Carlisle Area School District

Empowering Every Learner

Youth Art Month Art Exhibit at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center

March 23- April 15th

Many students in our school district have artwork featured in the annual exhibit hosted by the Carlisle Arts Learning Center. This event is part of our celebration of Youth Art Month that takes place annually during the month of March. The show will be up from March 23^rd through April 15^th.  A reception will be held on Thursday, March 23^rd from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm.  The reception is always a festive affair that includes a food, beautiful art, and art activities. We encourage students, families and friends of our artists to visit the show at the CALC Art Gallery on Pomfret Street.  The show will be open during their regular business hours. For more information, please contact your child’s art teacher, or the Art Program Supervisor, Ashley Gogoj at 717-240-6800 X26006 or the Carlisle Arts Learning Center at 717-249-6973.

Bellaire

Julia Maddox

Emma Morrow

Alex Cook

Ramon Cruz

Sophia Over

Susanna Maddox

Hamilton

Mason Carson-

Diego Cadenas-kinder

Violet Knickerbocker

Penelope Steger

Nyla Sands

Rome Simmons

Nuriddin Izat

Sofia Luna

Ayla Delancey

Celina Vicens

Letort

Aria Searfoss

Kairi Wilson

Lucy Milkovich

Henry Malone

Izaac Gould

Angel Parker

 

Crestview:

Shelby Traxler

Cailin Singer

Klea Fahnestock

Mia Riesmeyer

Lillian Gammon

Xander Gillum

Leiara Harker

Sanvi Patel

Dylan Stout

Kevin Alvarado

Julien Fisler

Mooreland

Saida Abubakari

Adrianis Cuevas Mendez

Mery Ingold

Asaiah Mapp

Mason Richmond

 

Mt. Holly

Otto Black

Allie Fisher

Lily Gothard

Noah Heller

Kellie Lisse

Arelianne Mejias-Rentas

Madalynn Moose

Isaiah Short

Alyson Wright

 

North Dickinson

Braxton Clements

Jillian Crum

Mason Deary

Gabriella Fordyce

Jillian Jones

Brynlee Kurtz

Raven Wray

Joseph Parris

Evelyn Evans

Madden Figueroa

Madelynn Myers

Alyson Christine

Alice Neely

Grant Ford

Imran Mehmedovic

Kayla Stambaugh

Shafer Williams

Baylee Yorlets

Wilson Middle School

Addison Lashley

Grace Herin

Cannon Bitting

Addison Lane

Aurora Szabat

Murisa Sejmenovic

Emily Reece

Cannon Bitting

Halen Alwine

Delana Karhnak

Sy’raiah Marshall

Adina Dedic

Lamberton Middle School

Desiree Weaver

Vincent Bratton

Sophie Topper

Annika Rasmussen

Burke DeArmond

Kai Lesman

Carlisle High School

Norah Waleski

Isabella Rose

Blaine Stoner

Molly Best

Lauren Vertuli

Cooper Williams

Piper Podlaski

Maya Reichenbach

Ava Kimmell

Amania Yaya

Elisa Reitman

James Crawford

Iciar Sanchez

Aubrey Mackey

Marissa Stambaugh

Alaina Rodgers

Chloe Saulnier 

Abigail Reisinger 

Elizabeth Gochenauer 

Terrence Steele 

Kolby Hershey 

Baker Sebastian 

Emma Kelley 

Kiley Hacker 

Grace Ware 

Parker Foreman 

Everett Delp 

Asia Williams 

Olesya Shcherbakov 

Aalyiah Conrad 

Jorja Gilbert 

Avery Fitzgerald 

Mackenzie Lilley 

Charlotte Kretzing 

Sophia Adams 

Maddy Kistler 

A’viana Alejandro-Walker  

Macy Barnhart

Emma Kline

Mia Pfister

Emma Clausen

Marin Eater

Shannon Gross

Michael Pierce

Juniper Bates

Dinela Dedic

Brenna Golden

Antonio Govea

Emily Seifert

Mia Snyder

Sebastian Wetzel

Annie Chovanes

Vera-An Nguyen

Megan Oiler

Stella Rea

Katelyn Watson

Andrew Diehl

Santos Gonzalez

Eva Ball

Jay Barker

Emily Leatherman

Nataylia Mabey

Outstanding Visual Arts Community 2022

We are proud to share that the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) recognized the Carlisle Area School District for its outstanding commitment to visual arts education with the endorsement of Outstanding Visual Arts Community 2022. PAEA empowers its members to transform their practices, students, colleagues, and communities to build a strong art education culture and citizenry. This is the 4^th year in a row that the district has received this endorsement!  All districts receiving this endorsement demonstrate the importance of their visual arts programs with:

