“Can I borrow a pen to fill this thing out?” A student shouts over the noise of a bustling classroom. The room is filled to the brim with art students looking to join the school chapter of the Arkansas Young Artist Association, the largest chapter in the state.
The national YAA developed over 60 chapters throughout the state and gained 1,500 members since 1979. Jason McCann, one of the sponsors of this chapter, said there are an average of 100 to 120 kids who join every year. The students are held to the same requirements as student athletes in regard to their GPA. They cannot have any Honor Code violations.
The AYAA has yearly competitions that allow students to enter artwork in over 70 different categories ranging from charcoal to watercolor. In addition, the convention allows students from all over the state to meet and learn from other art students.
But the competitions aren’t the only thing members can look forward to.
“We do service projects every year both inside of the school and within the community,” McCann said. “Last year the students went to MLK Elementary and painted murals around the school. This year we have several other projects planned including painting the bay doors of the fire department.”
Not only did the student artists earn service hours for the murals at MLK, but they were also able to practice creating art in a professional setting.
“I think the students who were painting got excellent experience of how to create a mural in a different space than our own school,” Jessica Taverna, the other sponsor for the AYAA, said. “They really were working with groups to create compositions. We all had to work like a team, which is what professional mural artists do.”
Additionally, the elementary school students were able to see the beautification of their once monochrome library.
“I witnessed the kids coming in and their response, which was wide eyes and saying ‘Whoa!’” Taverna said. “You could just see that they loved the paintings of characters and the books coming to life.”
