Congratulations to Visual and Performing Arts students who have advanced to the second round of Governor’s School for the Arts! PRP has five students who have made it through the competitive first round:
Leyre Corrales Garciga / Drama
Isabella Kaelin / Drama
Roscoe Lee / Creative Writing
Ca’Miyah Martin / Creative Writing
Emma Price / Visual Art
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recently awarded the PRP Pulse a REALM Award with a “First Class” ranking– it’s highest award! The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. REALM is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing.
National judges complete the first round of judging. Judging is based on a point system. The total points awarded to magazines determine placement in one of the following categories:
REALM First Class (90-100 points)
Superior (82-89 points)
Excellent (75-81 points)
Distinguished (68-74 points)
Honorable Mention (67 or fewer points)
The Pulse features the work of student writers, artists and photographers, and the project is guided by the collaboration of Creative Writing teacher Judy Scott-Berger and Visual Art teacher Denise Webb.
Results are announced in January and posted on the NCTE website. Schools receive a certificate denoting their award, which is sent to the advisor of the school’s literary magazine. In addition, the names of the student editors, literary advisor, and school appear on the NCTE website.
The following Visual Art students have received awards in the 2024 Scholastic Regional Art Competition:
Samantha Vega, GOLD KEY/Painting
Sam’s artwork will be on view at KMAC Museum in downtown Louisville through February, and will advance to national judging in New York City.
Jamaal McClain, SILVER KEY/Art Portfolio
Ryan Dallum, SILVER KEY, Mixed Media
Malaigh Gray, SILVER KEY/Ceramics
Serenity Harris, SILVER KEY/Ceramics
Jamaal McClain, SILVER KEY, Ceramics
Layla Hendrickson, 2 Honorable Mentions, Fashion
SILVER KEY & HONORABLE MENTION artworks will be on view at UofL’s Hite Gallery on Belknap Campus through Mar. 8, 2024.
Way to go Panthers!
PRP Senior, Jamaal McClain, was awarded second place in the 2023 MLK State Commission Student Art Contest. He created an artwork based upon the theme: “Stronger together in unity ’til victory is won.” He was invited to the celebration held in Frankfort at the Kentucky History Center, on Jan. 11, where he was greeted by KY Governor Steve Beshear, and other state officials. Congrats Jay!
Just in time for the holidays, PRP Art students partnered with a local shop, The Well Coffee Company, to create one of a kind coffee sleeves to spread cheer and positivity in the community. The Well Coffee Co. is located on New Cut Rd., across from Iroquois Park (formerly Sister Bean’s). The project came at the perfect time, by way of PRP substitute teacher, Wendy Gordon. Wendy is friends with Pat Stayton, owner. He asked her if we could help and offered to provide the sleeves and art supplies for the project. In all, over 500 sleeves were created. Students came up with hundreds of designs, from doodles to intricate drawings, inspirational quotes, and messages of kindness. The sleeves were a hit, and before we knew what happened, WLKY news crew asked to come to interview students in our class! Now there are other local schools who want to help. It looks like we may have started something good:-)
To learn more, check out the WLKY news story below:-)
The PRP NAHS Chapter has been hard at work this year! Club members voted to participate in the PRP Red Hots Dance Team’s Holiday Craft Fair, held in early December. Club member hand-painted ceramic ornaments and terra cotta flower pots with unique designs. Flower pots were then glazed and fired, to create a gloss finish.
A small group of upper-level students created portraits again this year for The Memory Project.
The Memory Project is a youth arts organization that promotes intercultural understanding and kindness between children around the world.
“The Memory Project gets its name from its first intention, which was to provide handmade, heartfelt portraits as special memories to children in orphanages. Now our intention has expanded to touching the lives of youth around the world facing many types of challenges, while opening our hearts and minds so they can touch ours in return. Together we are using art to reach a distant destination: a kinder world in which all youth see themselves in one another regardless of differences in their appearance, culture, religion, or circumstances.” –Ben Shumaker, Founder
This year the Memory Project matched PRP art students with children in displaced by violence in Columbia. Students worked from photographs, along with personal insights provided by the children, such as their favorite color or toy. It was a very quick turnaround to fit them in between our other projects this fall, but they did a beautiful job on their artwork. The best part was to see the heartwarming video of Ben delivering the portraits to the children–students experienced the joy of giving something of themselves to make someone else happy. Students who took part in the project are already asking if we can do more. I’d say, Mission Accomplished!
During October, PRP Visual Art students learned how to spin fibers learned about the history and art of weaving during an in-school workshop taught by Little Loomhouse teaching artists Norma Drisch and Michelle Amos, who is also director of the fiber arts education organization. Students made small weavings on their lap looms and collaborated to create a large weaving with Anti-Bullying messages on a “friendship” loom. Students thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and were fully engaged in the lessons each day.
Little Loomhouse is a local landmark located on Kenwood Hill near Iroquois Park. It’s a local gem and a treasure in Louisville’s south end. Thanks to a grant made possible by Louisville Downtown Partnership, Little Loomhouse and Fund for the Arts, PRP students were the lucky recipients of a two week in-school workshop! The grant provided all the materials, teaching artists, two tabletop looms and lap looms for all the students who participated. Thank you Little Loomhouse!
Visual Art students started the 2023-24 school year with a project to create large scale artworks inspired by Mammoth Cave National Park in south central Kentucky. More than a cave, Mammoth Cave National Park is home to thousands of years of human history and a rich diversity of plant and animal life, earning it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve. Karst topography, rolling hills, deep river valleys, and the world’s longest known cave system, Mammoth Cave captured the attention of students and inspired student artists as they created paintings, fiber art, drawings and mixed media works depicting scenes from their research.
All 2D Visual Art classes participated in the project, and a selection of works are included in an exhibit at the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor’s Center through January, 2024. Congratulations to all!
PRP Visual Art + Design / Ms. Webb 