• Rigorous and Inclusive Programs: Arts programs demonstrate rigor using standards- based curriculum taught at every level by highly qualified and certified arts educators.
• Highly Accessible Programs: Art programs are offered to all students at every level of education with a sustainable budget for the visual arts.
• Highly Visible Programs: Schools and districts identify their programmatic accomplishments, curriculum for all levels, art staff, mission statements, and arts events using their school websites and social media.

Relief Sculpture Mural Collaboration with Carlisle Design & OIP

Relief Sculpture Mural at OIP

The Carlisle Area School District Art Department is proposing to collaborate with OIP and Carlisle Design to create an art installation that would be installed in the waiting area of the rehabilitation area of OIP. Approximately 120 students would be involved in creating ceramic tiles that would be installed on the walls. Carlisle High School’s ceramics teachers, Suzanne Pagel, will be facilitating the project with her students. Students would create round ceramic tiles that vary in size and installed to create movement within the waiting area space. The installation would be made up of at least 120 circular tiles. Below is a picture for reference to show an example of a tile (please note that the tiles will be circular and will have blue, silver, and white rather than just black and white).

Carlisle Students Receive Awards at the Wilson College Exhibit

Students at Carlisle High School were selected to exhibit artwork in the Annual Juried High School Art Exhibition at the Bogigian Gallery at Wilson College. Selected artworks were among only 30 artists from over 150 submitted works of art. Juniper Bates won Best of Show for her oil painting and Clark Neely received 2^nd place for his pen and ink drawing. Bogigian Gallery is located on the second floor of Lortz Hall. Lortz Hall is located on the main road through campus, and situated on the Northwest corner of the Academic Quad. Parking by the Veterinary Education Center. Artwork will be on display from October 26^th through December 2^nd. 

The following students were selected to exhibit their work:

Juniper Bates

Dinela Dedic

Ellajane Henderson

Clark Neely

Vera Nguyen

Sophie Jerev

Victoria Regan

Emily Siefert

Scholastics 144 Art Show

Five Carlisle High School juniors and seniors had artwork selected for the Scholastics 144 Art Show sponsored by Shippensburg University. This exhibition features the finest art work by high school juniors and seniors from counties in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Two dimensional entries are limited to 144 square inches and three-dimensional pieces are limited to 12” x 12” x 12”. Awards in the amount of $1,000.00 are given in this exhibition.  You may see the exhibit at the Kaufman Gallery at Shippensburg University from November 5^th through March 1^st.

The following students exhibited in this show:

Jay Barker

Dinela Dedic

Andrew Diehl

Brenna Golden

Baker Sebastian

Paint the Plow

PennDOT’s Paint the Plow Program began during the 2015-2016 winter season in Cambria County. In the years that followed, the program expanded into other areas of the state. Now PennDOT District 8 has encouraged local high schools in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, and York to participate.  This year Carlisle High School’s National Art Honors Society students painted a plow, which features the bison driving a sled in snowy weather and a broken cell phone sitting in the snow. The plow shares the message “Put down your device in snow and ice!”

NAHS hopes to promote winter driving safety on state roadways. The decorative blades will be visible during winter snow removal on various roadways in the region. You can look out for Carlisle’s snow plow on Rt. 74 in Carlisle! A panel of judges comprised of PennDOT representatives and individuals from the respective county will participate in selecting a “Judges’ Pick” winner. The winning school’s plow will be judged on its creativity and ability to incorporate a winter driving safety message while blending with the year’s safety theme.

Additionally, photos of each painted plow will be posted on a PennDOT statewide online platform, where users will have the opportunity to vote for a “Fan Favorite.” Voting will be open to the public for a designated voting period. Participants are encouraged to look out for a press release announcing details of the voting period.

