Upon graduation, most high school students are focused on leaving some sort of legacy behind. This is why they sign yearbooks, participate in senior pranks and carve their initials on bathroom stalls.
For a select few students in Lars Turin’s advanced studio arts class at Mohonasen High School, their mark is more than 14 feet high in the form of a large-scale artistic installation in the high school’s courtyard.
Turin said he has wanted to put some sort of artistic tribute to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the courtyard for a while, but had never found the right group of students to make it happen.
Seniors Nick Tommasone and Joe Jasenski, along with junior Devis Cici, are the right group of students. They are currently building two, 14-foot towers on top of a 3 foot raised planting area that runs along the courtyard’s far wall.
The towers are going to be covered in glass pieces reflecting light and everything around them.
Turin, who is retiring this year after teaching for nearly 20 years at Mohonasen, said it is fitting that something this monumental is happening in his last year.
This is a real tribute to the creative energy and spirit that is in our student body, Turin said, admitting that he is getting a little emotional over his retirement.
Two seniors in Turin’s advanced studio art class, Allison McAllister and Danielle Everetts were also emotional about Turin’s retirement.
`He is so connected to his students,` Everetts said. `He is more than a teacher; he’s a mentor really.`
She pointed out that Turin’s classroom was full of students at 9 a.m. on a day off who were just there to help and hang out.
`He would never shoot down an idea, even if it is something he thinks wouldn’t work. He will spend the extra time and find a way to make it work so you’d be happy with it,` McAllister said.
Everetts and McAllister have been working on their own large-scale sculpture for the courtyard. The piece is about 12 feet tall and is called `Release.` It looks like a person who is leaping off something with arms raised.
The pair said the sculpture represents new phases in life, including graduation and Turin’s retirement.
`I wanted to do something to leave my mark and something for Mr. Turin,` McAllister said.
Everetts said the large installations are a way to show people what can be done in art class besides painting and pottery.
`We have never had any exceptionally lasting art back here,` she said.
The pair started their project in April and have spent many free hours working on it.
McAllister said this effort was way more than she originally thought, but worth it.
`I defiantly want to come back and show my kids what I’ve done,` she said.
The boys were less vocal about their efforts or their work.
`Their strength is in the doing,` Turin said about his three students as they quietly prepared to raise the first of eight wooden walls.
Turin said he has been struggling with what the sculpture means and represents.
`The impression of the two towers symbolically could represent 9/11, but at the same time I think for those people who weren’t affected by that event, it’s just a really impressive structure,` he said.
Turin’s three students have spent a lot of time and energy on their project, which was their only task this term. They have worked during free periods, through Regents Week, and on weekends and holidays.
Turin said he wasn’t sure when the structures would be completed but said the momentum was there.
`Their enthusiasm is contagious,` he said.
Turin said the structures represent the opportunities that Mohonasen gives its students and ripples through to the administration’s acceptance of the project.
Turin said he always gives his students a chance to express themselves creatively. He believes that students remember best when they have been involved in the creative process. Turin said he tells his students that his classes are going to be the ones they remember most.
`What’s going on here, beyond the realm of experience,` Turin said.
`Hopefully it will leave a lifelong impression on these students.`
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