On March 9, a Saturday morning, the North Forsyth High School ceramics class attended an awards ceremony at LaGrange University for the Georgia High School Art Exhibition and Symposium. Teachers and students from all schools across Georgia were invited to take part in hands-on workshops, with subjects including slip transfers, mold making, sculpting from life, sgraffito and many other creative ways to make art on sculptures. Students at North who attended this exhibition were Joel Edmondson, Celeste Montero, Ashley Aeschliman, Sophia Eglian, Mikayla Turner, Halle Hennessey and Brittney Barth. One of North’s art teachers, Amy Henke, accompanied the students on a two-hour long drive to the college campus.

“We had a lot of professional ceramics professors from Georgia colleges to teach the students, which was cool,” Mrs. Henke states, proud of her students.

One unique art technique the students learned was raku firing, which consisted of firing a clay object with metals and flammable substances so the object could catch fire. This created a burnt, metallic effect that amazed Mrs. Henke as she created one herself. All students took part in amazing activities and got to keep their creations as memorable souvenirs from their trip. Awards were given out to students who placed top and later pizza was served for lunch.

As they ended their trip, they had the opportunity to view famous pieces of artwork in the gallery displayed at LaGrange, which hopefully inspired many of North’s young artists.