When senior Sonia Lesemann looked around her fourth-period class last Friday, she noticed some of her classmates focusing intensely upon their nails.
“Some people were making acrylic nails out of spaghetti,” Lesemann said.
But rather than being distracted or disengaged, Lessemann’s peers were simply completing the assignment they’d been given in their Ceramics I class.
In a way to get students to interact with their classmates and gain experience making art and showing their creativity, ceramics teacher Kristen Morgan held a TASK party with each of her classes on August 30.
In freshman Chloe Henry’s fifth-period ceramics class, Henry and her classmate collaborated on a secret handshake, while Henry’s peers were making puppets, blowing bubbles and even wrapping another student in bubble wrap.
“This is one of the most fun ways I’ve been able to connect and meet my classmates at school,” Henry said.
Meanwhile, senior Emma Wilds completed her task of drawing 50 circles, which she eventually turned into a drawing of 50 small donuts.
“I really like this activity because I can make anything I want out of the task and be creative,” Wilds said.
TASK parties were created by New York-based artist Oliver Herring. People participating in TASK parties are challenged to perform tasks that are written on a piece of paper and drawn at random.
“I wanted to break down barriers with the students and let them be creative with their peers,” Morgan said. “Ceramics can be an extremely time-consuming medium. TASK is a way of allowing students to create with more immediacy. TASK allows for play and socializing, and for students to reflect on how they prefer to work as artists.”
Each of Morgan’s art classes had been preparing for the TASK party since the first day of school by bringing in supplies, writing tasks and creating the TASK party sign that was on display in the classroom.
“We were given a list of items that we could bring in or bring in any supplies we felt would be a good addition to the TASK party,” junior Fiona Henry said.
The students had plenty of materials to work with, as they were surrounded by feathers, glitter, paint, colored paper, tin foil, string and other household and art supplies.
“I had never heard of a TASK party before we were introduced to it during class,” Henry said. “I like the TASK party because you don’t know what type of art you’ll have to create.”
Students could interpret their tasks any way they wanted and be as creative or as simplistic as they wanted. The class proved to be engaging, with students moving around the room using different media and collaborating with other classmates.
“At this point, I’ve lost count of how many tasks I’ve done and added,” freshman Paw Wah Shee said.
Overall, Morgan thought the TASK parties in her classes were successful. “TASK sets the tone for the way students should approach their assignments throughout the year,” she said.
