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"I think I'm inspired by my favorite dinosaurs like the plesiosaurs. It reminded me of a dragon. I like to create make-believe things that come together in a mythical world. I work hard to draw animals."

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Did you know middle school science teacher Mr. Parks is a metal artist? He spends his free time breathing new life into recycled factory parts, welding them into incredible sculptures. He recently debuted his latest creation: our very own mascot, Erie! It’s a fantastic example of how "junk" can be transformed into meaningful art through a little imagination and a lot of skill.

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May 2026 - Mr. Parks (Middle School Science Teacher) 

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May 2026 - Mr. Parks (Middle School Science Teacher) 

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Do you have a passion for creating? We would love to celebrate your talent! We are looking for our next Artist of the Month to feature in an upcoming school newsletter. Whether you’ve been making art for years or just started a new hobby, we want to see what you’re working on. Click on the link above to submit your work!

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Apply to be the next artist of the month! 

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Apply to be the next artist of the month! 

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Digital Art students were asked to come up with a unique business idea and create a logo for it using words and simple images/icons. Ms. Raisanen was impressed by Aliya’s dedication to sketching drafts and making the best work she could! Read her story below!                                                                                     “The Snake is a business that sells snakes. This business was founded on 2/23/26. The owner (Aliyah L.) was really into snakes. She even liked reptiles. She turned her business into an exhibit so she can help the other reptile lovers fulfill their dreams. The exhibit sells reptiles, food and toys! They started buying and things started selling out fast. The business was going successful until everything sold out. The others were refusing to sell her snakes. So, she had to close down due to low items. The building was revamped and turned into a Walmart.”

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“I started with my original lake photograph and created a digital collage by layering additional visual elements into the scene. I sourced the added images from royalty-free/Creative Commons image sites and then used digital editing tools to composite everything together. I adjusted the lighting, blending, color tones, and placement so it felt cohesive and visually balanced.”

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Jaime A. proves that creativity isn’t limited by expensive equipment, she creates her vibrant pieces using just her finger and the ibisPaint X app on her phone. Much of her work is inspired by her love for the series Inanimate Insanity, where she brings her favorite characters to life through dedicated fan art. Her work is a fantastic example of how passion and a little digital ingenuity can turn an everyday device into a powerful canvas.

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While creating this art piece, I learned that if I blend the colors and make a replica of an object, it always seems to look better. I like how it was digitally made by me on an app called Sketchbook. I also enjoyed the use of a wide variety of tools. I started with a blank screen and mapped out the colors and design I was gonna do. In the end, it looked around 85-95% alike. I love nature and it's organisms, so I decided to create a landscape with animals.

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"For this portrait, I struggled with drawing the eyes and getting the spacing between them right. Through the process, I learned an easier way to draw eyes when I find them difficult. It was really fun to work on this piece since I had been wanting to draw this person on my own time, and this assignment gave me the chance to do it. Even though I think I could improve, I'm happy with how it turned out."

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"This photo was my first project in digital photography. We were asked to recreate a famous photo using basic skills that we had learned up to that point in the course. I chose the photo "Mick Jagger in a Fur Parka" by Terry O'Neill. I used my sister to recreate the photo and I enjoyed the challenge of working with lighting and photo editing. We had fun working on the assignment and at times it was challenging for my sister to stay serious while recreating the same expression."

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"My cats, Darwin and Winston, are two of the most important things in my life, and I wanted to use them for this project. The most difficult thing about taking these pictures was getting them to stay still and getting the sunlight to be just right."

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"I decided to do a coffee spill for my still life drawing, with strawberries and a flower on the side to look as if the table was originally set up for a dinner / date. Something I learned while making this piece was that I'm way too critical of my own art. There were several times (throughout the entire art class too) where I felt like I didn't like my drawing, that it was "bad" looking, or I doubted my ability to draw because, in my eyes, I felt like I could do better. However, when I showed other people my art, I got complimented and told that it was an amazing work, and I think by being artist of the month really boosted the confidence I have in my artwork and made me realize that my artwork is what others would consider "good," I just have more room to improve. A challenge I faced while working on this was how much I would erase things and redraw them, almost as if I felt like it needed to be perfect, even though it didn't need to be."

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"The most challenging part of this art project was figuring out what I wanted my subject to be. I tried to pick something that could easily include both organic and geometric shapes, and would also have a variety of colors. I chose to draw a cat because it had a simple design filled with organic shapes, and it added a nice pop of orange to the overall piece. I really enjoyed making this project and am very thankful for the opportunity!"

