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The Arts at Webb
WEBBtodayarts
the maker’s space —THE ARTS AT WEBB
How do students learn about art? Or, perhaps as important, what it takes to be an artist?
Webb’s multi-disciplinary arts experience offers students the opportunity to appreciate the arts through study and experiential encounters at museums, theaters, and concert halls. And it prepares students to be versatile creators themselves, delivering a possibility-rich environment where young learners of all abilities and talents can develop an original voice and vision.
Through it all, students are led in creative endeavors by a staff of talented and professional practicing artists who understand, through personal experience, the craft of creating.
6tefanie 3lumley, chair of fine arts, says the arts are a fundamental part of being human. And she describes the department as evolving like “nobody’s business!”
3lumley points out that &laremont, and The :ebb 6chools, have a strong tradition of the arts, and artists. )or example, 0illard 6heets, who served on the :ebb board and was a parent, designed the circular Alf 0useum. 2ther artists of &alifornia regionalism fame also taught at the school including potter and :ebb parent :illiam 0anker.
TodayÊs arts faculty are actively pursuing their own craft and offer students insight into the rewards and demands of the professional art world.
0eg +orejsi see sidebar is a professional freelance illustrator with a thriving business creating digital art. -ackie /eishman see sidebar , a photographer and collage artist, recently had a wellreceived exhibition, Ç+eaving 0ountains,È at the *ranary Art &enter in (phraim, 8tah. They also arrange for :ebb student artists to show their work in student exhibitions, so the students understand the importance of creating and exhibiting.
2ver in the 6usan A. 1elson 3erforming Arts &enter, featuring the &opeland 'onahue Black Box Theater and the worldclass /iu &heung Theater, students are expressing themselves under the expert tutelage of working performers who bring myriad experiences and talents to their teaching styles.
WEBB todayarts
The Peace of Wild Things
Jackie Leishman
Jackie Leishman joined Webb’s fine arts department in 2017. She holds a BA from the University of Georgia and an MFA in photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. As a visual artist, Leishman expresses herself through works of collage, using both traditional and non-traditional materials, including fragments of old projects. Her work Heaving Into Mountains, a series of studies delving into the paradox of holding two opposites — ideas embodied in the wilderness and inspired by a trip to Yosemite National Park — was most recently exhibited at Granary Arts in Ephraim, Utah. The work will also be featured in the following publications: Cold Mountain Review, Whitefish Review and Blue Mesa Review.
Another recent piece of work is an offshoot of her Yosemite series (a project that explored the beauty found in the tension and vastness of the unyielding stone landscape) and is made with a poem from Wendell Berry in mind. She has since begun a collaboration with the evolutionary biologist, blogger, poet and novelist Steven Peck.
“He is writing poems, and I’m doing art,” says Leishman. “It’s a project that relates to global warming and the fact that animals and species cannot evolve fast enough – it’s a heartbreaking project but rewarding intellectually.”
irector of Instrumental Music Linda Silva leads 54 eager musicians in the full Webb orchestra; she also directs groups in smaller ensembles. D
“Many of our students start with piano, long before they take up their band instrument, so they have a more mature musical view and high skill level,” says 6ilva. Ç6ince we do have different levels within our full orchestra, we carefully choose repertoire that features our stronger players as well as offering solo and concerto opportunities to those who are especially hard-working.”
Silva is a professional clarinet player who performs with the Riverside Philharmonic she has private clarinet students and also worked with performers at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
“As a professional clarinet player, I have had to work very, very hard,” she explained. “Most people think that professional musicians have natural talent and what we do is effortless. 1ot so , am constantly studying theory, history and technical aspects of playing, listening to great players, finding my own Ésound,Ê and working with lots and lots of different types of musicians in formal and informal settings.”
6ilva imparts the wisdom sheÊs learned from her own career Çsometimes the students practically roll their eyes at me when , suggest something they think they are already doing, such as a crescendo (starting soft and getting loud . :hen , make them exaggerate it, they can hear the difference, and better understand how it makes the music come alive.È
Often times, performing in a high school group is the impetus for a career in the arts. Sean Burns, who directs Webb’s choir program, and also runs the Burns Music School which has offered voice, piano, and guitar lessons, plus music theory and songwriting, for the last 15 years, says that participation in high school choir led him to degrees in piano and choral conducting. “My teaching philosophy is based on healthy technique and musical expression as fundamental to performance,” he explains.
he vocal department at Webb consists of approximately 40 students who participate in either the vocal training and techniques class or honors Chamber Singers. There is a wide range of skill levels between the groups. WEBB todayarts
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“Many students are experienced musicians who read music and play other instruments, other singers have less experience and are learning the fundamentals of music technique as we go,” he says. This winter, the &hamber 6ingers are preparing for their first ever pops concert in &opeland Theater. The theme of the concert is roots music, and draws on styles such as bluegrass, rock, country, folk and more. Many of the students are making their own arrangements and the concert will feature solos, small groups, the choir and a professional band.”
