By Sarah Opdahl
We “feel like we are on a cloud,” New Fairfield High School Art Teacher Rosanne Main happily explained when describing the new school’s art room. The large, open space has soaring ceilings and rows of windows with a lovely northern exposure. A far cry from the old high school’s basement setting which had low lighting in one room and no windows in another, the new location was given priority status in the building’s design and the art community in the school is certainly appreciating it.
Though the art room’s space has dramatically changed, the vibe remains and its community members follow a thread of creatively inclined students who not only attend class but choose to spend free time there as well. “I am always blown away by how many talented, creative children we have that walk through our doors,” Main said. Inclusivity and creative expression is important to her and she explained, “The art room is open to any and all students who want to create and they definitely use their study hall or Rebel time to do so. I love that they feel comfortable spending more time here as their space to create. She explained, students like the “feeling of open space and the options of different areas to work in, depending on what they are creating. They love listening to the acoustics of the music I play in the ceiling surround sound.”
Main, who has taught art in New Fairfield Public Schools for twenty-two years—nineteen years at the high school and six at Meeting House, with three years split-teaching at both schools—is enjoying the art room’s many modern features. She says, “I love having so many drawers, cabinets, a large storage room, a kiln room, four sinks, computers, a large Smart Board, and a variety of art furniture.” She went through a brief panic when packing up the old art room last summer but her fears were assuaged in unpacking the boxes with room to spare. Main stressed that she is grateful there are many more electric outlets which are needed for recharging camera batteries for digital photography, light stands, student laptops, and more.
One feature Main appreciates is the ability to easily shift the lighting in the room, “even on a gray day, it is still bright enough where I can dim the lights down—yes, we have dimmers in the ceiling lights!—and make it just the perfect amount of light depending on what we are doing.” The large, six-foot by nine-foot windows also have shades, the top four have remote switch capability and the bottom four are pull shades. In addition, there is a row of ceiling lights over the Smart Board that Main can dim separately from the rest of the lights to further supply options. “It is really terrific to have that capability,” Main said, especially for the photography classes she teaches.
Currently the only art teacher at the high school, Main’s most popular classes include: Photo 1, Photo 2, Sculpture, Studio Art 1, Studio Art 2, Advanced Art, Commercial Art, and AP Studio Art. She noted that the new space has certainly made the curriculum more versatile and fluid.
With so many classes and students moving in and out, Main is grateful for the rethought storage options in the art room, saying, “the new art room really makes teaching such an easier experience when you can quickly grab what you need because it is easy to access and easy to place back where it belongs.” The general supplies that are used repeatedly, think: paint palettes, easels, and consumables, such as paint and paper, are all organized in pull out shelving with adjustable shelves. In setting up the space, Main said, “I love organizing and labeling everything and I was in my glory!” It was an epic departure from the basement spaces where they always needed to jam supplies “behind every nook and cranny to make it all work.” Art rooms can tend to feel chaotic, but the “high ceiling and large space gives an airiness of feeling calm and relaxing,” though depending on the activities going on and the number of students in the room, it can often appear chaotic but it is all ‘organized chaos.”
Where individual cubbies were used in the past, now the students have large shelves on wheels to hold their works in progress. Main was nervous she would miss the cubbies, but the current set up is working. “We continue to use separate student portfolios that are housed on organized shelves per class. I also have students keep their supplies in named ziploc bags within a box for each class. We also have a large drying rack to house paintings as they dry.”
If Main had her druthers, she would change a few aspects about the space, mostly in the design. She explained the new art room, which is approximately the same floor space as the two art rooms in the old high school, now has the storage and kiln room in the center area of the space and it creates a U shape. “This shape, in my opinion, is not optimal and a square or rectangle with the storage/kiln room on the side would have been easier for the teacher to navigate the room to better direct student activities. We have, however, adjusted to the new layout and continue to create wonderful work.” Main also hopes to have more funds in the budget in the future to purchase additional Macs—there are ten now—for her classes that require digital art, such as photography and commercial art. For now, they are able to move to the Mac lab when needed. She would also love to purchase, or ideally receive grant monies to fund more 35mm digital cameras in the future. Currently, there are fifteen cameras for the students to share.
Main asked to “thank everyone who supported the efforts of giving us this wonderful space for the students of New Fairfield.” A second career for her, following twenty years working as a graphic designer in the publishing world, Main is grateful to teach New Fairfield’s teenagers every day, especially in the new, gorgeous art room. “I enjoy being their teacher and I hope I have taught and continue to teach them to engage in the visual arts where inspiration, expression, and conceptual thinking has no bounds!”