School Spirit

The 2022 IB Art Exhibition

By: Ameer (11)

An explosion of color—luscious, green mountains, purple and orange eyes, brown, rusty portraits, piercing-red blood, neon spray paint, pink and purple handwriting, copper-tainted dresses, rich blues, and indigos. This is what I perceived almost instantaneously as I entered the labyrinth of creativity that was the IB Art Exhibition on the 25th of March.

Live jazz standards played in the background as I marveled through the art pieces of Margherita, Andrea, Oscar, and Carla. This event was meant to commemorate the hard work of these HL IB Visual Art students, and since we’re dealing with Nido’s top artists, the way they decided to display their work was superbly creative. There was tasteful graffiti spray-painted on every white wall, a blackboard filled with the viewers’ positive comments written on yellow sticky notes, projectors showing creative films directed by the students, and a dark room within a room accessi-

ble by an ominous, old-fashioned door. Each artist’s work was placed within a separate chamber, and outside of these cavities, guests were greeted with the creator’s sketchbook. Here, you could observe the student’s artistic progression throughout the two-year IB course.

Under Ms. Victoria Sanchez’s mentorship, students were taught to “break the frontiers, come up with new ideas, use a wide selection of materials—be as unconservative and avant-gardist as possible.” This pedagogical approach proved to be fruitful in developing the artist’s technique and their ability to self-express. Some examples of this notion include a streamer made up of painted, disposable masks, a dress adorned with a variety of coins, and a life-sized sculpture depicting a medical bed.

Coming into the IB course, these students already had a deep relationship with art. Carla, for instance, said, “For me, art is very important because it gives me an outlet to express myself and to connect with, or comfort, other people.” Then, she pointed out her transparent, winged, statue and told me about the positive message it evokes. Impressed, I asked her about when she started doing art, to which she responded, “Ever since I was an eight-year-old, I liked art. I used to watch my sister draw, and was equally jealous and amazed by her skills: I wanted to do what she did.”

Oscar, the “only guy in IB Art this year”, told me a bit about his experience in this class. “It’s been tough. It’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of patience. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was getting into, I didn’t have much of an idea about how much work this class demanded of me. I don’t regret taking this class, however. It has opened my mind to more styles and ideologies, and has allowed me to grow as an artist and person by doing things I wasn’t used to doing. It’s been wonderful,” he explained. Again, I asked about when he started getting into art. He told me, “ever since I was a kid I loved drawing. I was that friendless, awkward kid that drew during lunch and recess. I didn’t put too much work into it then, but I knew I had a certain ease for drawing. When I started growing up, I recognized I was somewhat talented with art so I began to take it more seriously.”

It was also interesting to learn about the artists’ inspirations. All of them mentioned encouragement from loved ones, along with a varied cast of creative people in their lives. Some mentioned specific places, like a vineyard or the streets of Santiago seen through the backseat of car, while others listed an eclectic selection of artists, both classical and contemporary.

Ms. Sanchez also told me about the pandemic and the hardships her class faced during the quarantine. The 2022 Art Exhibition had been the first live exhibition in two years. As explained by Margharita, “the two-year course has been really stressful, especially because we’re moving around a lot from online to in-person. It’s hard to find a balance between creating things at home and things at school.” Andrea adds, “As time passed, we were all in different parts of the world. I was in Miami, Margarita was in Italy, Carla was in Spain—it was really interesting to see how the culture you were surrounded with influenced your paintings.” In the end, these seniors acknowledged that the tribulation of studying at home and their precarious circumstances resulted in newfound adaptability as artists.

The climax of the event was marked by a reflective speech given by Ms. Sanchez in the middle of the Fine Arts Building. The four spirited artists, dressed in voguish attire, ritualistically stood side-to-side whilst their teacher gave them each a bright, arti-

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ficial flower. These were Van Gogh’s sunflowers, explained Ms. Sanchez as she awarded these talismans of guidance to her hard-working pupils. The event reached its emotional conclusion as the audience celebrated this momentous achievement with a standing ovation.

“There’s a crucial lesson an artist needs to learn at some point,” Oscar said to a group of underclassmen considering taking IB Art next year. “There’s always someone better than you at art, and that’s just part of the humble attitude of being an artist. If you like art, and if you are patient, this is the course for you.”

By: Ignacio (12)

The folks over at IB Music were graceful (and hardworking) enough to give us a concert. Let’s see what they had in store!

