The new Dolores Arts Guild is taking off, and has inspired more than 100 students to take their artwork to a more professional and marketable level.
Art teacher Jay Anderson, aka “Dr. J,” began the entrepreneur project where students take their best work and pay $2 to have Southwest Printing create a poster.
“From there, they have a professional print to sell and keep the profits,” he said. “Plus they have the digital copy on their computer if they want to have another poster made.”
Anderson estimates his students will generate more than 200 professionally printed posters this year, and they will be featured in an art show and sale at the school after spring break.
“We’re teaching art and the business model without too much expense,” he said.
The Journal has been profiling the artists participating in the Dolores Arts Guild. This month, they are junior Ashley Hurst, sophomore Cameron Elder, and freshman Adeline Jones.
Hurst prefers landscape drawings with color pencils, and is attracted to detailed drawings, such as a boat wheel with flowering vines, and another drawing of a human eye.
“I like the commercial design part of the class,” she said. “I’d like to turn my better work into postcards and try to sell them somewhere, like a gift shop.”
Hurst likes the free-will approach of the art project, “where you choose your topic and not everyone is doing the same thing.”
Elder is having fun perfecting ocean waves and seascapes. She also does figure drawing and faces, and wants to broaden her art skills.
“I enjoy the process of drawing, and do it a lot in my free time,” she said. “This class is showing us that you can have a business future in art, that it does not have to be just a hobby.”
She uses oil pastel and chalk, because “you can make the colors flow together. Blending the light and the dark creates the barrel shape of the wave.”
Elder is considering a career in art, such as in teaching or design.
Jones calls herself a “realist” in her approach to art, choosing topics that interest her, then making them “pop with color and creative design.”
“Right now I have an interest in dance,” she said. “I love the color combinations of dancers in a performance.”
She has a knack for drawing detailed hairstyles too, images that could be showcased in salons.
“That’s a possible market for my posters,” she said.
Jones encourages more students to take up art, and says the patience of learning pays off.
“At first it’s frustrating, but once you know the formulas and techniques it becomes very enjoyable,” she said. “Art class is a relief during the school day. It’s a creative environment where you can express yourself, and the classroom has a good vibe.”
jmimiaga@the-journal.com