FEATURE
FINE ARTS
It’s a Tuesday morning in January and
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at Jesuit are seated throughout the
studio, sketching.
Ball is at his desk, sketching as well. His
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big screen at the front of the room. He
offers instruction, options, ideas. The
students look up, listen, look down, and
sketch.
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not. I have bullet points they need to
meet, but they soon recognize this is
their class. They have fun, and they
realize that, at the least, this is art
therapy from the rigors of Jesuit, a way
to challenge themselves and have a good
time.”
It begins with about 140 10th graders
taking a semester of art. From that large
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Honors portfolio, will emerge about two
dozen AP Art students for Jesuit’s two AP
Art classes.
“Art is indicative of a well-rounded
person,” Ball said. “If they make it
through AP Art, they won’t quit anything.
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AP Studio Art: Drawing have had
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rates – all participants scoring a 3,
4, or 5 on the AP exam – for several
consecutive years.
The AP evaluation is rigorous, requiring
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“By the time they are seniors, we are
determining their strengths, trying
expand on their strengths, and be gutsy.
And we also have the art club, Don’t
Feed the Artists, where there is more
room for experimentation, and the
Photography Club is in its second year.”
In recent years, AP artists at Jesuit have
produced numerous award-winning
and honored pieces at showcases
throughout the area, such as Tampa
Museum of Art’s annual youth showcase;
inside Amalie Arena, the home of the
Tampa Bay Lightning; at the University
of Tampa’s gallery, which until recently
hosted a youth showcase that was
peppered with Jesuit artwork annually;
and the Diocese of St. Petersburg has
selected Jesuit student art for its display.
The art studio at Jesuit also is
producing phenomenal displays that
captivate hundreds of guests each year
at Celebration of the Arts. And they
20 JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2018-19
AP Art student Loki Fountain '19 and Kevin Ball '03 work on one of the murals
for Gaudiosa 2019. The Pizzeria Remo mural (BELOW LEFT) was one of several
created by AP Art students for Gaudiosa 2018: An Evening in Rome