Chapel Hill High School is revamping its National Art Honors Society (NAHS) after a two-year hiatus. The society disbanded when the former teacher sponsor, Jordan Watson, left the school, but is transforming back from an art club under the mentorship of art teacher Davis Antle.
The society is being rebooted with a new charter effective two months ago, under the leadership of seniors Mia Look (president) and Ivy Smith (vice-president). “Students are in the process of paying dues; once that is done I have to pay my part and it is sent off to the corporate office. They will in turn send the Honors requirements to us,” Antle said of the reinstatement process.
Like any Honors Society, members are required to complete the national requirement of three service hours per year. The club “provides opportunities with volunteer projects, such as local murals, [including] one at UNC Hospital that was started with the former NAHS here that we’re going to finish as a sort of symbolic gesture,” junior Erin Timmins, who serves as treasurer, said.
Other NAHS service projects include a mandatory art show at the end of the school year, to showcase students’ artwork to the wider community, and the Memory Project. The Memory Project is an initiative Chapel Hill High School students have been doing for the past couple years in which they work in partnership with an orphanage in Bolivia to draw portraits of the orphans to send back to them to “give them something of their own,” Timmins said, “It’s one of my favorites.”
The National Art Honors Society operates under the mentorship of Antle, as every Honors Society and club at Chapel Hill has to have a teacher advisor, however the group is a primarily student-run organization. “I guess [this] makes us a little different from the other Honors Societies, because they tend to have more of an involved advisor. We’re sort of taking a step away from Mr. Antle,” Timmins said.
One major priority for NAHS leadership this year is to expand Chapel Hill’s art community. The group hopes to design a space for people to share art and come together and bond over a shared passion. Senior and member of NAHS, Faith Chamblee adds, “It is a group of dedicated artists who work together to serve the community, improve their skills, and learn from one another.”
Members of NAHS collectively agree that there is vast artistic talent at Chapel Hill and that it is time to bring it back into the spotlight. Timmins stressed that the community suffered after Watson left as, “there wasn’t one outlet for students to come to, and so we’re trying to reinvigorate that.” Most students in the club have expressed an interest in pursuing art professionally, “be that graphic design, or art history, or working in the design industry.”
“There’s a lot of fear over not being able to succeed as an artist after high school, so we’re working to use this group to spread awareness that you can actually succeed as an artist and providing people with paths to do that,” Timmins said, specifically in the field of graphic design.
Chapel Hill High School’s NAHS also hopes to collaborate with Art Honors Societies from other schools. Core members have already reached out as an Art Club to the NAHS ast East Chapel Hill High School. “We’re just hoping to…get a solid organization name down so that we can work in tandem with other groups in the school and across schools,” Timmins said.
The club is a relatively big commitment, meeting at least twice a month with various extracurricular functions, so as to prepare students for a career in art. “I think we’re all looking forward to projects that will positively impact the community with art,” Chamblee said.
