Residence program. Many other projects were funded throughout the district including bringing in photographers to work with journalism students.
The objective of this residency is to continue with the mindfulness initiative. Mrs. Green will share her knowledge of the relationship between body, mind, breath and movement allowing students an alternative way to respond to conditions of 21st century living. Mindfulness has mental component and a physical component. Mindfulness allows for the understanding that the body and mind are connected and that by changing focus and thoughts, emotions and well-being can shift. In 2019, the AASD Foundation provided a grant to fund the creation of a room where students could practice mindfulness. This educator-in-residence builds on that initial grant. Tanya Lucas has completed a Master’s Certificate in Applied Mindfulness and is the lead teacher for training students in mental mindfulness. Sharon Green brings the physical component to the program. The request to continue this residency is due to the positive reaction from the students and teachers who participated in this residency over the past six semesters. Over 400 students are able to attend a session with Mrs. Green during each residency. Over 2400 students have been provided a foundation in mindfulness as result of past residencies. In person visits will include the following students: Health, Autistic Support, Emotional Support, Project SOAR, Special Education, Freshman Seminar, Biomedical Innovations and school counselor focus groups. Length of residency is eight days and creation of two (2) 10-15-minute videos.
Presenter Cyde Peeling’s Reptiland to present their Biodiversity program to all biology classes for a one-day event in the spring (April – May). Reptiland’s wildlife programs provide natural history presentation for schools, while involving live animals. The program on Biodiversity would be presented in three (3) back-to-back sessions during the Ecology Unit which would directly apply to the content. Each program is 60 minutes with Q & A. This program would affect approximately 600 students across 25-28 sections of biology classes between the eight (8) AAHS biology teachers. Students will complete a formative assessment on the topic of Biodiversity such as a Collin’s Type 3 Writing or a Google slideshow mini-project. Funds will be used for cost of program, mileage and lunch for presenter.
The overall objective of the Friends of Rachel closet renovation is to help create a school climate where all students feel accepted and valued. AAHS students along with artist Deb Bunnell will create a mural that encapsulates the essence of Rachel Scott and the Friends of Rachel Club. By creating the mural, art students will learn how to take ideas to formulate them into a finished project that helps to create a warm and welcoming place for students. Mrs. Bunnell will work alongside the Art for Public Places students to design, sketch and paint the mural. The entire school will benefit from this project. SAMA will cover 1:1 of the artist fees ($3,750). In addition to half of the artist cost ($3,750) grant funds will be used for a 10% Admin fee ($750) and material costs ($1,000). Project would begin late October and run through November.
Bob Zabrowsky, ceramics artist for the Southern Alleghanies Museum of Art. Bob will work with Ceramics 1, Ceramics 2 and the Sculpture class on the potter’s wheel as well as hand building a multitude of ceramics projects He will complete the tile backsplashes that were started last year with Life skills classes. SAMA matches funding for the residencies with the exclusion of materials cost for a twenty-day residency. SAMA will pay $2,500; Request is for $2,500 + $500 Administrative fee + $500 for materials ($3,500). Artist would begin early April 2024.
Ben Blackie, Chuck Myers and Tim Boyles local photographers will work with journalism students on the basics of photography. Objectives of residency is for students to move beyond the basics of photography and become more familiar with their available equipment as well as techniques for shooting events. Students are familiar with the principles of photography but struggle to put them into practice in the field. Students will review camera basics, use classroom cameras in manual mode, learn to use camera accessories, practice advanced photography techniques and edit photos. Budget includes: $1500 – Stipends ($100/visit) for each photographer; $1000 two Rebel camera packages for use with students; $500 to purchase lenses and equipment recommended by
photographers. If funding is not available for equipment, students will use current equipment and continue to fundraise for the purchase of equipment at a later time.
