Welcome to an instructional website to help you grow as a visual artist. Keep up with this page to find examples of work, instructional videos on how to draw and paint effectively, and links to other resources….
Enjoy,
Eric Stachnick
Enjoy,
Eric Stachnick
What to expect as parents for your student taking drawing and painting...
Students, this is what we do...
Surrealism
We have reached the Surrealism unit this spring... Which means I give the students a history lesson in the origin of Surrealism. We look at the influence of the war, how the mind can be played with, and how to think beyond your own logical limitations.
I use a little automatic writing game where I throw random words and phrases at the students as they write non stop to create a story. Some fill the page with the random thoughts of their brain, others come to understand that no matter how random their mind works to keep the story going and making sense. I have loved teaching this exercise for the last 20 years, and the students still enjoy the game! Here are some of the stories from this year.....
I use a little automatic writing game where I throw random words and phrases at the students as they write non stop to create a story. Some fill the page with the random thoughts of their brain, others come to understand that no matter how random their mind works to keep the story going and making sense. I have loved teaching this exercise for the last 20 years, and the students still enjoy the game! Here are some of the stories from this year.....
...A garden in full bloom full of every fillable object imaginable with cows grazing around. The sun is trapped behind mist and a large gardner comes out from behind bushes sculpted to look like dolphins. He stares with weird eyes, looking bewildered yet unfazed to see a stranger. I find my way to an old elevator that has a pully to get me up. The lift leads to the roof where cowboys are playing bocce ball with cow poop. The splattered scene smells horrid so I turn and see an old bridge that leads up mountains. The swing and sway of the bridge reminds me of dipping fries in In N Out shakes: weird and not fun. An eagle swoops down before I can scream and knocks me off the bridge. I fall down into the gorge where deep water in churning as it approaches a 500 foot high waterfall. I tumble down, landing in a sea of seals giving birth. I swim through thick blood and new seals, accidentally kicking creatures. I get to shore to find nests full of ostriche eggs and a horizon with the desert as far as the eye can see. As I find a place to collapse and rest, trees begin to sprout up and grow with a series of buzzes. The desert now became a dark and confusing forest.
-Connie Lucid 12th grader
...I love chickens in the farm with ducks. Chick chick chilly chuck what's that Dock! Where’s the tall cow with the moose who said he'd give the sharp a burger and fries? Shave and a haircut, two bits is what the horse ate! They saw a cave closed and said open sesame! It opened and they were under the sea, water everywhere. The fish were singing and dancing, so they took the elevator up to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and they flew like Peter Pan and saw the band The Monkeys! Dong bong shrilly shong son! They were in China and saw a dragon breathing fire and the dragon made a screeching whistle calling the Asian taxi to take them to the Samurai who said stop look listen baby that's my philosophy. Then they jumped into a tree and heard birds talking about the donuts that were jelly. The donuts were dreaming about Alka-seltzer which they put on the red of their face and said, “why'd you do that!” And then the octopus sang Sweet Caroline with Barbra Streisand singing Happy days are here again! And then they died! The end.
-Rachel Estensen 10th grader
...I was on a plain. Standing on one and it was a plane overhead. But nothing was plain to me. I couldn’t handle it. I walked to the room not three feet away and BANG! the door flew open. I was confused, but walked on in. The musty smell of the room reminded me of cows, and I pinched my nose in disgust. Where was the man who I saw in the window, I wondered to myself, and then I thought of the plane. It was sleek, black, alien. What was I doing here? I should be in the elevator at my house. And there I was. But it wasn’t my house, no, it was an animal’s house. A dog house. I must be dreaming, I said to myself, but it felt so real. Then I woke up. The sky was falling, quite literally, and my neighbor cried out in terror. “Watch out!” I gazed out the window as I noticed a man fly by. He looked a bit like Superman, but I couldn’t make out his face. I opened my door and the invincible hero flew on by. The sky was only a foot from the top of my head, and the water seeped up from the ground. Knee high. Shoulder high. Ha, I thought to myself. Between the jellyfish and the birds. The clouds sort of rested on the water, now, and I could breathe the fresh sky air. An airplane passed by and a screaming bird, too. But then I saw the Sun coming down too. Oh no, I thought. The water will boil.
