West Mifflin schools celebrate ‘ARTcember’

The district is making an effort to showcase the artistic talents of its students at every grade level.

“ARTcember” is one of the many themes that West Mifflin Area School District has been implementing this year.

The district has been making a special effort to showcase the artistic talents of its students with visual displays and holiday music all month long.

Dr. Jeffrey Solomon, assistant superintendent, said the concept was formed from the idea of getting students from kindergarten through 12th grade on the same page, along with the families and staff.

Administrators came up with STEAMtember three months ago and went from there — emphasizing their theme of “Titan Evolution” to create a culture for student growth and success.

“The amount of things that we have implemented over the last three years, I’m very proud of, and it’s just amazing some of the hard work individuals have put in,” Solomon said. “Everybody has been a great component of the team. It’s a really good environment right now.”

This month’s theme was to highlight the arts throughout the district, whether that be music or ceramics or gallery art.

Art gallery

On Dec. 22, there was a private grand opening of the Titan Art Gallery. Sponsored by the Titan art club, the gallery gives students the opportunity to display and sell their art like a gallery in a real-world setting.

High school art teacher, club sponsor and local visual artist Zachary Rutter said district administrators approached him at the beginning of the year about the idea of starting a gallery to showcase the talented artists in the district.

“Everything that we do here is part of career readiness,” Solomon said. “Anything we can do to help a club or help a student learn, that’s what we want to focus on. And of course, we want to make sure we can do as much as we can on our own without affecting the general budget or of course taxpayers at the end of the day.”

A district-wide coloring contest for all grades was held in December, and shirts were given out.

A West Mifflin alumnus, Rutter added that the month has been “huge” for putting out artwork.

The reason why they didn’t open the gallery to the public right away is because the art is being displayed at the new performing arts center after the auditorium caught on fire last December.

Solomon said several repairs have been done following the incident, and their goal is to open up the area again in February, with the gallery opening as well.

“When we have that opening, we are going to have a grand celebration of that because it will be a totally new environment in there,” Solomon said. “So much work has been done. The good thing was the place was mostly gutted for renovations when the fire started, so everybody has been on the edge of their seats for the grand reopening.”

Since the auditorium area is closed right now, Rutter said hundreds of pieces of art are being displayed in the middle school auditorium lobby where all the concerts took place this month.

“That’s the typical way we display artwork, so the gallery itself is formally framed and hung as if it were an actual gallery exhibition,” he said. “It’s really taking high school art up to a professional level and getting these kids career ready for a potential career in art after high school.”

According to Rutter, club members decided which art to display, framed them and put the whole thing together.

The gallery has 10 works from the art department and 10 pieces from the photography department. Students from introduction to art to advanced art are being showcased.

“There is a variety,” Rutter added. “The advanced artists are completely independent, so they come to the teachers with the designs and the ideas that they have. So those pieces are very unique in comparison to some of the other ones. There is a nice, eclectic variety of work involved.”

Some of the other pieces are from class projects that were selected because they stood out, according to Rutter, and the pieces are inspired by different types of art.

There were about eight volunteers who helped Rutter frame all the photographed replicas of the pieces so the students could take their work home. They will eventually be able to take the prints home as well.

“We spent a whole day cutting out the pieces of the work, framing all the pieces and setting them up the way they want them to be seen,” Rutter said. “The process for selecting the artwork was all three of the high school art teachers had a say in what pieces, and then the administration just approved it.”

Rutter said the biggest goal with ARTcember was to make sure these students are ready for life after high school, adding that they are fortunate to have teachers who are professional artists as well.

“I really want to bring a level of professionalism to this Titan Art Gallery, and I am just ecstatic to see something like this go into the school,” Rutter said. “I wish we had something like that when I was a student, for sure. They have done such a great job of unveiling ARTcember for the month of December.”

Musical, festive performances

There were several musical performances throughout the month of December to go along with the month’s theme.

Dec. 9 was the middle school orchestra concert, Dec. 11 was the middle school band concert, Dec. 12 was the Clara Barton elementary Christmas concert, Dec. 12 was a high school choir concert, Dec. 17 was the middle school/high school choir concert and Dec. 18 was the Homeville elementary holiday concert.

High school choir director Melissa Prutz said the high school show choir also performed at the St. Elizabeth seniors’ Christmas luncheon at Salvatore’s Events and Catering in Baldwin.

According to Prutz, they are invited every year by the St. Elizabeth seniors around the holidays and in the spring. The show choir sang 10 holiday favorites that they danced to.

The group also went to personal care homes Grandview Estates of Elizabeth and Sycamore Estate in Duquesne to entertain the residents there as well.

“I have been doing this (with the kids) for over 20 years now, and for 20 years, we have been visiting various nursing homes in the area,” Prutz said. “We always try to go to at least two or three if we can over the holiday season.”

Prutz said she and the students love to entertain senior citizens and residents of personal care homes because they see the joy on their faces.

“We see their smiles, them singing along, clapping along,” she added. “It’s just a very important aspect to my students’ education of how music can impact others, and how they can use music to bring joy to others. I use it as a service project to the community as well.”

The group is going to partner up with both personal care homes to make visits in the spring, according to Prutz, to either make crafts or sing for the residents. The goal is to bring joy to their lives.

Prutz is also a sponsor for the high school’s Tri-M Music Honor Society chapter, and they will be visiting these residents as well.

According to the Tri-M website, the chapters open up a world of opportunities for students who are academically capable and musically gifted through performance and community service.

Prutz said ARTcember for the music department has been a great way for the students to get involved in the community.

“I think this is a great idea. It’s nice to feature different departments,” Prutz said. “There’s a lot of ways that our administration is getting different departments involved in the community and within our schools.

“I just think it’s an outstanding idea. It teaches kids so much more interpersonal skills and communication skills and overall, to help others. In today’s day and age, we need to be there for each other, and I think this is a good lesson for our students to learn.”