Art has been filling the windows of the Algonquin hallways as the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) has found their new canvases for their most recent art initiative.
Since early December and wrapping up after winter break, NAHS members have been participating in painting winter-themed windows across campus. In the past, NAHS has done window painting for the towns of Northborough and Southborough, but now they are gracing the ARHS hallways with their skills. Twelve windows are being painted in total, 10 in the library and two in science teacher Joshua Colson’s room.
A joyous experience for all members of the program, this window painting activity sparks creativity every winter.
“We do window painting every year for NAHS,” NAHS co-president senior Jaiden Leone said. “We think it’s a really good way to spread love in the community.”
Art teacher and NAHS adviser Rebecca Duffy explained that while the organization hoped to do some of the townwide painting as they did in the past, logistical constraints led them to shift focus to painting within the school building.
“I work with kids that don’t drive, and can’t get themselves places,” Duffy said. “But if we did it here in school, we wouldn’t have to drive to get ourselves places. We can just walk, and so we took the idea from what was going on around town and brought it even more local than town.”
Bringing this tradition to Algonquin not only gets the school community excited for the colder months but also removes unnecessary stressors from the process.
“I can’t always stay after [school],” Duffy said. “I have limited time, so it’s nice that [students] can take the initiative and sign up with the teachers, fitting it into their schedule.”
Fortunately, the window-painting process has not been impacted by inclement weather. The art will be painted on the inside of the windows to avoid the hassle of having to invert it.
“We were just going to have it be simple illustrations that would be on the inside that tend to be more prevalent to the people who are inside,” NAHS co-president Paige Furst said.
Many of the faculty and staff jumped at the chance to have the art brushed across their windows, and according to the library staff, each student working with the windows had so much enthusiasm for supporting the arts here.
“The [librarians] want a couple book characters to be shown in their windows to bring everyone together to express how everyone is different through these different characters,” Leone said.
This project sparked much interest amongst the school community.
“I have some very public windows in the building to showcase art, and I was happy to offer that space if they needed it,” assistant principal Janet Brown said.
However, some faculty had their own vision for their windows, which students attempted to incorporate.
“I know Mr. Colson had an idea for a dragon because he runs Dungeons and Dragons,” Duffy said. “So if teachers had ideas based on what clubs they run or what their subject is, they could give us ideas.”
The ideas for the windows are dependent on the individual’s request, and NAHS works to bring each artistic vision to fruition.
“As of right now, just because it’s the holiday season, most of our window paintings are very much holiday themed and just like this cute little snow adventure, winter wonderland type of theme,” NAHS officer Chan Nguyen-Le said, “However, it really depends on the teacher.”
Once the seasons change, the murals are completely removable.
“[Window painting] is not archival, which is the nice thing about it,” Duffy said. “You can put it on and you can take it off with dish soap or scrape it off. So potentially, we could do it in a lot of places, but it wouldn’t be anything that would be permanent in any way.”
With the winter months continuing, NAHS members’ hard work will continue to be displayed throughout the school.