-Anonymous 10th grader
...There was a duck laying by the pond, fast asleep. The duck was very tired doing all the things that ducks normally do. He looked quite comfortable as he bathed in the warm sunlight. The duck was all alone, and there seemed to be nobody else around. All of a sudden, a floating cloud drifted in front of the sun, blocking its path of light. Everything went dark. The duck opened his eyes and looked around, startled by the abrupt change in light. After determining that nothing was wrong, he fluffed his feathers and decided to go back to sleep. He is an odd duck because all he likes to do is sleep all day, unlike the others of his kind. As a result, he was banished from the group since he never contributed to anything. The duck doesn't mind the solitude, but once in a while, he gets a little lonely. Sometimes he wonders about the the kinds of fun activities he is missing out on because of his long naps. He wasn't always this way though; there was a time where he was just like all the other ducks in the pond. However, all of the strenuous activities that come with being a duck took a toll on his little body and mind. So one day he decided enough was enough, and turned to napping as an escape from reality. Now he doesn't do much of anything anymore except that. The duck couldn't fall asleep for his mind was full of thoughts. He shuddered, and stood up to shake out his legs. He waddled around the perimeter of the pond, reflecting on all the choices he has made in his life that got him to where he is today. But he didn't get far in his thought reflection, as the duck slowed his waddling to a stop and sat on the ground. Once again, the duck felt the warm sunlight return from behind the cloud to warm up his little body, and he peacefully drifted off to sleep.
-Jasmine Romano 12th grader
...I climbed up from the ladder and walked into the light. I was in the desert and a cowboy walked up to me and said “Howdy!” I asked where I was and he just said “Howdy” again and left on his horse. I continued to walk until I reached a big door in between a canyon. When I tried to open it a little green man jumped out and said he was the keymaster and wouldn't let me pass unless I knew the secret phrase. I decided to say “open sesame” it was surprisingly correct and he opened the gate and I continued to walk through the canyon. I began to get hungry and saw a bakery so I walked in and bought a cake to eat. At the end of my canyon was a mall for hardware supplies when I walked in I took the elevator to the third floor. When I reached the third floor I walked out of the elevator and there was a train station outside. I tried to get on the train but a man walked up to me and asked if I had a pass. I didn't have a pass and didn't have any money to buy one so I searched through the station in hope to find one. I saw this man and asked if he wanted the rest of my cake for his pass he agreed so I ran back to the train to board before it left. When I got on the train there were many different people on it. One man had a monkey that was dancing on the floor. I fell asleep on the train to rest for my next adventure. But I actually woke up in my bed from my mom yelling I was going to be late for school and realized it was all a dream.
-Joshua Broadhead 10th grader
... I was in some sort of attic. I had no inkling as to whose attic I was in, which country I was in, or even which planet I was on. Out of the nowhere, I heard the sound of a cow. It seemed like it came from the a corner to the right of me, but I could not see into the corner, as it was in pitch darkness. I started towards the corner to discern what the sound was coming from, when a man came out of the darkness and stopped me. He demanded for my "pass." I was thoroughly confused, but now at least I knew I was in the US, as the man spoke English. I began saying that I do not have a pass, nor do I have any idea as to where I am, when something pulled me into an elevator, which was lit up fancily. The elevator announced, "3rd floor, swimming pool." I got out, and a man greeted me, speaking in a southern accent. He asked me if u would like "French fries, or apple sauce," which were both held on a refreshment platter. The pool was behind the man. I went up to touch the water, to see what the temperature was like, when I realized the pool was filled with jellyfish. I looked over to the man with the platter, and asked about this absurdity, when he interrupted me and said, "the jellyfish don't sleep, they dream." Now I was entirely confused. I wanted to get out of this weird, nightmarish place. A bird, perched on a window sill inside the swimming pool room yelled, "run!" That is exactly what I did. The man with the southern accent started chasing me, and I yelled to him, "quit following me!" Then, right as he caught up to me and began to grab on to me, I heard, "EHH EHH EHH," the sound of my alarm. It was just another ordinary Tuesday morning, and I had to get up and get ready for school.
