Corona del Sol High School students are brightening up the Tempe Union High School District Office this month with artistic displays of students’ work from Carmelisa Castelli Wood’s photography classes.
Among those featured is Corona junior Christine Beatty of Wood’s photography 3-4 class, who has two of her pieces on display through April.
Beatty’s artwork included a piece that combined two photos that outline a girl with an earthy vine.
“She’s my best friend, Rachel, and her element is earth,” Beatty said. “I thought it seemed fitting to overlay a tree and foliage with her.”
She said the overlaying photos were the outcome of a project experimenting with texture.
“I had the original photo of her, and then I had a photo I had taken of some leaves and combined them,” Beatty said.
Beatty’s other piece was a photo taken of the Oregon Coast, where her family often travels on vacations.
Beatty hopes to continue her studies in photography, and is looking into applying at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University.
“This is a fine arts class, and it’s a vocational class; so it’s approached from both directions,” Wood said. “So, they (the students) can actually be employable in the field as soon as the graduate from high school.”
Nick Gayes, webmaster/graphic and communications specialist for TUHSD, said the district office has been continually displaying Kyrene students artwork throughout this school year, rotating through different pieces monthly.
“It’s nice because at my work now, it brightens things up with different artwork displays each month,” Gayes said. “The high school students’ artwork is incredible – they are so talented.”
Wood said her students work with both film and digital technology to create and manipulate photos with various artistic expressions.
To visit the art display, visit the Tempe Union High School District Office at the Benedict Education Center located on the northeast corner of Guadalupe Road and McKemy Street, on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
