Niwot High Artside event blanketed with red and raku

During the morning of May 14, eight teams, each consisting of three to five Niwot High School students, took part in the school's annual outdoor chalk art event called Artside, as in art outside.

The outdoor area near the school's main entrance not only held the bustling activity of chalk art but also included ceramics students doing an outdoor raku firing process, led by instructor Kyle Rees.

As students worked on their artistic creations, the student tech crew also added to the Artside ambiance by piping music through a loudspeaker and taking song requests.

Art instructor Crystal Hinds, the staff organizer for Artside, said that the event is open to all students, not just art students.

Hinds said she chooses a different theme each year and searches for famous paintings to follow the theme, and as teams sign up for the event, they pick the piece they want to recreate using chalk.

During the event, teams drew their recreations on a large display panel, which later allowed staff and students to move the panels and exhibit them at the school's entrance.

For this year's event, Hinds said she chose the theme of "red," and explained the impetus as, "'Cause I have way too much red chalk," she said.

The student team of Ali Kraut, Peter Rosen, Cas Clark, and Jocelyn Lara Serrano exclaimed in unison, "It's fun!" as their reason for being allured to the event.

With the added benefit of skipping classes, Lara Serrano commented, "I'm not exactly good at art, so I just didn't really join [last year], but once I learned that really anyone can join and just have fun with their friends,...I'm glad I got to join this year."

The team recreated "The Dream" by Picasso, a piece familiar to Rosen. "It's kind of just cool in the catalog, but it's also been hanging in my house for like ever, like since I was born," said Rosen.

Ceramic creations were also part of the event. As part of the techniques involving raku firing, students taking ceramics built "nests" of combustible materials, using twigs, twisted paper, and wood chips, and as their glazed and unglazed pieces came out of the kiln and were placed on their nest, students would smolder their burning piece using a coffee can, and then quench their ware in a bucket of water.

The method of sudden temperature changes and smoldering resulted in unique surface variations for their pieces.

As another technique in creating unique surface patterns, some students applied or painted their pieces with horse hair after they came out of the kiln.

After experiencing the raku firing technique, ceramic student Cesia Olivas summed it up for many by saying, "Well, I was a little nervous at first, just 'cause like it was involving heat, but honestly, I feel like it wasn't too hard and it was pretty fun."

Hinds said Artside is a great way to culminate the school year of art activities, and remarked that she will miss the outgoing class of senior art students.

When asked if she will cry when bidding farewell to the seniors, she said, "I will try not to."