-Darrion Sani 10th grader
...I woke up in the darkness with nothing surrounding me but the dark void in the distance. I look all around myself from left to right, bottom and top. Light comes creeping in the side of the curtain hanging from the window. I stand up and find the doorknob which allows me to turn, however, it is locked. Strange noises and lights come from the outside which sparks my curiosity to go outside and check what it is. The door doesn’t seem to open when I try hard to open it. I thought that maybe someone has locked it or is holding it right now. That didn’t bother me but what bothered me was the darkness in the room. I searched the rough textures on the wall and finally found the light switch. This light switch turns on by command so I don’t know why I wasted my time trying to find it. The beautiful lights turned on one by one around the room exposing the clean room filled with colors and floating animals. The door that I worried about finally opened and lead me to a city filled with colorful buildings. I asked myself as I went looking around, “Am I dead or alive?” Voices in my head or somebody told me, “This is just a dream. What you see is what you vision from your imagination.” Although this was a dream, it felt so unreal to me. There is so many things to consume all at once. After a while, I heard a ringing noise and saw a big, black void a foot away from me. I heard screaming and people saying, “Run inside!” I listened to them as I run in and I was left in a different dimension.
Marc Seludo 11th grader
...My feet don't know where they're going. A rock hits my head and I see I'm in a cave. The cave has a door at the end that is slightly opened. I see a ladder at the end and climb up only to realize I had just come out of a well. A strange man greets me and he looks like a cowboy dwarf. I ask who he is and he replies by showing me a ring of keys and points to several surrounding doors. He asks me if I knew which door I wanted him to open and what treats I imagined awaited me. I pick a plain wooden door with small engravings on it and he opens it. Not with the keys but by yelling at it to open. I go through the door wanting to get away from the cowboy fears and am not inside a glass bubble. A man hammers away on a sword on the other side of the glass and his clients watches him and revels at the good work he's doing. The glass around me shatters as he hits the sword again and I am not in a mall. I see small plastic sharks that look so unreal I start to get slightly worried. A man runs in out of nowhere and drags me to a front desk demanding to know how I got in. I see another plastic shark on the desk but it moves and I run away out of the store when the man turns his head to check a clipboard. I see a little girl on a toy train game making bell sounds and hear her whine to her mother asking for her monkey back. I think she means a stuffed toy until her mother approaches her with a monkey on a leash wearing a diaper. It was drinking lemonade out of a small sippy cup. Printed on the cup is a patterned image of the cowboy dwarf who had led me here. I look closer and see him wink at me and I scream.
Anonymous 10th grader
...I woke up a woman in love but with nothing inside. I hit my head, when my eyes adjusted I saw a door and I was fronted by a white light. There it was, a ladder with roses on the sides that went up as far as the eye could see. I climbed the ladder and the first thing I hear is “Howdy Partner” it’s an old man almost looked to be about 63 with Grey hair -- “I’m the key-master” -- he said interrupting my thoughts. “The what?” I say “I can take you anywhere you’d like” “Wow what?!” “Do you like delicious treats ma’am?” “Yes, but why?” “ Because I can take you anywhere why not a treat-filled wonderland!” “Actually I’d like to go home, my dog’s there waiting for me” “As you wish -- OPEN SESAME!” I felt nothing for a split second then I felt everything -- I was home, thank god. All of a sudden something jumps on me, it’s my German Shepherd Kuzco. “Hi” he said “AHHHH!! You can talk” I exclaim “Yup and woo wee you are amazing.” I need to go back. As I try to go back to see the Key-master, who I am sure is behind this, I run into this brick wall of a person standing right in front of the ladder. “Excuse me where is your pass?” he says in a deep voice. “What pass? When did you get here?!” “Everyone gets a freebee” he says “Now you have to be granted a pass if you want to climb this here ladder.” “Where did that monkey go?!” says a shrill high pitched voice behind me-- “Oh darn! You’ve got to be kidding me I lost him again!”
