By Mariella Bishop
Over the course of the school year, members of the Lovett Art Club and other students transformed a simple slab of wood into a large-scale print block that reflects details and symbols meaningful to dozens of contributors.
The project focuses on the theme Artificial vs Natural, which pushed students to explore the relation between human-made things and the organic world. Every part of the design is original; it was created through a shared process in which ideas were sketched, combined, and polished over time.
“We kind of have this collaborative drawing space, so we all just put our ideas there,” junior Maya Hawkins said.
Another key leader on the project was junior Allison Cain, who said she and Maya “worked together to merge it into one composition and we added a couple extra things, like these little flowers or leaves or whatever to sort of blend it all together.” But she pointed out that they “had a bunch of people contribute.”
Although the project began back in August, the final stages brought a lot of pressure. The club was given a tight deadline of April 11th, just one more week to complete the carving and preparation of a piece they had been working on for months.
According to printmaking teacher Ms. Reynoso, she asked the art club if they’d want to take on this time-consuming project, and they said yes.
“All the other participants were either college groups who had done a ton of printmaking…or they were upper division students or even professional artists,” Ms. Reynoso said. Not only were they the youngest and the least experienced group, but their image was as strong as anybody else’s. So much so that you wouldn’t know it was done by emerging or young artists. “I was definitely very proud of what they were able to accomplish,” she said.
Allison said they started at the beginning of the year with designs. “And then we printed this out. We printed that out last week. It was around Monday last week. Then we had to transfer it onto here,” she said, pointing to the wood. “Then we had to trace it with Sharpie, and now we have to carve all the white out.”
The process itself was very demanding and time-consuming. After transferring the design into the wood block, students carefully traced every line before filling in the bigger sections with fine-point Sharpies. From there, they began carving away the negative space, making the design stand out so it can be used as a massive print block. It’s just like traditional printmaking, but on a larger scale.
At the center of the piece is a drawing of a skeleton that’s intertwined with both natural and mechanical elements. It’s surrounded by leaves and gears all along the border, all blending together to reflect the project’s theme. The empty space around the skeleton draws the viewer’s attention inward, making it the piece’s central element.
Hidden throughout the design are small “easter eggs” created by the students. Some were intentionally placed by club members, while others were added by contributors who wanted to leave their mark (literally).
“I added little fish here. There’s a smiley face. There’s a feather over there…” Allison said.
The collaboration helped the project feel more like a shared experience, rather than just an assignment.
Starting in August, the Art club members spent most of their free periods and after-school hours in the art room, working on completing this piece. The members were dedicated and determined to finish this project, willing to stay late to get the job done.
“I’ve already spent a lot of hours dedicated to this because we’re getting to it a lot later than we were supposed to. I stayed for an hour after school two days ago. I’ve been spending all my free periods here,” Allison said.
Maya was similarly dedicated. “Last week, we spent two hours just trying to do the layer where we can’t do the drawing here,” she said.
Ms. Reynoso celebrated all their hard work and collaborative spirit.
“So everybody submitted drawings to them,” she said, “and then Allison, I think, and I don’t know if she had help with anybody else, but she kind of incorporated everybody’s ideas into the composition of the block. I’m totally proud that they were able to do that and put together such a strong image, but also how they worked together every day just to get it done.”
She also said how amazing it was to see the students’ work displayed at an event full of professionals.
As the print is now complete and the stress has passed, the plans for the final print are to display it in the Upper School.
“We’re going to go ahead and have that kind of mounted or put it on a stretcher so we can have it up in the classroom somewhere or in the building somewhere. And the same thing with the block,” Ms. Reynoso said. “Hopefully, we can put both of them on display.”
Despite the pressure, the students’ dedication really shows in their final product. What started as an empty slab of wood became something way more meaningful to the students. It’s a reflection of creativity and teamwork. And given the theme, it’s very much a reflection of what’s natural and human.
