After a year of hard work, the first Monthly Artist’s Round is finished. Mr Duarte, Ms. Bradley, and Ms. Allen choose an artist each month to make a piece of artwork of any style for this program that resonates with the artist and will make an impact on the school community.. At the end of the school year, the collection will be shared with the whole school. This year’s art kicked off with Henry Buckley-Jones making a powerful mural of a forest fire, followed by Wes Lindstrom-Chalpin creating a song based on the mural, and then TJ Cannistraro capping it all off with a monologue based on both the mural and the song.
Henry’s mural depicts a scene of a lone firefighter in a burning forest. The flames twist up around him and a fiery snake-like dragon twists down towards him. Henry wanted the mural to tell the story of humanity’s incompetence when it comes to interacting with and taking care of the natural world. The firefighter in his mural is deliberately small compared to the dragon, and the water he shoots completely misses. This interaction emphasizes how futile our sparse efforts have been to take care of nature and fight the things that harm it. However, the portrayal of fire as a part of nature instead of something alien to it also gives a double meaning. Forest fires can actually be beneficial if they occur naturally, as they clean the forest floor of debris, open it up to sunlight, and nourish the soil. Henry thinks that “at the end of the day it’s up to the viewer to interpret, but I like to think it could go either way.” This mural portrays the balance between humans and nature, capturing the duality of fire and human mistakes.
Wes’s wrote his song in the unique genre of melodic dubstep, a version of electronic music that is based more on harmonic aspects and is more musical than simply sound design and rhythm-based. The song is an emotional experience starting with a bittersweet beautiful intro, building up into a call to action, and then finally a fight, which culminates with a beat drop. This is the climax of the story he weaves with his song. He tried to capture not just the intensity of the mural but also the complex emotion behind the intensity driving it. After listening to the song, it is easy to hear the complex relationship between man and nature. It perfectly fits with Henry’s mural.
Finally, TJ’s wrote his monologue from the perspective of the fire, fighting to try and grow against the person with the hose, whom TJ characterizes as the villain. He says that his idea of using the point of view of the fire is to “convey that sometimes what you see at first glance isn’t always the true story.” Looking at the mural, it’s up to the viewer to decide if it’s the fire that’s destroying, it or if the hose is putting out a “spark of life.” Since he thought a lot of people would pick the person with the hose as the hero of the mural, he wanted to shed some light on the other side of the story. Although it is very challenging to bring a non-sentient thing alive, TJ succeeded in his monologue. You can clearly hear the fire’s voice and it’s personality. The struggle of the fire really embodies both the mural and Wes’s song.
All in all, this year’s Artist’s Round has been a roaring success, with all three talented artists creating beautiful works of art that all connect to each other. Make sure to check out the works once they have been sent out!