Empty Bowls

Carlisle High School’s National Art Honor Society (NAHS) is sponsoring their 13th annual Empty Bowls Event. Empty Bowls is an international effort to raise awareness in the fight to end hunger. Empty Bowls has raised millions of dollars for organizations fighting hunger and events take place in many states across the U.S. and many other countries. For our local chapter of NAHS, we donate our proceeds to Carlisle's Project SHARE.

This past fall students in Sculptures & Ceramics classes created ceramic mugs. National Art Honors Society students sold all but one mug at the Homecoming football game and all the proceeds will go to Project SHARE. Additionally, students offered a make-and-take workshop for CASD staff members. Participants created one bowl that they were able to keep and one bowls that was donated to sell.

LMS Creates Carlisle Community Inspired Mural

LMS students & the LMS Builders Club, under the guidance of art teacher, Mr. Gillock, began designing a mural during the 2019-2020 school year. The Builder’s Club decided as a group to create an image collage of everything that represented Carlisle and its community. Unfortunately, due to Covid- 19 the mural was put on hold and was not able to be completed until the 2021-2022 school year. 

At the beginning of the school year, Mr. Gillock established the Art Club that was made up of 8th grade art students.  Students were only able to meet once or twice a week for 30 minutes at a time to complete the mural.  The group was also split into two groups to avoid overcrowding. Each group took turns finishing the drawing of the final design and worked to revised one another’s work. Students then spent the remainder of the year painting each space of the mural.  Each day Mr. Gillock discussed with the club members the importance of communication and effective teamwork to ensure the success of the final product.

Students were able to apply their own painting styles throughout the entire process.  Students were encouraged to communicate as a group so that the design choices were beneficial to the mural as a whole and were agreed upon by the group.  The final mural evolved over three years and now represents various changes and suggestions given by staff and students alike who watched the mural come to life day by day. This has been quite a project, spanning almost three years and approximately 60 hours of work.

The mural is located in the LMS Cafeteria and was inspired by the Carlisle Community which allowed students to learn more about Carlisle’s history. The final mural represents the following symbols that are representative of Carlisle:

1. Sunflowers: Carlisle Sunflower Fields in Meadowbrook Fields.
2. Carlisle Theatre: Historic Building: dedication to the LMS Builder’s Club and Art Club.
3. Ice Cream Cones: intended to represent Massey’s and Leo’s Ice Cream.
4. 1st Army War College Logo: dedication to the importance of the military families who come and go each year as they continue to serve our nation.
5. Fly Fisherman and Brown Trout: represents the famous LeTort Spring Run and fly fishing in Carlisle.
6. Muscle Car: represents the annual car shows in Carlisle.
7. Hamilton Restaurant: building behind the muscle car: famous for their “Hotchee Dogs”.
8. Center of Mural: PA State Line with an altered CASD School Logo to represent Carlisle Borough.  Red star represents Carlisle’s location on the PA state map.
9. Housing Below Logo: represents historic Carlisle Housing District.
10. Plaque at Center Bottom: “Est. 1751” is a reference to the founding date of Carlisle Borough.  
11. Molly Pitcher Statue: reference to the historic figure Molly Pitcher who fought in place of her husband during the Revolutionary War during the battle of Monmouth.
12. Cannon: represents the Revolutionary War and the fighting between both sides. The cannon is strategically facing the side of the Carlisle Courthouse to represent the damage a cannon ball did to the base of the courthouse and one of the pillars during the war.
13. Courthouse: historic building in Carlisle. Damaged during the revolutionary war.
14. American Flag and Fireworks: represent the patriotism of Carlisle Community and its military families.
15. 2nd Army War College Logo: another dedication to the importance of the military families who come and go each year as they continue to serve our nation.
16. Farmer: represents Dickinson College’s agricultural program.
17. Graduation Cap, Diploma, Adirondack Chair: representative of Dickenson College.
18. “Champions”, Trophy, and Basketball Player: represent the 4 consecutive State Championship Title for Carlisle’s Men’s Basketball Team from 1985 - 1988.
19. Deer throughout mural: represent hunting is Carlisle.
20. Ballet Shoes represent CPYB. 