Kenya Holifield 12th grader
...There I was, the red button stared at me. I was in an Elevator.
Was I dead?
This struck me only when I recalled the light. I pressed the button "mrrrrrrroo" I heard. The elevator went down. "Presto!" I heard, faster it went. Noises popped up all around, voices frightening me. "Hey, where did the monkey go?" Was followed by screams. I was going down, into hell. Those voices were from screaming victims and malicious animals.
*Ding* Third floor! Swim Wear" I heard. However, the door did not open. I was being taunted, it stopped again "Excuse me, where's your pass?" I heard a man say. The elevator continued down, ignoring this mans question that came from outside the doors.
"All aboard!" I heard, what happened then shook me to my core. The doors opened a crack enough to see out as I went down. "Careful, don't eat the jellyfish" I heard as I saw a man go limp after digesting one. His friend was too late. He died slow and painful, only because this place was taunting me by replaying deaths, but more crude.
"Woowhee! You are amazing!" A mans voice seemed to say to me. I was being watched by someone, perhaps suprised I didn't pass out from fear yet.
"I'm the Key Master" the voice said "Only I can unlock these doors."
"Will you?" I asked.
"-Lemonade! A cool and refreshing drink!" "Drink it and I will." He said.
A glass appeared before me, It smelled foul.
This was a trap, and I know now who made it.
Satan wants my soul.
-Dani Van Leer 12th grader
...There were countless doors just seemingly waiting to be opened. Everything was silent as
if my choices would change everything from here on out. I was horrible at making decisions, I refused to move, and the floor sank. I fell face first into a thick liquid I couldn’t quite identify. It was a sticky blue substance that took awhile to get out of but what was in front of me was nothing less than bizarre. Blank space almost, but filled with everything you could imagine. Clothing stores, animals floating, parts of buildings floating in the air as if they were just debris. You name it, there were people even appearing out of nowhere as they made their casual way through this strange world. Suddenly I was dragged by a woman wearing a bright pink petticoat. I didn’t even have a chance to see her face, or speak a word before I was violently pushed into a mass of cold water. I was sinking….and sinking fast. Just before everything above the water’s surface was out of sight, I realized the woman had no face as she seemingly stared down at me through the rippling waters.
-Wai Chan 12th grader
...I'm on the cold ground. It's dark, and I'm lost and confused. Then I come to a sudden realization and presto! A thought as big as a cow infiltrates this room… this night club? There are lights now. Strobing, iridescent lights pulsing throughout this once dark room. It's a swimwear night club. A San Francisco swimwear nightclub. Africa by Toto is playing in the background. This song has been stuck in my head all week and I need to get it out. I begin to sing. Not very well I might add, but singing nonetheless. Then I'm in New York circa 1974. It's nice out here. I see the bright lights all around me and I feel invincible. Like I could easily jump to the moon and back just because I can. I walk towards a corner liquor store with the name “jellyfish don't sleep, they dream”. I am mesmerized by the periwinkle jellyfish in neon light. I'm so mesmerized by this light that I don't notice a skeleton walking up to me. He offers me a good deal on car insurance, but I refuse for obvious reasons. Also because my hand hurts… like really bad. But I ignore it and walk in the store to buy some flowers.
