LOS ALAMITIOS,CA — Los Alamitos High School has built an astonishing art program filled with students who are dedicated to creating art pieces and accomplishing assignments to the best of their abilities. When outside audiences walk into an art room on the school’s campus, they will witness students working with various supplies, walking around the room gathering materials to enhance drawings, and will even catch a glimpse of students’ creative and articulate artwork.

What have Los Al’s art classes been up to?

Art teachers Mrs. Maher and Mrs. Crutchfield are currently working together to guide students into thinking outside of the box and making different projects. In past years they have had students work on charcoal projects, water color paintings, and detailed hand artworks. In the future, Mrs. Maher and Mrs. Cruthfield are thinking about bringing in an abstract expressionism project that involves creating art from students’ unconscious minds and adding a surrealist approach.

“In a way it is like dancing, when someone starts moving to the beat,” Mrs. Crutchfield said. “We paint on our tables using brushes, sticks, and fingers, and then print the outcome onto sheets of paper. With this project, I’m expecting a lot of joyful exploration.” 

Mrs. Maher’s AP Art class just finished working on a cardboard project where students got to choose an image they wanted to paint on cardboard and explore by working with something different than just a canvas.

“We are working larger than the students are normally comfortable making,” Mrs. Maher said. “They’re these huge pieces where we’re cutting into and painting, so it’s been a fun way to set off for this year. It’d be my favorite one for this year so far.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Layla Martinez

A cardboard art project and free choice painting piece by Megan Mclaughlin .

The impact drawing and painting has on students

Art is a way to get students engaged in a different way than they would in a traditional classroom setting. Students are able to express themselves through their artwork and transfer all of the ideas in their brains onto the canvas. When an artists’ work is viewed, people genuinely feel something. Whatever the emotion is, artwork leaves people feeling a certain way. 

 “Art has allowed me creative freedom to express my creativity on a canvas. Art class overall has given me a place to relax and escape from the pressures of school and classes,” said Olivia Cooks, a senior and former student from Mrs. Maher’s class.

 “Art is a way to help people get out of dark places,” said senior Finn Minton. He is currently in the AP Drawing and Painting class and shared that he is constantly working on new sketches and painting in his free time.                           

“Art is inspiring to me because it allows people to challenge their perspectives, evoke deep emotions, and express their innermost thoughts,” said Megan Mclaughlin, also in AP Drawing and Painting. She mentioned that she has made some paintings both inside the class and outside in her free time.

By getting to take a deeper dive into the AP Drawing and Painting classes here at Los Al, they show how the school values their arts just as much as their academics.