Art Club grows in goals and diversity

The Art Club has grown in the goals it sets its sights on, and the atmosphere’s importance to members. It is Melissa Edmunds’s second year sponsoring the club, and, to her, there is so much more involved in the club besides the art itself.

“It’s a nice positive outlet of…negative energy that you need to, you know, burn off and get out of your system,” Edmunds said.

This is a key reason for why member Selena Wang joined the club in the first place. She described the space as being a break from school, which is the best part of the club itself.

“Just how low-key laid back it is. Like no pressure,” Wang said.

Wang, like many other club members, is not in an art class itself this year, but the club gives her an opportunity to experiment with different art forms nonetheless.

“I want them, just like my students, to experience discovery,” Edmunds said.

Club participants have dabbled in anything and everything from polymer clay models and miniature canvases, to holiday Gingerbread Houses.

Edmunds’s passion for art and the effect it has on people is another thing she tries to foster, not only in the classroom, but the club.

“…Not only is [art] aesthetically pleasing to look at, something that’s beautiful, but there’s messages,” she said. “So it’s communication without using words.”

Senior Farah Osammee, President of the Art Club this year, is aiming to bring wider attention to the club and its members, through an inclusive art mural. 

“I think it’s–the mural doesn’t have to be limited to people only in IB or Portfolio. Because here in Art Club [people] are really talented,” she said.

Though a final outline for the mural has not yet been decided, Osammee is eager to highlight Novi in a way that hasn’t been done before.

“I wanted something that’s eye catching,” she said. “You know, that every person [who] would walk around in the school would look at it and be like, ‘That’s Novi and these are the Novi people.’”

As of now, club members are hoping to meet with Principal Carter soon to get permission for the mural.