-Bella Nisby 10th grader
-Connie Lucid 12th grader
...I love chickens in the farm with ducks. Chick chick chilly chuck what's that Dock! Where’s the tall cow with the moose who said he'd give the sharp a burger and fries? Shave and a haircut, two bits is what the horse ate! They saw a cave closed and said open sesame! It opened and they were under the sea, water everywhere. The fish were singing and dancing, so they took the elevator up to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and they flew like Peter Pan and saw the band The Monkeys! Dong bong shrilly shong son! They were in China and saw a dragon breathing fire and the dragon made a screeching whistle calling the Asian taxi to take them to the Samurai who said stop look listen baby that's my philosophy. Then they jumped into a tree and heard birds talking about the donuts that were jelly. The donuts were dreaming about Alka-seltzer which they put on the red of their face and said, “why'd you do that!” And then the octopus sang Sweet Caroline with Barbra Streisand singing Happy days are here again! And then they died! The end.
-Rachel Estensen 10th grader
...I was on a plain. Standing on one and it was a plane overhead. But nothing was plain to me. I couldn’t handle it. I walked to the room not three feet away and BANG! the door flew open. I was confused, but walked on in. The musty smell of the room reminded me of cows, and I pinched my nose in disgust. Where was the man who I saw in the window, I wondered to myself, and then I thought of the plane. It was sleek, black, alien. What was I doing here? I should be in the elevator at my house. And there I was. But it wasn’t my house, no, it was an animal’s house. A dog house. I must be dreaming, I said to myself, but it felt so real. Then I woke up. The sky was falling, quite literally, and my neighbor cried out in terror. “Watch out!” I gazed out the window as I noticed a man fly by. He looked a bit like Superman, but I couldn’t make out his face. I opened my door and the invincible hero flew on by. The sky was only a foot from the top of my head, and the water seeped up from the ground. Knee high. Shoulder high. Ha, I thought to myself. Between the jellyfish and the birds. The clouds sort of rested on the water, now, and I could breathe the fresh sky air. An airplane passed by and a screaming bird, too. But then I saw the Sun coming down too. Oh no, I thought. The water will boil.
-Anonymous 10th grader
...There was a duck laying by the pond, fast asleep. The duck was very tired doing all the things that ducks normally do. He looked quite comfortable as he bathed in the warm sunlight. The duck was all alone, and there seemed to be nobody else around. All of a sudden, a floating cloud drifted in front of the sun, blocking its path of light. Everything went dark. The duck opened his eyes and looked around, startled by the abrupt change in light. After determining that nothing was wrong, he fluffed his feathers and decided to go back to sleep. He is an odd duck because all he likes to do is sleep all day, unlike the others of his kind. As a result, he was banished from the group since he never contributed to anything. The duck doesn't mind the solitude, but once in a while, he gets a little lonely. Sometimes he wonders about the the kinds of fun activities he is missing out on because of his long naps. He wasn't always this way though; there was a time where he was just like all the other ducks in the pond. However, all of the strenuous activities that come with being a duck took a toll on his little body and mind. So one day he decided enough was enough, and turned to napping as an escape from reality. Now he doesn't do much of anything anymore except that. The duck couldn't fall asleep for his mind was full of thoughts. He shuddered, and stood up to shake out his legs. He waddled around the perimeter of the pond, reflecting on all the choices he has made in his life that got him to where he is today. But he didn't get far in his thought reflection, as the duck slowed his waddling to a stop and sat on the ground. Once again, the duck felt the warm sunlight return from behind the cloud to warm up his little body, and he peacefully drifted off to sleep.
