In the last couple of years, Hayesville High School’s campus has been changed in many ways from new seating in the hallway to a whole new paint job and improved flooring. Our school has been upgraded and everyone surely enjoys all the new things that have happened to our wonderful school. But some of our “color” has left due to the chipping of the old paint and the restoration of the wall in Hayesville High School. So, I wanted to bring the idea of interchangeable art to high school, because as people graduate sometimes permanent murals lose their meaning with the newer generation, and sometimes the past ideas could be solutions.
After looking back at Hayesville High’s past with art, I discovered the art students used to decorate large boards to hang as art pieces in the media center. Mrs. Roberts remembers, “Yes, they used to be on huge styrofoam pieces hanging up.” She commented on how homey they made the media center feel. In exploring this topic at Hayesville High, I asked art students how they would feel if we brought interchangeable art to Hayesville and how they would design it. Sophomore Izzie Buckner said, “I would like to see more art that represents our art community. I think interchangeable art would be nice so it can change as we grow as a community.”
After talking to art students and seeing if the idea of interchangeable art was popular, I wanted to know if this idea was actually possible and how we could achieve this goal. So, I asked Mrs. Engelmann on how she felt about the idea and if she would consider bringing that back to Hayesville and she said, ”Yes, I think I transitioned out of those because we started focusing more on smaller art, and we started doing more personal paintings that we put in the art show and the art show has changed since I’ve been here. But I do like the idea of having things that are pretty in the school and the idea of photography cases.”
With the hope of more art in Hayesville, I asked our principal Mr. Overlin if interchangeable art or murals could come back to Hayesville High School and how could we as students help and he said, ‘“Yes, we painted over the murals of the summer of 2022; that was part of that project and the idea was to have a clean slate. I think in the future it would be best not to have permanent murals. Having art for several months or a semester then changing it out. What’s nice about that is different students’ work gets recognized over the years.” Everyone has loved the idea of interchangeable art and bringing that “pop of color” back to Hayesville, so with the support of our art teacher and Mr. Overlin I think the real question is, do Hayesville High Students want more interchangeable in the school?