Five CHS Students Receive Top 10 Award from the Artistic Expressions Art Show

The annual Artistic Expressions Student Art Exhibit is currently on display at the Harrisburg Historic Association in Midtown Harrisburg. 10 students from Carlisle High School were chosen to represent CASD. The exhibit will be on display from April 9th through May 1st with an artist reception on Sunday, May 1st from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The exhibit features exemplary high school work from 11 Central PA school districts. Five CHS students were given the Top 10 Award from judges. 9th Grade student Luella Sikorski received an award for her mixed-media artwork, It’s My Time to Shine. 12th grade student Carter Martin received an award for his film, SCRATCH. Ella Shatz, 10th grade student received an award for her ceramics piece, Electoral Map. 11th Grade student Kaelie Hargrove received an award for her pen & ink drawing, IDOL. Dinela Dedic, 11th grade student received an award for her drawing, Muted. Congratulations to all of our CHS art students who participated!

Participating students include: 
Luella Sikorski
Brenna Golden
Vera Nguyen
Kaelie Hargrove
Allyson Richwine
Ella Shatz 
Mazie Kuhn
Carter Martin
Dinela Dedic
Coleman Miller 
Ella Shatz 
Luella Sikorski
Julie Dixon

(RE)Presenting Racism: Stories of our Town
Artist in Residence with Carrie Breschi

(RE)Presenting Racism: Stories of Our Town was produced by Community Outreach Coordinator Carrie Breschi in collaboration with the Trout Gallery (Dickinson College), the Cumberland County Historical Society, the Carlisle Area School District, and partially sponsored by Art Bridges. The installation recalls real stories of historical racism in Carlisle inspired by the work of Kara Walker's wall murals along with projects inspired by the works of Horace Pippin and Moses Williams.  All three artists can be viewed in exhibits at the Trout Gallery.  Students in the Carlisle Area School District in the middle schools and high school as well as other elementary through college level students participated in the workshops to hear the history and create the images.

CHS STUDENTS CREATE UNITY MURAL

Carlisle High School art students created a unity mural at the Carlisle Police Station this past summer. The Unity Mural is based on an illustration by Jeremy Tritle that appeared on yard signs about a year ago. The illustration shows a Black and white hand with fingers intertwined beside the message “We Need Each Other to Survive.” CHS art students worked in teams to allow for social distancing to create a mural using Jeremy Tritle’s design. The team consisted of seniors Leah Bowman and Dervla Dolan and past CHS graduates, Catherine Davis, Danielle Fevola, and Madi Tack.

In September Dervla Dolan & Leah Bowman presented the project to the Rotary Club of Carlisle. Students prepared the presentation and presented alongside Chief Taro Landis, Pastor Jeff Gibelius, and art teacher, Ashley Gogoj.               

WMS STUDENTS WIN PEEP CONTEST

Congratulations to 7^th grade students Kayden Undegraff who received 2^nd place and Hunter Barrick who received 3^rd place in the Pennsylvania Art Education Association 2021 Peep Contest.  Students in 7^th grade were challenged by their art teacher, Mrs. Courtney Blackburn to create an artwork inspired by a famous work of art using relief materials and Easter Peeps. Students had the opportunity to learn about relief sculptures and art history. Kayden Undegraff’s artwork was inspired by the famous artwork Man on a Bench by Horace Pippin and Hunter Barrick’s Street Photograph, New York, 1951 by Irving Penn. Congratulations to all students to participated! Please visit the website below to see the artwork virtually on display. https://paeablog.org/opportunities-for-students/2021-peep-contest/

CHS STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

The students in the Mrs. Pagel’s Sculpture & Ceramics 2, 3, & 4 classes participated in a virtual Artist in Residence throughout the month of March. Students had the opportunity to work with local artists, Maureen Joyce and Carrie Breschi as part of the I’m fine. project. I’m fine. is dedicated to artist Maureen Joyce’s son, Patrick, who completed his life in 2018 after struggling with mental illness.  Students created ceramic masks that represented mental health struggles and awareness.