-Jasmine Romano 12th grader
...I climbed up from the ladder and walked into the light. I was in the desert and a cowboy walked up to me and said “Howdy!” I asked where I was and he just said “Howdy” again and left on his horse. I continued to walk until I reached a big door in between a canyon. When I tried to open it a little green man jumped out and said he was the keymaster and wouldn't let me pass unless I knew the secret phrase. I decided to say “open sesame” it was surprisingly correct and he opened the gate and I continued to walk through the canyon. I began to get hungry and saw a bakery so I walked in and bought a cake to eat. At the end of my canyon was a mall for hardware supplies when I walked in I took the elevator to the third floor. When I reached the third floor I walked out of the elevator and there was a train station outside. I tried to get on the train but a man walked up to me and asked if I had a pass. I didn't have a pass and didn't have any money to buy one so I searched through the station in hope to find one. I saw this man and asked if he wanted the rest of my cake for his pass he agreed so I ran back to the train to board before it left. When I got on the train there were many different people on it. One man had a monkey that was dancing on the floor. I fell asleep on the train to rest for my next adventure. But I actually woke up in my bed from my mom yelling I was going to be late for school and realized it was all a dream.
-Joshua Broadhead 10th grader
... I was in some sort of attic. I had no inkling as to whose attic I was in, which country I was in, or even which planet I was on. Out of the nowhere, I heard the sound of a cow. It seemed like it came from the a corner to the right of me, but I could not see into the corner, as it was in pitch darkness. I started towards the corner to discern what the sound was coming from, when a man came out of the darkness and stopped me. He demanded for my "pass." I was thoroughly confused, but now at least I knew I was in the US, as the man spoke English. I began saying that I do not have a pass, nor do I have any idea as to where I am, when something pulled me into an elevator, which was lit up fancily. The elevator announced, "3rd floor, swimming pool." I got out, and a man greeted me, speaking in a southern accent. He asked me if u would like "French fries, or apple sauce," which were both held on a refreshment platter. The pool was behind the man. I went up to touch the water, to see what the temperature was like, when I realized the pool was filled with jellyfish. I looked over to the man with the platter, and asked about this absurdity, when he interrupted me and said, "the jellyfish don't sleep, they dream." Now I was entirely confused. I wanted to get out of this weird, nightmarish place. A bird, perched on a window sill inside the swimming pool room yelled, "run!" That is exactly what I did. The man with the southern accent started chasing me, and I yelled to him, "quit following me!" Then, right as he caught up to me and began to grab on to me, I heard, "EHH EHH EHH," the sound of my alarm. It was just another ordinary Tuesday morning, and I had to get up and get ready for school.
-Darrion Sani 10th grader
...I woke up in the darkness with nothing surrounding me but the dark void in the distance. I look all around myself from left to right, bottom and top. Light comes creeping in the side of the curtain hanging from the window. I stand up and find the doorknob which allows me to turn, however, it is locked. Strange noises and lights come from the outside which sparks my curiosity to go outside and check what it is. The door doesn’t seem to open when I try hard to open it. I thought that maybe someone has locked it or is holding it right now. That didn’t bother me but what bothered me was the darkness in the room. I searched the rough textures on the wall and finally found the light switch. This light switch turns on by command so I don’t know why I wasted my time trying to find it. The beautiful lights turned on one by one around the room exposing the clean room filled with colors and floating animals. The door that I worried about finally opened and lead me to a city filled with colorful buildings. I asked myself as I went looking around, “Am I dead or alive?” Voices in my head or somebody told me, “This is just a dream. What you see is what you vision from your imagination.” Although this was a dream, it felt so unreal to me. There is so many things to consume all at once. After a while, I heard a ringing noise and saw a big, black void a foot away from me. I heard screaming and people saying, “Run inside!” I listened to them as I run in and I was left in a different dimension.
