education Students learn basics of art, enter various competitions

By Carol Rolf

Photo by Carol Rolf / Contributing Photographer

Jamie Schroeder, art instructor at Heber Springs Middle School, watches as sixth-graders Kayla Helms, center, and Orion Hulsey practice lettering their names for their art portfolios. Students rotate into Schroeder’s art class every nine weeks, and making portfolios for their work is their first assignment.

ADVERSTISMENT

RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Students in Jamie Schroeder’s art classes at Heber Springs Middle School not only learn the basic concepts of art, they learn what it’s like to win awards for their artistic creations.

Since Schroeder began teaching art at the middle school three years ago, several of her students have won prizes in local and state competitions. They’ve brought home ribbons from the Greers Ferry Art Show, the Heber Springs Spring Fest and the 2008-2009 Arkansas Northeast Regional K-12 Art Show sponsored by Arkansas Art Educators at Arkansas State University’s Fine Arts Gallery. In the state show, Michael Duncan, who was an eighth-grader at the time, won first place in the eighth-grade division with a charcoal orangutan. Jason Cathey and Zach McArthur, also eighth-graders at the time, won second place and honorable mention, respectively, in the eighth-grade division.

“I encourage my students to enter contests,” Schroeder said. “It gives them confidence. It’s a positive thing.”

Connie Moody, middle school principal, said, “She’s an excellent teacher. Last year, I asked her to bring in some of her own work so the students could see it.”

Schroeder’s classroom is now filled with several of pieces of her art.

“We try to get as many students in art as we can,” Moody said. “We like to give them a touch of everything to see if this might be something they would like.”

Schroeder teaches students in grades six through eight.

“Art is required, although it is an activity class rather than a core subject and is just one semester long rather than year-long,” she explained. “I teach about 110 students each semester.

“I start out by teaching drawing,” said Schroeder, who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in art, kindergarten through 12th grade, from Cameron University in Lawton, Okla. “Drawing is very, very important. I then teach the elements and principals of art, which is the foundation for all art. By then, the students will start looking at artwork and trying to understand why the artists did it this way or that way, or just why they did it at all.”

Schroeder’s specialty is drawing.

“I like charcoal and pastels, too,” she said.“I do some painting as well. I recently became interested in pottery through the Arkansas Arts Center Museum School. I’d like to develop a pottery class here at the middle school.”

Schroeder said she displays her students’ artwork as often as she can.

“When we have parent teacher conferences, I always have artwork displayed throughout the school and a display in my room,” she said.

She said she tries to make art fun, citing one project that students seem to enjoy.

“When we start learning about color theory, I take an old vinyl record and have students design a pattern on one side that shows the mixing of colors,” she said. “I then melt the record and mold it into a vase-like shape. They get really excited about this project.

“Of course, I have to explain what a vinyl record is, since most of them have never seen one,” she said with a laugh.

Schroeder has shown her work at Arkansas State University and in some of the galleries in downtown Heber Springs.

“Since I’ve started teaching, however, I don’t have much time for my own artwork,” she said.

She has also published a book of her work, featuring mostly black and white pieces depicting life in Oklahoma from 1930 to 1960.

“As a child, I became fascinated with black and white photos,” she said. “I was enamored by them. I would just sit and look and look at them. I was used to color photos; the black and white photos were something entirely different.

“I work a lot in black and white,” she said. “I add color when something is particularly meaningful to me. I always start with a black board and subtract, or erase, from it. My work is subtractive rather than additive.”

Schroeder and her husband, Todd, live in Heber Springs with their two sons, Mason, 13 and an eighthgrader at the middle school, and Max, 9, who is a fourth grader at the elementary school.

“Our oldest son is very talented (in art),” she said with a smile. “He doesn’t want me to give him a lot of advice. He’s very confident.” - crolf@arkansasonline.com

River Valley Ozark, Pages 64 on 11/05/2009