Over 250 ceramic masks have been created during meaningful workshops over the past year as part of the project.  Anonymous stories of survival have also been written, illustrated and submitted to the project. Both the masks and the stories will contribute to community-engaged conversations and to the statewide traveling exhibit, I’m fine., whose purpose is to sculpt mental health awareness and to promote available resources. The inaugural exhibit for the project will take place…                         

April 16 - May 29
Carlisle Arts Learning Center
38 W. Pomfret Street

Due to pandemic safety precautions, there will not be an opening event.  There will, however, be daily open hours at CALC to view the installation and private viewings available by emailing [email protected].  The exhibit strives to be inclusive by being wheelchair accessible and by offering audio and tactile engagement portions. 

The exhibit is curated by Carrie Breschi and Maureen Joyce.  Both artists understand that our world is facing a mental health crisis……without even understanding the true scale of the collateral damage caused by Covid-19.   Our communities need to do more to alleviate this crisis. Breschi and Joyce believe in the power of art to ignite change and to create new perspectives and knowledge. They also believe in the viewers and participants of the exhibit as agents of positive change in our community. 

LMS STUDENT WINS MLK PROGRAM DESIGN CONTEST

Congratulations to 7th Grade LMS student, Joey Bozicevic. Joey participated in a contest where students had the opportunity to design a program advertisement for Lamberton Middle School that would be featured in the program for the community MLK celebration. Congratulations Joey!

MOORELAND ELEMENTARY STUDENT YEARBOOK COVER CONTEST

4th grade student, Kyleigh Gillock from Mooreland Elementary School created a yearbook cover design using an app called, Sketch Up. The cover is an image of a student's hands holding an ipad with a picture of a smiling face on the ipad. The Title reads, "We Can Learn ANYWHERE." Congratulations Kyleigh.

Carlisle High School Students Collaborate with the Trout Gallery

In collaboration with The Trout Gallery, the Drawing & Painting 3 students of Carlisle High School created reactionary art pieces to the 1974 print, Confrontation at the Bridge by Jacob Lawrence. The works were supposed to be on display at CHS in early April but the show was canceled due to COVID-19. The video showcases the works made by students paired with a narration of their written artist statements. The works created and presented are representations of the personal views of the individual student artists and not the school district or teacher. Special thanks to CHS art teacher, Ms. Amie Bantz and Dr. Phillip Earenfight for collaborating on this project.

Virtual Art Show Link
Overcoming: A Virtual Art Show

The Following Students had work in the Virtual Art Show
Laila Boyce
Sierra Brubaker
Lucy Griffith
Maliek Hall
Maya Lewis
Nathaniel Lippert
Yesenia Martinez
Jacob Morano
Rafael Portilla
Morgan Sayers
Holly Stiltner
Jessica Trial
Kei'Saun Wilson

Carlisle High School Students Participate in Art in the Wild Show

High School Art Teacher, Mrs. Suzanne Pagel and her students were involved in the 2020 Art in the Wild Exhibit that takes places at Wildwood Park (located on the outskirts of downtown Harrisburg).  The theme for the Art in the Wild 2020 exhibit is “Woodland Harmony.”  They designed a curtain installation that consists of hundreds of ceramic rings that vary in size.  Originally, they were going to be freely hanging, so that they could create more noise, similar to a wind chime, but they had concerns about the rings breaking due to high wind at the installation site. Instead, the rings were to the surrounding trees to help keep them from tangling or breaking.  They used natural clay colors (white and brown) to stay with the natural theme.  The piece is titled; “Rings of Reflection,” since it is located right next to the water and there is a bench nearby for visitors to relax and view the lake and sculpture.

Many students from the Sculpture & Ceramics I classes helped in making the ceramic rings as an extension to a coil-building lesson.  Mrs. Pagel taught students how to use the clay extruder to make coils of different sizes and then they formed them into circles.  Furthermore, the following students; Sophie Jerev, Kelly Sullivan, and Elizabeth Gochenauer created separate wind chimes that are hanging in the nearby trees. 

Although there will not be an official opening of the show (due to Covid-19), the park is in the process of putting together a virtual show. They hope that art lovers and artists will still be able to connect and view the beautiful art in the wild from the comfort of their own home.  