Marc Seludo 11th grader
...My feet don't know where they're going. A rock hits my head and I see I'm in a cave. The cave has a door at the end that is slightly opened. I see a ladder at the end and climb up only to realize I had just come out of a well. A strange man greets me and he looks like a cowboy dwarf. I ask who he is and he replies by showing me a ring of keys and points to several surrounding doors. He asks me if I knew which door I wanted him to open and what treats I imagined awaited me. I pick a plain wooden door with small engravings on it and he opens it. Not with the keys but by yelling at it to open. I go through the door wanting to get away from the cowboy fears and am not inside a glass bubble. A man hammers away on a sword on the other side of the glass and his clients watches him and revels at the good work he's doing. The glass around me shatters as he hits the sword again and I am not in a mall. I see small plastic sharks that look so unreal I start to get slightly worried. A man runs in out of nowhere and drags me to a front desk demanding to know how I got in. I see another plastic shark on the desk but it moves and I run away out of the store when the man turns his head to check a clipboard. I see a little girl on a toy train game making bell sounds and hear her whine to her mother asking for her monkey back. I think she means a stuffed toy until her mother approaches her with a monkey on a leash wearing a diaper. It was drinking lemonade out of a small sippy cup. Printed on the cup is a patterned image of the cowboy dwarf who had led me here. I look closer and see him wink at me and I scream.
Anonymous 10th grader
...I woke up a woman in love but with nothing inside. I hit my head, when my eyes adjusted I saw a door and I was fronted by a white light. There it was, a ladder with roses on the sides that went up as far as the eye could see. I climbed the ladder and the first thing I hear is “Howdy Partner” it’s an old man almost looked to be about 63 with Grey hair -- “I’m the key-master” -- he said interrupting my thoughts. “The what?” I say “I can take you anywhere you’d like” “Wow what?!” “Do you like delicious treats ma’am?” “Yes, but why?” “ Because I can take you anywhere why not a treat-filled wonderland!” “Actually I’d like to go home, my dog’s there waiting for me” “As you wish -- OPEN SESAME!” I felt nothing for a split second then I felt everything -- I was home, thank god. All of a sudden something jumps on me, it’s my German Shepherd Kuzco. “Hi” he said “AHHHH!! You can talk” I exclaim “Yup and woo wee you are amazing.” I need to go back. As I try to go back to see the Key-master, who I am sure is behind this, I run into this brick wall of a person standing right in front of the ladder. “Excuse me where is your pass?” he says in a deep voice. “What pass? When did you get here?!” “Everyone gets a freebee” he says “Now you have to be granted a pass if you want to climb this here ladder.” “Where did that monkey go?!” says a shrill high pitched voice behind me-- “Oh darn! You’ve got to be kidding me I lost him again!”
Kenya Holifield 12th grader
...There I was, the red button stared at me. I was in an Elevator.
Was I dead?
This struck me only when I recalled the light. I pressed the button "mrrrrrrroo" I heard. The elevator went down. "Presto!" I heard, faster it went. Noises popped up all around, voices frightening me. "Hey, where did the monkey go?" Was followed by screams. I was going down, into hell. Those voices were from screaming victims and malicious animals.
*Ding* Third floor! Swim Wear" I heard. However, the door did not open. I was being taunted, it stopped again "Excuse me, where's your pass?" I heard a man say. The elevator continued down, ignoring this mans question that came from outside the doors.
"All aboard!" I heard, what happened then shook me to my core. The doors opened a crack enough to see out as I went down. "Careful, don't eat the jellyfish" I heard as I saw a man go limp after digesting one. His friend was too late. He died slow and painful, only because this place was taunting me by replaying deaths, but more crude.
"Woowhee! You are amazing!" A mans voice seemed to say to me. I was being watched by someone, perhaps suprised I didn't pass out from fear yet.
"I'm the Key Master" the voice said "Only I can unlock these doors."
"Will you?" I asked.
"-Lemonade! A cool and refreshing drink!" "Drink it and I will." He said.
A glass appeared before me, It smelled foul.
This was a trap, and I know now who made it.
Satan wants my soul.
