Category Archives: Fine arts

HISD students honored for their winning dental posters

From left: Dr. Piazza, president of the Greater Houston Dental Society; Piney Point ES fifth-grader Viviana Jimenez; Garden Villas ES third-grader Alejandra Rodriguez; White ES second-grader Sandy Kong; Condit ES fifth-graders Eden Barr and Heidi Tamm; CoChairs of the Dental Health Committee Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Aguilos.

From left: Dr. Piazza, president of the Greater Houston Dental Society; Piney Point ES fifth-grader Viviana Jimenez; Garden Villas ES third-grader Alejandra Rodriguez; White ES second-grader Sandy Kong; Condit ES fifth-graders Eden Barr and Heidi Tamm; and Dental Health Committee CoChairs Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Aguilos. Not pictured: Scroggins ES second-grader Gabriel Velazco.

Every year, HISD elementary and middle school students participate in the Dental Health Poster Contest, which promotes the American Dental Association’s National Children’s Dental Health Month campaign. The purpose is to convince children and adults of the importance of good oral health.

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Johnston MS seventh-grader wins HISD art contest

Maniscalco_400Makaila Maniscalco, a seventh-grade student at Johnston Middle School, has been named the winner of an art contest sponsored by the Office of Special Education Services.

Makaila created a mask that won first place out of 21 entries from across the district. Judging took place April 14–17 at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, and the theme of the contest was “Who Am I?”

Makaila relies upon her memory of color, and used her tactile senses to color different parts of the piece. She likes the mask because it “keeps the viewer’s eye moving and guessing about who the mask might represent.”

As the winner of the contest, Makaila’s artwork will become the logo for the 2015 Special Education Conference, which will take place July 21–23 at Westbury High School.

Finalists were Tatum Brooks (Westside HS), Javier Gutierrez (Lamar HS), Jonathan Reyna (T.H. Rogers), and Hailey Hernandez (Wainwright ES).

Westbury HS students create fancy footwear for Vans Custom Culture contest

Clockwise from upper L are the Westbury HS entries for local flavor, art, music, and action sports.

Clockwise from upper L are the Westbury HS entries for local flavor, art, music, and action sports.

Seven creative students from Westbury High School are putting their best foot forward for the chance to win thousands of dollars for their campus’ art program—and to see their designs on other people’s feet.

The Westbury group—which is comprised of Joel Arredondo, Miguel Arredondo, Johnlee Chukwu, Cristian Garcia, Jailen Mendez, Silvester Laguna, and Klo Lay Pla—was selected from among 200 teams of applicants to participate in the Vans Custom Culture contest.

The competition is designed to foster high-school students’ creativity while simultaneously building awareness of shrinking arts education budgets across the country. Participants are challenged to customize four pairs of plain white Vans shoes using the following themes: art, music, action sports, and local flavor. Details from Westbury’s submissions include an astronaut against a backdrop of the Houston skyline (local flavor) and a skateboarding ramp complete with hand rail (action sports).

Judges will determine the top 10 semifinalists for each of five regions, and those will be presented to the public for voting starting Friday, April 24. Voting will last through Monday, May 11, with the top five finalists being announced on May 12.

All 25 regional finalists will be flown to New York City for the announcement of the grand prize winner in June. The grand prize winner will receive $50,000 for its high school art program and a chance for its designs to be sold in Vans retail stores. Runners-up will receive $4,000 towards their schools.

The Westbury team works under the direction of art teacher Amanda Fuchs.

Sanchez Elementary dancers win first place in San Antonio

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Congratulations to Sanchez Elementary’s ballet folklorico dancers, who took first place in the Pre-Junior Elementary and Duet categories at the ACADEZ dance competition on April 18, 2015, in San Antonio. They competed against schools from across the country.

ACADEZ is an acronym for the Academia de la Danza Amalia Hernández. Hernández (1917-2000) was a Mexican ballet choreographer and founder of the renowned Ballet Folklorica de Mexico in 1952.

Three HISD schools win prizes at 2015 Art Car Parade

A tribute to legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix has earned students from Reagan High School the top prize at the 2015 Art Car Parade—on their very first try.

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“Electric Ladyland,” a 1981 Mercedes which was #106 in the parade lineup, was awarded the Mayor’s Cup Trophy and $2,000 in cash. It was the school’s first-ever entry into the parade, and its success was likely due to the guidance of veteran art-car builder Rebecca Bass, who was hired on a part-time basis by HISD this year especially to guide Reagan students in designing a car for this year’s parade. Visiting artist Johnny Rojas also contributed to the project. Continue reading →

Changing the public’s perception of the homeless in Houston

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Carnegie Vanguard High School junior Mackenzie Aden went above and beyond her assignment when she embarked on her junior year research project, Hobo Chic Gallery Walk.

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HSPVA leader participates in inaugural Cooke Foundation Summit

Dr. R. Scott Allen

Dr. R. Scott Allen

Dr. R. Scott Allen, the principal of The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) was one of only 100 campus leaders from around the country to be invited to participate in at a two-day summit last week to identify solutions to close the excellence gap—the troubling disparity in academic performance between lower-income and higher-income students at advanced levels.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation convened “Closing the Excellence Gap” on Feb. 5 and 6 to share cutting-edge research and best practices for supporting high-achieving, low-income students.

A number of principals formed a new organization at this landmark event, called the “Coalition of Leaders for Advanced Students Success,” whose goal is to support and advocate for high-achieving students with financial need.

“We are leaders in our communities who have a stake in nurturing talent wherever we find it and regardless of a student’s economic status,” said Dr. Allen. “We need talent to remain competitive as a nation. This summit underscored the fact that HSPVA is part of the solution.”

“This summit confirmed my belief that these leaders have excellent insights to offer policymakers at all levels of government,” said Harold Levy, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and former chancellor of New York City Schools.

The creation of HSPVA in 1971 represented the first attempt by any public high school in the nation to correlate an academic program with concentrated training in the arts. It was one of only three public schools in the nation to offer programs in both the visual and performing arts, and the first such institution in the Southwest. HSPVA is fully accredited and offers the same academic curriculum and graduation requirements as all HISD high schools.

Lamar HS grad makes a lasting impression on the visual art world

Lamar High School graduate and artist Marsha Dorsey Outlaw poses for a photograph at her installation "Vigango's Stoop", January 29, 2015. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Lamar High School graduate and artist Marsha Dorsey Outlaw poses for a photograph at her installation “Vigango’s Stoop”, January 29, 2015. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

In this week’s edition of I am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, we speak with Lamar High School graduate Marsha Dorsey-Outlaw about how she became a professional artist, what compels her to work with children, and where you can find her next district-related project.

You graduated from Lamar High School back in 1981. How old were you when you first realized you wanted to be an artist?

Art was always a good escape vehicle for me, but it wasn’t until after high school that I knew I could make a living at it. I spent one entire summer touring Western Europe through AIFS and bought art supplies all along the way. I did a lot of sketching and watercolors. At one point, I was in Salzburg and I was out of money, so I wrapped a shirt around my head and told some tourists I was from Tobago, and sold them two artworks. It was a major rush. Later, I was at the University of Houston working part-time as a travel agent, and on the side, I was hand-painting clothing and had a lot of commissions and consignments. I think that was the first time I remember knowing that the commerce side of art was possible.

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