HKHS Fine Arts: Fall 2021

20 Ceramics students from Haddam Killingworth High School had the opportunity to experience a pit fire workshop taught by Ceramics teacher, Betsy Himmelman.

Pit fire ceramics are loaded into a hot fire with temps reaching 1800 degrees. In essence, pit firing is a form of firing done over an open flame instead of indoor kiln. Pit firing is the original method for “baking” clay. It dates back nearly 30,000 years ago.

For our student potters, it was an incredibly exciting technique, as there’s always the anticipation of how each piece may turn out with so many different variables.

Mr. Stefano is the new Director of Bands here at HKHS in charge of theconcert band and jazz band. Growing up in Wethersfield, he is a recent CCSU graduate and has taught band
in towns such as Glastonbury, Farmington, and teaches with the Newington High School Marching Band in the fall. Having a passion for teaching high school band, Mr. Stefano is excited to be part of the HKHS music department and can’t wait to see you at concerts and
events!

The Winter Band concert is scheduled for Thursday, December 16, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. in the HKHS auditorium. Band students will be given 2 in-person tickets for family. The concert will also be livestreamed on channel 18 and can be viewed on the H-K TV Website. H-K TV Livestream Link: http://reflect-hktv.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/watch/1?channel=1

A huge congratulations to Abigail Jones, Kristen Thebeau, Andrew Fleig and Jeffrey Thebeau for scoring high enough to be accepted to the Southern Region Music Festival!!

The Advanced Projects and Honors Portfolio art students of H-K High School joined the long list of artists from all over the world who have been invited to create work at I-Park in East Haddam. Students worked together to create a community engagement art installation that was assembled at I-Park and on display during the November 6th Open Trails event.

The “Tea Leaves” project was created to allow our community to come together and be part of the installation about hope, gratitude, and unity. As the group developed the work, we learned about similar practices of prayer ties by the Lakota, strands of fabric in the Hope Trees in Japan, and the hope trees of Britain and Scotland where they put coins into the bark of a tree. We would like to thank Joanne Paradis and Lydia Blaisdell at I-Park for their support of the project and for taking us on a tour through the grounds at I-Park!

“Light paintings” were created by Intro to Photo students by setting up their cameras on tripods in the auditorium, and working in teams to move colored lights while taking a long exposure photograph in complete darkness. Students had fun problem solving collaboratively, while being creative with digital photography.

Photograms are the analog process of image making. Students brought in items that were opaque and translucent and placed the objects onto photo sensitive paper in the darkroom. Once exposed to light, and put through a series of chemicals, the images show up on the paper as silhouettes.

The possibilities are endless with how students compose their photograms, and vary the amount of light and time the paper is exposed. Students also made digital photograms which combined the process of traditional photograms, with photoshop editing.

Our Winter Chorus Concert is scheduled for Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Chorus students will be given 2 in-person tickets for family. The show will also be live-streamed on H-K TV and Comcast channel 18. Pieces performed will include: “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, Bring Me Little Water Silvy, We Three Kings and All that Jazz, Welsh Lullaby, Jabula Jesu, The World for Christmas, and a Christmas Jazz Medley. We have been working hard and are excited to have a chance to perform! H-K TV Livestream Link: http://reflect-hktv.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/watch/1?channel=1

Congratulations to the 31 choral students who made the Southern Region Festival! This year’s auditions were submitted electronically. We are proud of the hard work and perserverance that allowed for an acceptance rate of 72%! Accepted students are: Ava Loughlin, Julia Thelen, Melissa Manley, Laina Goodison, Tyson Glazier, Kira O’Brien, Eve Ceplenski, Kateri Sonski, Payton Kasperzyk, Shylee Emigh, Aleia Goodison, Sarah Pierce, Aleysha Brawley, Tori Carlson, Chase Lenart, Valleri Freibauer, Jackie Flaherty, Madeline Keithan, Pooja Badami, Kylie Studzinski, Michael Vaughn, Samuel Young, AJ Campo, Duane Smigel, Yumiko Imai, Sarah Henderson, Samantha Height, Samantha Pach, Olivia Tucker, Charles Petrie, and Bryan Nguyen

Our new piano lab is complete and we are thrilled to have such an updated facility available to our students to study piano, music technolocy, and music theory!

H-K Drama Proudly presented “Clue” to a sell-out crowd on November 5th and 6th. With over 50 students involved from H-K Drama and H-K TV, the show was a triumph in every way!

Our 12th grade students have begun researching and planning short plays thay they will direct. The shows are scheduled for Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. More information will be forthcoming!

The October 2021 FOLLY WOODS: Awesome Wee Faerie Architecture Along the Artists’ Trail was a huge success! Through the month of October over two dozen faerie-scaled architectural amusements delighted and inspired visitors as they travelled along the Artists’
Trail. The theme was a playful, miniaturized take on ornamental buildings popular on country estates, parks, and gardens in the 18th and 19th centuries. Visitors learned about different architectural styles from across the world as they gazed in awe at the artists’ whimsical creative skills.