-Dani Van Leer 12th grader
...There were countless doors just seemingly waiting to be opened. Everything was silent as
if my choices would change everything from here on out. I was horrible at making decisions, I refused to move, and the floor sank. I fell face first into a thick liquid I couldn’t quite identify. It was a sticky blue substance that took awhile to get out of but what was in front of me was nothing less than bizarre. Blank space almost, but filled with everything you could imagine. Clothing stores, animals floating, parts of buildings floating in the air as if they were just debris. You name it, there were people even appearing out of nowhere as they made their casual way through this strange world. Suddenly I was dragged by a woman wearing a bright pink petticoat. I didn’t even have a chance to see her face, or speak a word before I was violently pushed into a mass of cold water. I was sinking….and sinking fast. Just before everything above the water’s surface was out of sight, I realized the woman had no face as she seemingly stared down at me through the rippling waters.
-Wai Chan 12th grader
...I'm on the cold ground. It's dark, and I'm lost and confused. Then I come to a sudden realization and presto! A thought as big as a cow infiltrates this room… this night club? There are lights now. Strobing, iridescent lights pulsing throughout this once dark room. It's a swimwear night club. A San Francisco swimwear nightclub. Africa by Toto is playing in the background. This song has been stuck in my head all week and I need to get it out. I begin to sing. Not very well I might add, but singing nonetheless. Then I'm in New York circa 1974. It's nice out here. I see the bright lights all around me and I feel invincible. Like I could easily jump to the moon and back just because I can. I walk towards a corner liquor store with the name “jellyfish don't sleep, they dream”. I am mesmerized by the periwinkle jellyfish in neon light. I'm so mesmerized by this light that I don't notice a skeleton walking up to me. He offers me a good deal on car insurance, but I refuse for obvious reasons. Also because my hand hurts… like really bad. But I ignore it and walk in the store to buy some flowers.
-Bella Nisby 10th grader
Special projects (3rd year amazingly dedicated students...)
What do students do in the visual arts at Willow Glen High? Well, many try out one or more of the courses offered and get a great foundation in that medium. Some push beyond the sample and truly develop into mature and gifted artists. These are the kids who take first year, follow it with advanced, and then choose to take Special Projects; a third year college level course designed to showcase their dedication, talent, and focus. The result gives us an insight as to what drives the student; how they think, and lets us understand how they solve a larger problem in creating work around a theme that is uniquely theirs.
In the Drawing and Painting program this year (2015-16) we are blessed with a handful of extremely dedicated and talented artists. I would like to highlight a couple for you here…
-Mr. Stachnick
In the Drawing and Painting program this year (2015-16) we are blessed with a handful of extremely dedicated and talented artists. I would like to highlight a couple for you here…
-Mr. Stachnick
First we have Maiya Rodocker. Maiya first came into the program as a junior, and she gave incredible efforts with every assignment we presented. She remembers how much she enjoyed the balance of the very stressful junior year, with all the pressure and focus on the academic demands, to be able to come to art and just get a 2 hour time period to create. It was her favorite time of the day and one where she built the most important foundation for art: practice. Art takes time, like any skill to be mastered and she worked hard to gain the results in her work she could be proud of. As a senior, she doubled up, taking advanced one period, while taking on Special Projects another period. The result has been remarkable. She has had opportunity to learn new processes and develop her unique signature style all together. Her work has matured and is coming together in quite the remarkable way. Come out and see her awesome take on the political circus that has been the presidential primaries, and her vision of the world she sees…
Next we have Cheyenne Costa. Perhaps one of the most dedicated students I have ever taught. Cheyenne took first year as a sophomore, advanced as a junior, and is now finishing up Special Projects. Cheyenne does not do social media, she does not binge watch shows on Netflix. She draws. She spends hours a day every day drawing the human form, redrawing arm angles, head tilts, foreshortening and everything she can to understand the figure. I can set students on a path of discovery, but the distance she has covered, and the level of mastery she has achieved is ridiculously awesome, and more accomplished than I have seen. Her images are thought provoking, engaging, visually striking, and completely original.