While course subjects such as painting, ceramics, chorus and orchestra can stand alone in a category, they are by no means antithetic when it comes to "the arts" as a whole.
To celebrate the visual and performing arts, Fredonia High School combined its annual Spring Concert with the unveiling of the school's most recent mural.
Prior to the concert held Tuesday evening, an art reception took place showcasing work from students and the mural created by 22 students in Brandy Noody's Ceramics-2 art class.
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FHS students perform at spring concert
The class has created a mural in the school for the past few years but this year's mural was different.
"I originally said I'd like something in the chorus room because we have a lot of empty space along the walls and I thought it would be really nice to have something creative and bright to liven up the room," Choral Director for the Fredonia Middle and High Schools April Hartung said, "Because white stark walls are not always very interesting to look at when you come in."
Hartung requested a mural from the Ceramics-2 class and the project began.
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OBSERVER Photos by Michael Rukavina
Top: A small sample of students from Brandy Noody’s Ceramics-2 class who helped construct the “Music Rounds the World” mural which now hangs in the music wing of the Fredonia High School.
Bottom: Boys in the Fredonia High School Madrigals sing “Choral Highlights from Jersey Boys” during the Spring Concert Tuesday.
"We started talking about the murals and decided it would be a nice way to inform the community about the arts in general," Noody said. "We worked together to develop the theme of music around the world."
According to supporting artist Katherine Gullo of Portland, who has worked with the Ceramics-2 class for the past four years on their murals, student were asked to develop three things.
"Students had to, in clay, depict a musical instrument or someone playing an instrument; design and work on a letter while incorporating a musical element within it; and add an ethnic pattern or design in something having to do with music," she said.
"The Ceramics-2 class took it upon themselves to go with a theme called "Music Rounds the World" with the idea that art and music have to work hand-in-hand in order to create," Hartung added. "Many artists have been inspired by music and musicians have been inspired by art so we thought it would be a cool collaborative between the two art forms."
Throughout the year, Noody said, students collaborated together to come up with the themes for the tiles, and they produced a coloring book which was distributed before the concert and meant to inform the community about the arts. Each student that was in the ceramics class made a page in the coloring book that represented one of the tiles they created.
The mural hangs in the music hallway to showcase the bond between music and the visual arts.
Following the art reception, the collaborative effort continued. To transcend from clay to the stage, the Spring Concert focused its song choices to encompass a global variety.
"All of us have taken different types of songs, whether they be Pop or Broadway or African pieces or classical pieces, they all encompass the different types of music that we would have heard throughout time; and in doing so it collaborates with the art project and the idea of being around the world," Hartung said. "This was different and new this year but we're hoping in the future to keep working together and collaborating more."
Concert performances included the Jazz Ensemble, directed by Andrew Bennett; Madrigals, conducted by April Hartung; the String Orchestra, conducted by Colleen Vanderzyden; the Symphonic Band, conducted by Andrew Bennett; and the Fredonia High School Chorus, directed by April Hartung. The next event featuring Fredonia music students will be held on Saturday, June 4 at the CCMTA All-County Spring Festival at the Chautauqua Institution at 7:30 p.m.
Students who participated in the art project included: Colby Adamowicz, Aarika Ayrault, Victoria Banach, Samantha Colston, Joshua Foster, Michael Fridmann, Alyssa Goot, Jamie Horch, Sebastian Jimenez, Shannon Lee, Jordyn Mancuso, Alexandra Mason, Savannah Payne, Matthew Plaister, Brandon Renckens, Elizabeth Sawka, Mackenzie Sheldon, Rachael Smith, Jonathan Topczij, Mariah Wojciechowski, Erin Yelich and Mackenzie Schanzlin.
To see video from the spring concert please visit www.observertoday.com
Comments on this article may be sent to mrukavina@observertoday.com
