STAFF REPORT
Glasgow News 1
Glasgow Middle School is preparing to welcome back one of its own as this year’s visiting artist.
Art teacher Jennifer Fritsch said alumna Makayla Powell will spend Wednesday, April 15, on campus with the school’s chapter of the National Junior Art Honor Society. Powell, a former Glasgow Middle School student and Glasgow High School graduate, is the eleventh artist to take part in the program since it began in 2015.
“It makes it real for the kids,” Fritsch said. “So many kids and parents think that if your child comes…and says they want to be a professional artist…the only way you can be successful is if you’re a painter or you draw or you sculpt or you’re a ceramicist or whatever, or if you teach. So the whole point of the visiting artist is to show kids that there are a lot of different avenues where art can be encompassed into a career that isn’t just a stay-at-home, paint, draw, sculpt, whatever.”
Early guests included artists from outside Kentucky, but in recent years Fritsch has focused on inviting people with strong local ties so students can see real-life examples from their own community.
Powell now works in Louisville as an art therapist at the Brook Dupont — which she described as a level five crisis center — where she provides trauma-informed care to people experiencing acute mental health crises and often works with children who have anger issues. Because of safety restrictions in her job, Powell cannot use tools such as scissors or other sharp objects in many of her sessions, so she has developed creative ways to use art to help calm and refocus patients, according to Fritsch.
“She’s…going to use one of the activities that she does at the crisis center with the kids that day and let them create their own artwork in that style. And then they get to help on the artwork that she’s going to be presenting [later that day.],” Fritsch said.
Fritsch added that Powell was one of the first members of the NJAHS and among the earliest students to paint a ceiling tile at the school, making her return as a visiting artist a full-circle moment for both teacher and former student.
“It’s going to be good to have Michaela Powell come home,” Fritsch said.
Key Facts
• Glasgow Middle School’s National Junior Art Honor Society, The NJAHS, is hosting a visiting artist.
• This year’s guest is alumna and art therapist Makayla Powell.
• Powell now works at the Brook Dupont, a level five crisis center in Louisville.
• She will visit Glasgow Middle on Wednesday, April 15, for a full day with students.
• Powell plans to lead an activity she uses with children in crisis.
• Students will help create a new artwork that will be unveiled that evening.
• An evening reception will be held in the Glasgow Middle School cafe.
• Art from both the middle school and high school will be on display.
• The Glasgow Middle School choir is scheduled to perform at the reception.
• The visiting artist program at Glasgow Middle began in 2015.
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