The judges look up at the vibrant green, pink, and orange colors in front of them. They start to realize that picking the best painted record player would be harder than expected. There is a variety of designs in front of them, including animals, music notes, and people hugging at a concert. The students have used the theme of the competition, “Band Together,” in a creative way to express their artistic skills.
This fall, a new competition has been brought to Highlands High School. The art club is participating in the Crosley Cruiser Record Player Competition. The members have been given the opportunity to come together in a unique and complex way. Each person participant brings their own ideas to the table, anxiously awaiting to start creating a unique design.
Art teacher Andrew Eckerle is an advisor for this project alongside fellow art teacher Stephanie Beiting.
“I’m really excited to see them come up from their basic design, and in the end, the product, and see how well they worked together,” Eckerle said.
The students have finally voted on which design they like the best out of the three created.
“I really think the design with the several animals on the front is going, that one’s my favorite design because I really like how uh, how it shows that although they are different, they are similar in other ways and can collaborate,” Said Avery Nieporte (12) a student in art club helping design the record player.
The design that won was so unique that the art club could not pass it up, even though it was not quite on theme. They decided to collaborate on every student’s ideas together to create one design, including other ideas that were not discussed originally. The final design was created by using a mix of all the students’ ideas because they felt that all of the designs were special in their own way.
“The one that won was not on theme, because it was just so beautifully drawn.So they kind of combined some of the other drawings. So they all ended up being a kind of a combination,” Beiting said.
When people work together for a longer period of time, conflicts often arise. But the students will not only have a fun time using their artistic abilities, they will also grow in their teamwork skills.
“I think teamwork is key,” Eckerle said.
The students have been displaying great teamwork throughout the design process so far, which has been paying off in their artwork.
“Oh, they have all been working together great,” Beiting said.
Staff members at Highlands who are associated with the competition want the kids to “find themselves” while participating in this competition. Some students find it harder to get out of their comfort zones and find it challenging to do something outside of their everyday routine. Eckerle wants to push kids to shoot beyond that motto.
“Don’t be scared. Like, just, you know, a lot of students will, like, not feel confident in wanting to participate, and that’s something that I think is hard to overcome, but at the same time, there’s no pressure on them, and I think just the willingness to try something different will be good,” Eckerle said.
Excitement between the students in art club grows as they continue to create beautiful art work.
“They are all like really excited about it. I think they were excited about combining the ideas too, because they all had really beautiful sketches, so that’s the best part, and the beauty of it, that they are working well,” Beiting said.
Now the wait begins. The art club will continue to decorate the record player through the first few weeks of October. The final designs for the competition are due Oct. 17 and the results will be announced Nov. 20.