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“My art assignment was to create 3 pictures of stained glass art. Each picture was supposed to represent the different types of balance, symmetrical balance, asymmetrical balance and radial balance. We got to choose the design for our stained glass, I chose my three favorite flowers. I had a challenging time trying to draw the flower pedals but once I was done, I love d the finish product!” 

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"I took these photos because I love nature and animals. I like taking hikes in nature. Also I have a forest in my backyard that I can easily go hike in, and take pretty pictures of the nature there."

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For the portfolio assignment on perspective drawing, I designed a small downtown scene that I titled, Main Street. It is designed to look like the original part of a small town with historical buildings in a row like Eaton Rapids, or Leslie, Michigan. During the process, I learned how to measure and anchor my paper on the drawing board and create geographic shapes with a T-square and Triangle rulers. The most challenging part was remembering when to draw vertical and horizontal lines vs when to draw from the perspective point. My favorite part was adding in the little details like sewers, signs and trashcans to make it feel like a real sidewalk scene.

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"My drawing is a bundle of star shaped grapes. I felt like if they were star shaped they would seem more appealing to eat." 

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"For this assignment, I just really focused on the shadows when recreating the photo. What drew me to the photo was the simplicity of it. The shadows with the black and white called to me. I am not really into abstract art so the fact that the fork and plate are common real items drew me in."

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Growing up I always loved drawing and making different types of art in school. When I went to college I got to take all different types of art making for my education program. Currently, I have been playing with mixed media art, combining drawing, painting and collage techniques to create fun, colorful pieces with some realism and some abstract textures. My all time favorite thing to make are sketchbooks- they are blank inside- I create the actual book by cutting, folding then binding the pages together. 

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“The assignment was to recreate a famous or iconic photo. 
I picked the sensational Lime Lips that gained popularity in 2016. I chose to recreate that particular photo because of the meme behind it. I had my sister put lipstick on and picked up a pack of 
limes from the grocery store, and took the photo."

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"I've been drawing for around 8 years, and what inspires my drawings are my emotions. I've been pushed to learn and improve my realism in this course."

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   "Hi my name is Faith, I'm an artist and I've been professionally drawing for 5 years. I started drawing at about age 2 but I've been selling my art since 2020. I draw for my mental health and it's gotten me through a lot of mental and physically hard times. My dream job is to become a tattoo artist to help others with my art like it's helped me over the years. I draw realism in black and gray although I do dabble in other art styles. This GLLA art course has helped me crisp up my skills with my art career and I've even learned a few new things that I didn't know before."

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"I've learned a lot about my art and how I represent myself throughout my artwork. I usually find game characters that I relate to, and then draw them doing whatever! For example, I draw Tails a lot because I have a strong relation to that character and how he was treated. It has a deep connection to me in most of my drawings, but some of them have no meaning at all other than to look dumb or cool. This drawing I'm using here is Mono. He wears a a paper bag because it's a way to hide himself from the world and the people in it. I relate to him because I'm very insecure and whenever I go outside, I always try to cover up as much as I can. I absolutely despise how I look at times and I'm always afraid for people judging me for what I like or don't."

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“This was one of the first acrylic paintings I took serious and did on a canvas, I love nature and enjoy painting water because it has many details but isn't difficult to work with. I enjoy painting clouds especially when analyzing how the sun works with the clouds to make the painting look realistic.” Top Right: “I had never ever painted a snow or night scene so to do both in one was a big step for me and I like to challenge myself in painting, I thought it would be really difficult to paint the dimensions of snow but it was enjoyable and educational as well, I love the peacefulness of a snowy empty night, remembering every cold breath, it's poetic.” Bottom Right: “I love flowers, and saw this picture of bottles with flowers painted on them, and wanted to see if I could capture it with painting like the person did with a camera, and most of the work was trying to get the background to look like fabric and the glass to reflect correctly. I like the gold and pink accents that contrast the glass and grey.”

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"I really liked doing this assignment because I didn't get to just look at really authentic pictures, I also got to learn about the natural causes of the Depression era and how it triggered the government to become aware of the effects and helped not just the family but everyone going through starvation. The statement is true - a picture really can say a thousand words." 

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For this assignment, students were tasked with creating a design that showed a variety of lines. Austin explained how she came up with her idea-"This design came from me just putting a pencil on a piece of paper, and it came alive. Just have to have an open mind and a blank piece of paper."

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In Intro to drawing, students learned how to draw using a grid. They were tasked with drawing a portrait freehand then with a grid. Afterwards, students reflected on both processes. Skylar learned that "The benefits of the process of drawing with a grid is the ability to have the exact measurements of the drawing and being able to use the grid to reference off of. I found that it actually looked similar to the reference and I thought it looked way better than without the grid."