BERLIN ART DEPARTMENT
Berlin Central School District's PreK-12 Visual Arts Department - Cherry Plain, NY
Berlin CSD offers 4 different extracurricular
activities for our art students:
Art Club, OVA, NAHS and HS YEARBOOK COMMITTEE!
Read details about each below.
Art Clubs (BES & MS/HS)
BES Art Club meets afterschool for 3rd-5th graders each month! See Ms. MacDonald for more info and specific info about signing up!
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MS/HS ART CLUB meets afterschool once or twice a month throughout the year. The goal of Art Club changes each year. Join the Schoology Group to see dates and information for this year. Art Club is a MS/HS club for any students in Grades 6-12. Art Club’s offered activities change every year (and sometimes every month), but have included such tasks as painting school hallway murals, clay tutorials and nature photography. Students can also come and use art supplies for their own individual projects of interest as well. Students can come to one club meeting, a few or all! There is no mandatory monthly attendance to join. Students can sign up for Art Club every month on the “Art News” board in the Art, Music & Technology Wing across from the art room doors. Students also must sign up for their own late bus home. All dates and information about Art Club can be found on the “Art News” Board and on the “Art Club” group on Schoology.
Olympics of the Visual Arts (OVA)
OVA is a statewide art competition hosted by the New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA). OVA is an extracurricular program for art students all across New York State. In the Fall, OVA presents a series of art “problems” for students to solve in a challenging & creative way. In April, Berlin competes with districts all across the state to win prizes and awards!
The “long-term problem” is the piece of artwork students work on throughout the year. The categories are: Architecture, Photography, Fashion Design, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Illustration and Typography Design. The “spontaneous problem” is the artwork students “solve” together on-the-spot when they’re at the state competition in April! Each participating school district may enter only one solution for each problem, in each grade level group, at the State Competition. If more than one solution is achieved, the Berlin Art Department selects the most appropriate solution for State competition. All pieces need to be complete by March.
OVA is open to all grade levels, but each OVA member (or group of members) are responsible to schedule their own time afterschool with an art teacher and/or at home to work on their “long-term problems” and get ready for the competition! Upperclassmen can also compete in OVA as part of their class assignments in some of the higher-level art courses we offer at Berlin.
More information is available at www.nysata.org, in the OVA group on Schoology and on the “Art News” board in the Art, Music & Technology Wing.
National Art Honor Society (NAHS)
In 2012-2013, Berlin High School instated our first chapter of NAHS! It is a nationally recognized society for students involved in The Arts. High School students need to have successfully completed at least one HS art course and receive a recommendation from their art teacher to be eligible to join. Their duties include fundraising for art-related causes, community service, sponsor and prepare for the annual Art Shows, organize field trips and work with younger children in the community on art-related projects. NAHS also sponsors many “Paint N’ Pizza Nights” throughout the year for the community, as a fundraiser for Art Club & Yearbook. There are once-monthly meetings either during Advisory time or afterschool. This is an active society and those students who have fulfilled their required service are officially inducted into the society in May. There is an NAHS group on Schoology for society members, as well as information posted on the “Art News” board in the Art, Music & Technology Wing.
Since its creation, NAHS has accomplished many of these goals:
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Field trips to various college, museums and galleries to investigate college life and The Arts in the outside world.
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A wall mural in the Art, Music & Technology Wing.
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Collecting supply drives, such as an Essentials donations to the Capital City Rescue Mission in Albany, Pet Supplies for the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and art supplies for children in need at Albany Medical Center.
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Cookie Jars donations to the Capital City Rescue Mission or the Unity House in Troy where each resident family received a jar of cookie making ingredients and a gift card for the butter and eggs.
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NAHS’ Artwork was featured in a Calendar fundraiser for Art Club.
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Empty Bowls-type fundraisers for the capital area food pantries.
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Sponsoring and hanging the Student Art Exhibit at the annual "Night of the Arts" at the Middle/High School, as well as organizing and hosting the whole evening.
