EPCHS art department gets $1,000 grant from credit union

From staff reports

The art department at Evergreen Park Community High School will benefit from winning the 2022 grant award from the Evergreen Park Schools Federal Credit Union.

The $1,000 grant will allow two EPCHS art classes to provide students with the opportunity to go above and beyond the basics in the art curriculum.

Art teachers Libby McArthur and Thomas Minarik plan to split the grant money between two projects: one for the school’s “Ceramics, Sculpture and Jewelry” class and the other for the Digital Photography course.

In CSJ, a small glass kiln will be purchased for $250, a glass for jewelry working for $140 and other essential glass tools totaling $85 to allow students to create glass pendants using a glass fusion process.

The purchases will allow EPCHS to “provide the special materials needed for the incorporation of glass as a unit,” the art teachers wrote in their grant application.

“Students for years to come would be able to work with the materials. Glass working is also a highly successful medium that would allow students of all levels to reach success. Many (school) districts don’t have a jewelry component, especially a glass unit, because of the materials needed to do so.”

In Digital Photography, students will be able to “paint with light” using slow shutter speeds and light wands. Light wands in a variety of sizes and textures will be purchased in addition to glass orbs and other reflective pieces with the grant money.

“The students will learn the function of the shutter speed in photography,” the grant application states. “They will be tasked with creating photographs using a long shutter speed or long exposure to create a unique composition that creates movement and rhythm using light. Light wands in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors will give the students more control over the outcome of the photograph.”

McArthur said the art department is “incredible ecstatic” to have been chosen for the grant award.

“We are always looking for ways to enrich our students’ experience and expand our program, and this opportunity will definitely help,” she said.