LIBERTY HIGH SCHOOL Imagination takes wing

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- It looks a bit like a swan with flowing wings and a wind-ruffled tail.
Or, it will.
Maybe.
The Liberty High School art students crafting the 18-foot-by-17-foot creature out of metal, chicken wire and papier-m & acirc;ch & eacute; aren't sure how it's going to turn out.
But if their drawings and plans pan out, it will be a creature fit for a story-book tale -- and a high school foyer.
"It's going to be fun. It's real whimsical," said school art teacher Jody Nudell. "Hopefully, they'll get into a lot of color."
Once finished, the sculpture will hang in the high school's entrance area, below its high ceiling and skylight. The project was funded with a grant of about $1,000 from the SHOPA Foundation for Educational Excellence.
How they did it
Nudell showed drawings that each of the nine students in the senior art class made in preparation for the sculpture, tentatively named "Spirits Soar." They started with several thumbnail sketches to get ideas before each created a design and moved on to final ideas with measurements.
Some are abstract with flowing designs, others have more rigid outlines.
We took the tail from this one," Nudell said, pointing to one of the designs before picking up another and another. "We used this part from this one along the back of the beast. The body came from this one."
Students then took a field trip to Youngstown State University's sculpture department, where Pat Hyland, a student teacher working with Nudell's class, created the framework from metal, illustrating to the students how such armatures are made.
The scene
In a studio area of the high school art room Friday, Samantha Lallo and Scott Rogers, both 17, dipped large pieces of white paper in a watery paste and placed them onto chicken wire wrapped around a metal form.
"I don't like the glue," Samantha said, her hands dripping.
"We're hoping we can get done soon so we can paint it," added Shana Lohr, 17, agreeing with Samantha. "It's real messy. I'd rather paint it. And the chicken wire was real rough. We have scratches everywhere."
"But it was worth it," Samantha said.
The five-week project began as the brainstorm of Hyland. The sculptor -- he holds a bachelor's of fine arts in sculpture from Kent State University -- is now working toward a degree in art education at YSU. He also has helped students make sculpture projects in other Liberty schools.
Biggest project
It's also not the first project the seniors have worked on together. They created a clay mural in the school cafeteria and painted sidewalks along an Interstate 80 overpass leading to the school, decorating it with Liberty Leopard paw prints.
But, the students said, this project is the biggest they've done together. And they had to trust one another more this time, hoping their designs would work to create a whole soaring spirit.
David Stein, 18, said the project has taught him that "glue stinks," a remark bringing laughter from the others.
On a more serious note, Holly Brekoski, 17, said the group has also learned to work together.
Others in the class agreed. Sarah Troiano, 18, said the group managed to finish more than half of the creature's body on their first day of papier-m & acirc;ch & eacute; work.
"It's fun," added Olga Khlypovka, 17. "For the first time I actually feel like we're working as a team."