First up was Martin, who played an arrangement of Gardel’s Por una cabeza on the piano. Gardel was the single most acclaimed and recognized tango composer, with this piece of his being a true classic to the genre. According to Martin, his inspiration to play this came from seeing a saxophonist playing Por una cabeza in Spain. Needless to say, I believe he places just the right emphasis on the chorus, staying very well composed and tranquil at other parts of the piece. The bass section he plays is very refined, making large jumps rather comfortably, and even when he falters just a small bit around the ending, he makes a very effective recovery such that his mistake is not very noticeable. I was rather impressed at how the arrangement he played made a good compensation for the lack of lyrics which really just comes off as a very essential part of Por una cabeza. I mean, how could anyone fully compensate for Gardel’s beautiful voice? Again, there lies my reason for being impressed. A good rhythm is also kept throughout. It’s fast enough to sound like a good tango, but slow enough to not be overly hard to play.

Next up was Vicky, who played Chopin’s Waltz in b minor, Op. 69 No. 2, which

is quite the interesting piece. The way Chopin wrote it makes it feel like the player is subtly, almost barely changing the speed at which they’re playing in the middle of a phrase. It’s overall a somewhat playful piece, but the best part had to be the way Vicky’s hands moved. They looked very light when she was moving them, yet they very clearly weighted on the keys. She, too, stayed relaxed even if she made a small slip-up, and still managed to maintain commendable control over the piece. Her reasoning for choosing to play that piece was that she saw the chance to re-learn it for this concert.

Logan played a Legend of Zelda medley. I feel more compelled to say that he flexed his piano skills on everyone for approximately five minutes, but the fact is that he played a Legend of Zelda medley. He cycled through the main theme, the Lost Woods theme, Zelda’s Lullaby, the Fairy Fountain

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theme, the Windmill Hut theme, and finally a reprise of the main theme. To say I could not be bored for a single of this would be an understatement. Even within each theme, Logan would be playing variations every few measures or so, this way the medley constantly changed, and constantly flowed from one theme onto the next. The amount of tricks he had to pull to play so many things (and to make some very fun jumps every now and then) is impressive. I applaud his talent and his labor, it’s cool to hear and watch for geeks like myself.

Then, Olivia played Cesar Franck’s Violin & Piano Sonata. She said she’d watched the piece on youtube, and that it really touched her emotionally. Frankly, witnessing it at this concert, it did touch me a little as well. Watching her slowly sway her body as she played her vibratos also communicated very well the impact of the piece. I should say, though, something… interesting

happened in the middle of this: a part of the microphone on Olivia’s violin actually fell off. It didn’t really affect her playing, because this happened at a part where she was not playing, and then she just carried on through the rest of the composition like it wasn’t a big deal. A second recording of the performance had to be done, though, for the purpose of delivering a higher quality recording. Her second playing was very welcome, I’d say. Throughout all of it, Ms. Kim completes the piece by backing Olivia’s melody with calm, long chords

They changed the spotlights to red when Ameer came in. They didn’t have to, but they did it anyway. Turns out that was just the prelude to the sheer shredding the Nest’s founder was about to unleash. His cover was really fun to listen to and observe, especially because of how he’d keep changing his guitar’s timbre with the pedals below him. This is without mentioning the small distortion he’d aptly apply with the handle on his guitar. Did I mention the song he played is called Wonderful Slippery Thing? Now I have. Also, Guthrie Govan composed it. Ameer said he felt inspired to play it in order to learn new techniques, which I’d say paid off quite well in his performance. He wasn’t afraid at all to play with what he was playing (no pun intended), although he was a little bit more wooden in terms of posture compared to the other musicians.

The very last IB Music performance was done by all of its integrants, the song of choice being “Hijo Del Diluvio”, by Congreso. It’s a very “unplugged” song, because it mainly utilizes non-electronic instruments, but at the same time goes a little beyond the normal rock piece ensemble. Piano, drums, violin, guitar, bass, and xylophone. That last instrument is often used along with many, many other instruments in orchestras, but the fact that there are fewer players here allows the xylophone’s percussive contributions to accompany the violin’s melody to an effective degree. The whole band ends up sounding rather organized, and plays on point, with Olivia’s voice being

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very well accompanied by the bass throughout the bridge sections. Can I just say for a moment that Martin’s posture throughout is always a very prepared one? It’s clearly unlike the hunchback posture I take in Concert Band with the chimes and bells. Of course, Na Yeon provides a wellrounded support through the piano through chords, which Ameer does as well whilst Logan beats the snare out of the drums. If I could describe this whole recital with one word, it would certainly choose the word “organized”.