 

National Honor's Society Hosts Paint Night

National Art Honors Society students planned and facilitated a Paint Night at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center (CALC) in October. The Carlisle Area School District Art Department and CALC have a long history of working together on projects such as the Youth Art Month Show which is held in CALC’s gallery. The NAHS students wanted to give back to the organization by donating a paint night to be auctioned at CALC’s annual event. Students were responsible for planning the lesson, gathering supplies, and teaching a class of 12 adults. The night was a huge hit for both students and paint night participants!

Art While You Wait

The Downtown Carlisle Association partnered with Color Carlisle for a summer beautification project - Art While You Wait (also, sponsored by PNC). Six traffic signal cabinets around downtown Carlisle were painted by local artists and focused around the theme, LoveCarlisle. Artists submitted designs to Color Carlisle and six artists were chosen to paint the traffic signal cabinets. . 9^th Grade student, Dinella Dedic was one of the artists featured. As well as, Ms. Amie Bantz, art teacher at Carlisle High School. Congratulations to our CASD artists!

West Shore Symphony Digital Art Show 

The West Shore Symphony Orchestra has partnered with the art teachers of the Carlisle Area School District to celebrate music and the visual arts.  This partnership explored the connection of music & art, with images shown on the movie screen at the Carlisle Theatre.  Artwork was inspired by Manuel de Falla's Suite No. 2 from his 1919 collection. Students artwork was digital displayed during a children’s show on Saturday, November 9^th and during the symphony performance on Sunday, November 10^th. The following Carlisle High School Students were featured at the show.

CHS Art Teacher's Exhibited at Susquehanna Art Museum

Carlisle High School Art Teachers, Ms. Amie Bantz and Mrs. Ashley Gogoj had artwork featured at the Susquehanna Art Museum over the summer. Art teachers in the area who had student artwork in the annual Artistic Expressions show last spring, were invited to create artwork to be exhibit from August through September. Ms. Amie Bantz created an oil painting that featured buildings from downtown Harrisburg. The work was tiled Mr. Rogers. Mrs. Ashley Gogoj created a acrylic painting that was inspired by the view from Waggoner’s Gap and by development of warehouses and industries in Cumberland County. The piece is tilted Changing Landscape.  

National Art Honor's Society Recognized as Exemplary Program

The National Art Honors Society has been recognized as a Shippensburg University School Study Council Exemplary Program. The Carlisle Area School District Art Department and the National Art Honors Society promotes community arts partnerships that includes educators, students, parents, and the community; who work together to increase opportunities that will enhance both the community and student's learning about the arts and appreciation for the arts. 
This group of students accomplished these objectives by developing an Empty Bowls program to support our local food bank, hosting an artist in residence at Carlisle High School to create a mural in downtown Carlisle, and by partnering with multiple community organizations to provide art experiences to our community. 

CHS Students work with CALC's ARTiculate Program

The latest artwork from Carlisle Arts Learning Center’s project “ARTiculate: Students Speaking Through Art” is now installed at the CenturyLink building located along West High Street in Carlisle.

The work is an art installation featuring a series of black and white portraits of teens that shine a light on their expressive behavior and the diversity of the community.

The photos are accompanied by the words: “Listen to my voice — the quiet voice, the loud voice, the scared voice, the anxious voice, the happy voice, the annoying voice — my voice.”

Giving teens a voice has been the guiding principle of the program, which started in July and ran through mid-August. Sixteen students ranging from middle to high school identified five topics to address and created art projects to bring the concerns to the community.

Each art project is accompanied by a quote from the students that describes the problem the project represents.

The first project, which addressed drug abuse, was unveiled at the Sadler Night Out event in August. The second project, a series of wrapped trees, greeted students on the first day of school.

Two more projects are expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Article courtesy of the Sentinel and written by Tammie Gitt. Follow her on Twitter @TammieGitt.

Carlisle Art Project Amplifies Student Voices

Art created in a summer program at Carlisle Arts Learning Center isn’t giving students a voice. It’s encouraging the students to use the voice they already have, and asking adults to listen.

The three-week program, Project ARTiculate: Students Speaking Through Art, started in July. Sixteen students ranging from middle to high school identified five topics to address and created art projects to bring the concerns to the community. CALC intentionally brought together a diverse group of students for the work.

“It’s diverse in its cultural background. It’s diverse in its economic background. I think the population we got really represented both the middle school and the high school,” said Carrie Breschi, the director for the project.

