A-Plus Art

Fayetteville-Manlius High art students continue the school’s success at the Scholastic Art Awards

Lunchtime at the Fayetteville-Manlius High School art wing is not the typical scenario. Instead of empty and quiet studios, songs from varied groups such as The Smiths and Panic! At The Disco fill the atmosphere as students come in and out to work on their art. 

“I have so many students who come during their lunch period,” says Ellen Haffar, an art teacher who’s been working at the high school for 17 years. “They bring their lunch and we understand that if they didn’t do that they couldn’t take an art elective.” 

The hard work has definitely paid off for approximately 200 F-M students whose effort was recognized by the Scholastic Art Awards this year. For almost 90 years the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the organization behind the Scholastic Art Awards, has been supporting the arts all over the United States.  

Thirteen counties form the Central New York region: Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, Cortland, Cayuga, Chenango, Delaware, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Otsego, St. Lawrence and Herkimer. This year the coordinators received roughly 300 portfolio submissions and more than 3,000 individual pieces from students in grades 7 to 12 from almost 90 schools throughout Central New York, says Terri Konu, Scholastic Art Awards coordinator for the region. 

“I’m not a trained artist but I’m just blown away with what these kids produce every year,” Konu says. “It’s remarkable.”  

While the F-M district has had a consistently high number of winning students every year, this time they broke the record. The students took home 252 awards, among those, 67 Gold Keys, the highest recognition at the regional level. That’s 25 percent of the total Gold Keys that were handed out this year, according to Len Eichler, F-M district art coordinator. In particular, F-M High School students received 57 of those 67 Gold Keys. 

The students have talent—that’s obvious—but what sets this district apart from others is the art program. “From day one in kindergarten the teachers all really work hard to focus on the students’ needs and learning styles, help them grow as artists,” Eichler says. “When they reach their senior year, they’re incredible artists.” 

For the students at F-M High School, the secret is that the program is individualized for each of their styles and artistic needs. “We learn a lot more than just how to draw; we learn organization and how to stay on top of things because everything we do is self-motivated,” says Sawyer Konys, a senior who received a Silver Key for his fine art portfolio, and a Gold Key for his photography portfolio. “We don’t have deadlines or assignments so everything you do has to be self-motivated.” 

Like most of the F-M art teachers, Haffar is an accomplished, practicing artist. She earned her bachelor of fine arts at SUNY New Paltz and a master’s degree in art education at Syracuse University. Her paintings, inspired by nature and the environment that surrounds her, have been exhibited at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, Onondaga County Central Library, Limestone Art and Framing Gallery, and the National Arts Club in New York City. 

The art program at F-M High School gives room for a lot of flexibility and autonomy. Some students, such as senior Anna Fields, appreciate this the most. “It’s almost like they’ve created an outlet for us,” she explains. “It’s a place you can go to let everything out and completely express yourself.” 

The sense of freedom also helped Emily Dibble, a senior who received a Gold Key for her fine arts portfolio. She feels at home in the studio; so much so that she takes off her shoes when she’s working, something she doesn’t do in any other class.  

“My home is one of those homes where you take off your shoes when you come in, and {the studio} is also my home,” Dibble says. “It’s part of my process. If I’m painting with my shoes on, it throws me off.” 

Konys, Fields and Dibble, as well as many other winning students, are part of Haffar’s class. She has had the opportunity to work with the same group of students for four consecutive years because it coincided with her taking over an advanced class. “It’s like we’ve been through all of high school together,” Haffar says. “It really is a special group for me.” 

She gives students freedom and an individualized experience by using a different grading system. “If you come in every day and you give it everything you’ve got, then your grade will take care of itself,” she says. “I suppose you could call that effort, but I call it studio attitude.” 

While this might seem like a lax method to handle a class filled with teenagers, Haffar hasn’t had a single student skip a class so far this year. “I take attendance every day but they always come,” she says.  

The relaxed environment in Haffar’s class has a deeper purpose: to encourage experimentation. She believes that if students are risking a grade they will not feel confident to try new things because “experiments sometimes fail.” 

Eichler says this approach not only has artistic benefits but also personal-growth importance for the students. “They learn to solve problems, to communicate their perceptions and ideas, to use their imagination,” he notes. “It’s a process of growing and maturing and
becoming confident.” 

By the end of their junior year, the students have art portfolios not only for the Scholastic Art Awards, but also for their college applications. “We’ve had a lot of feedback from students that their art portfolio helped them to get into more competitive schools because it gave them something that the other students didn’t have,” Haffar says. 

Furthermore, she says the portfolios have also helped students get “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in scholarship funds even if they’re not pursuing an
art degree. 

All the 2012 Gold Key pieces from the Central New York art region will be displayed until March 2 at Onondaga Community College’s Whitney Applied Technology Center, 4941 Onondaga Road. For more information, call 498-2787.