Collaboration between artists also sparks creativity. Michael Szanyi is a doctoral student in education and applied research methods at Claremont Graduate University. He teaches modern dance at Pomona College and is the dance program director at Webb. He has danced professionally with the Pennington Dance Group, the Inland Pacific Ballet and Laurie Cameron and Company in Southern California, Chicago, New York, London, Beijing and Taipei.
For the winter dance show, Szanyi worked with artist Leishman and student Malika Neogi ’20 to create large-scale painted scenery that “evoked ideals of hope and loss, reaching and falling, of changing perspectives.” He has also worked with the theater tech department to fashion projections for the winter dance show and with Scott Nichols, director of digital communication, on videos and video editing of dancers to be able to show during the performance.
“I’m doing more cross collaborations with folks to add in other elements to the dance show so really, it becomes more of a community of people and artists participating in the creative process,” he says.
Behind the scenes, Alex Valdez, technical director of the Susan A. Nelson Performing Arts Center, is demonstrating the importance of creativity through technical elements.
“Each season, I have students who are new to the program with varying degrees of experience. , end up finding that each student brings a different talent to the program, or we end up discovering a hidden talent from that student,È he says. Ç, love being able to work with students to allow their talents to contribute to the program every season.È
Valdez explains that there is also a “huge” student leadership component to the program with “crew chiefs” for each aspect of a show’s production and an overall crew chief who in turn, reports to a technical stage manager.
“I follow this structure so our students can experience how a creative team would function in a professional theater environment,” he says. Valdez has worked in technical theater for years, in schools, universities, summer camps, theater festivals, houses of worship and with touring groups. He is involved with the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) to keep himself apprised of everchanging technologies and equipment, and he participates in the group’s Education Commission which focuses on outreach to high schools and higher education institutes.
Ç:ebbÊs theaters operate under the standards established by 86,TT because , want to make sure that our students leave with the knowledge and capability to walk into any theater in the 8nited 6tates and immediately be able to be a productive member of the creative team,È he says.
9aldez also pointed out that a recent :ebb production of The Pirates of Penzance was a milestone for the program.
Ç,t was the first production in my time that had an allfemale booth crew the operators and state managers that operate and execute all the technical cues for the show),” he says.
The ÇmakersÈ at :ebb lead students in all directions of creativity. And these Çteaching artistsÈ encourage :ebb students through creative processes that may be unfamiliar to the average classroom teacher who has not experienced a career in the arts themselves. They play an important role in helping students learn to critique and make aesthetic judgements that are primary to artistic appreciation.
Ç:e want to provide as much exposure to the arts as we can,È says 3lumley. ÇA lot of students come into the program and think theyÊre not artistic and then they find filmmaking or singing or some kind of performance art. :e have students who think they canÊt draw, or some who just want to dabble. 2ur goal is to reach them where they are and facilitate where they want to be.È
Ape Canyon
Megan Horejsi
Megan Horejsi is a digital illustrator; she utilizes technology such as video editing, animation and 3D printing to bring her creations to life. She holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA from Loyola Marymount University.
“Digital art can look like it’s traditionally crafted,” explains Horejsi, “but with it, I can easily mimic the effects of texture and shading.”
A recent series featured “travel posters” centered around locations where legendary animals are thought to live. She also works on commissions and gets out word of her work on Twitter and Instagram. She has an online store at www.meganhillustrations.com.
Much of her work is in a field that has not been traditionally welcoming to women: comics and cartooning. But Horejsi, who grew up playing video games, says she’s seen a change in the pop art market in recent years.
Her work has been shown at pop-up shows in nontraditional spaces such as the Fab Factory Recording Studio in North Hollywood and Artists Alley, a space within a ComicCon comic convention where approved artists and writers can sell their prints and meet fans. With her familiarity of the art market, Horejsi can “take what I’ve learned about online selling, marketing, and developing a portfolio, and share that knowledge with my students.”