The idea for the program grew out of years of work with teens where CALC discovered that most are vulnerable to depression, drug addiction and loneliness. Yet, there is not enough programming in the community to assist the students.

Coupled with the fact that teens are dealing with increased suicide rates, social media pressures, terrorism, mass shootings and an opioid addiction crisis, CALC decided to create a program to help them express themselves.

Even with these thoughts in mind, Breschi was nonetheless surprised to hear the students say they felt like they had no voice.

“It was surprising to me ... that they really do feel that no one really listens to them, whether it’s in the school system or out of the school system that they automatically get judged,” Breschi said.

Project

The first of the art projects, which addresses drug abuse, was unveiled Friday evening at Sadler Night Out. The art installation then moved to Hope Station for that organization’s Back-to-School Bash, and will be moved to various nonprofits in the coming weeks.

Each art project is accompanied by a quote from the students that describes the problem the project represents.

The first project uses more than 1,500 discarded pill bottles to create a much larger pill bottle, and is accompanied by the words: “Help me to overcome my pain or addiction. Drug and alcohol abuse are not journeys we plan. They are often escape routes.”

The second project was installed Sunday evening at Carlisle High School so that it is ready to greet students on their first day Monday. It’s accompanied by the words: “Accept me for who I am and shelter me ... no matter who I am ... LGTBQ, black, white, autistic, disabled, different than who you are ... take the time to get to know me.”

Lanik Minaya, a senior, said the tree wraps were made from duct tape with colors to represent different groups or issues, such as autism or the LGBTQ community.

She said working with students of different ages from middle school through those entering college has been a highlight of the program, and she hopes the adults are open to the messages those students are sending.

“I hope that they realize that even though we are kids, we can still make an impact and know what’s going on in the world and know that we can hopefully change the world,” she said.

Some adults tend to dismiss students, telling them they’re too young or that they don’t understand, said Henry Pluta as he worked on adding black letters to the pill bottle to spell out “opioid deaths.”

“We’re showing that we do understand, and we’re trying to make a stand,” Pluta said.

For its part, CALC wanted to not only build the student’s self-esteem, but also empower them to continue on the path of civic engagement while assuring their voices are valuable.

“If we can impart that message that their concerns are valid, their fears are valid, and there are people out there they can reach out to, I think that’s incredibly important,” said Becky Richeson, executive director of CALC.

The program also gave students a place to be during a slower time of the summer while giving them as sense of purpose.

“It’s been really fun. I feel like I’m actually part of something which is really nice. Everyone’s really welcoming,” said junior Cameron Miller.

The program may be repeated in the future if the community is willing to lend its support.

“The support has been amazing which I think just speaks to the fact that our community really believes in CALC and believes in the power of the arts, that we can truly give students a voice and that students really are an important part of our community,” Becky said.

Article courtesy of the Sentinel and written by Tammie Gitt. Follow her on Twitter @TammieGitt.

Carlisle High School & Color Carlisle Hosts Artist-in-Residence

Color Carlisle is a small group of educators and community members who are working together to strengthen our community through creative action. The group has dreams of canvasing the city of Carlisle with murals and believe that our children and students are the future of the Carlisle community.  This Fall, a group of high school students who are enrolled the Portfolio art class at Carlisle High School will have the opportunity to create a mural which will be permanently installed on the side of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Carlisle (near Memorial Park). The mural will be painted on parachute paper and then adhered to the wall. This allows the students to do a majority of the painting in the classroom.

In addition to the main group of students, we will open the mural up to other students at the High School and to the entire community of Carlisle. The artist, Ophelia Chambliss, will work primarily with the core group of students. The goal of the residency is for students to become experts and then involve and teach other students and community members the process of painting and installing a mural. Workshops are open to ALL community members which will help to increase the impact that the mural can have on strengthening and unifying our community. The students and teachers will work directly with other students and the community by hosting a workshop to teach the process to participants. Carlisle Area School District students, parents, and community members are invited to take part in the painting the mural on October 13^th at the Homecoming football game.

The mural is being funded by the Bison Foundation, Jump Street, The Council for the Arts, and for donations from around the Carlisle Community. 

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