BOND - Bridges Over Nido’s Diversity

By: Nicolás (11)

Es un hecho que vivimos en un país tremendamente desigual, y más allá de sus efectos económicos o políticos, este fenómeno crea una grieta entre nuestras realidades. Por esto, creamos una iniciativa que intenta cerrar, o encoger, estas brechas que existen y buscar cosas que tenemos en común.

BOND surgió en septiembre del año pasado y rápidamente se transformó en un club sólido, gracias a la participación de alrededor de quince estudiantes de High School. Después de reunirnos con los trabajadores del colegio, decidimos que íbamos a hacer crecer al club cada semestre, cada vez cumpliendo un propósito más holístico y de amplio alcance.

El primer semestre, partimos con nuestros reconocimientos semanales, nombrando a Jonathan Muñoz y Ana Maria Rosales en nuestras reuniones de High School. Esta tradición ha seguido este semestre, esta vez dándole reconocimiento a Patricia Vasquez, Carolina Carvacho, Eduardo Alarcón y Octavio Morales.

Para celebrar Thanksgiving al estilo chileno, organizamos un asado donde los estudiantes y janitors trabajaron juntos para hacer choripán con pebre. Además de quedar exquisito, el asado creó conexiones reales, las cuales podrían haberse creado en un ambiente escolar común y corriente.

Este semestre nos queremos enfocar en seguir expandiendo el club. Al final de

nuestro paso por Nido, esperamos haber podido mostrarles a los estudiantes del colegio que detrás de cada sala limpia, cada arbusto bien tendido y cada entrada al estacionamiento existe una cara con cuento.

Si está interesado en unirse a la inicia tiva, entre en contacto con el Instagram del club (@bondnido).

An Interview with Nido’s Gender Equality Club

By: Christian (10)

This week one of our correspondents, Chris, interviewed the current leader of the Gender Equality Club, Dana, in order to discuss the efforts and purpose of their organization. The club was created last year by ex-seniors Ale and Nao. It started as a safespace for students to discuss topics related to gender equality, sexism and feminism. However, it also developed into an organization which raises awareness for gender issues through their instagram page (@igualdad.cl), and educational workshop hosting. We encourage anyone interested in gender issues to learn more about the Gender Equality Club and to stay tuned for their upcoming informative workshop this semester.

Sounds like a really open space! What about commitment?

The club was created during the pandemic and we have had issues with commitment. However, last semester we had a lot of sophomores join, which is cool. I feel that the group has been excited about making an impact in the school. Our club advisor is Ms. Vasquez, and we have two people that lead this club: Fran and me. I’m in charge of Instagram, and for the most part a lot of people have come up and said “Dana I wanna do a post on this”, or be like, “I have an idea for a post”. I feel that this shows commitment for the most part, and whenever we ask them for help, like if they could talk to a teacher or anything like that, they’re always down for it.

How do you see the club in ten years?

Our club consists of two parts. We have our workshops, where we discuss with the community about gender issues through zoom, and then the Instagram where we update the account every now and then. I just hope that in ten years time, we will have greater support

from our teachers since they are a really important part of our community, in addition to the students. Nowadays we have a group of teachers that are very supportive. For example, we are going to do a workshop with Link Crew, so Mr. Branch and Mr. Duffy have been helping us with that. We also have our advisor, Ms.Vasquez, she has been really nice about it. She’s the best! However, it would also be nice for other teachers to help us out and to be more open to us sharing our ideas and opinions on gender and sexuality.

What’s the main skill you would need for this club?

I would say respect and empathy because there are a lot of people sharing deep opinions and I feel that you need to learn how to listen to people and say your opinion respectfully as well. It is important for future members to understand that all opinions are valid and that we are all a bunch of teenagers learning together about it, so we might as well respect what we have to say. We are all in the same boat and non of us are professionals.

Have you been planning any club trips?

I don’t know if this would count as a trip, but we have been trying to do something with the Middle School. I also think that it would be interesting to get involved with other Chilean

schools. I remember when Nao and Ale led this club, we participated in a workshop that took part in another school. I don’t know if it would be in person but I think it would be interesting to take part in something like that. It’s hard because of COVID restrictions, but if we’re talking about the Middle School, I think it would be within our reach. Although our main target is High School, it’s important to be informed about these topics at their age.

How do you think this club affected your life?

For starters, I have been a feminist my whole life and I used to have a hard time talking about these issues—politics and gender—because I felt like people always knew more than I did. When Nao asked me to join the club, I eventually understood that we all know the same amount, we are just trying to help each other out and that we shouldn’t be scared of sharing our opinions on subjects like this. Just seeing people support us has shown me that I don’t have to be scared of these things because we’re all learning together.