By Dominique Walton
As High School South is getting back to normal, the traditions start rolling in. One popular tradition is our South artists painting downtown. To accurately represent the South tradition, I interviewed an art teacher Mr. Johnson.
Q: Why do students paint downtown?
A: Students partner with local businesses to decorate their windows for the annual Halloween parade. Toms River’s parade is one of the largest in the country, and it provides our students with a great opportunity to showcase their work for the public
Q: How did the painting tradition begin?
A: The painting tradition began over 75 years ago, shortly after the Toms River Halloween parade began. For many years, South students painted directly onto the windows. Now, they paint on large sheets of paper that we hang on the windows. This allows students to work on the paintings in school, and also keep them after the parade if they like.
Q: How are the painters selected?
A: Every student in an art class creates their own Halloween or fall themed painting as a class project. They learn about composition, design, color mixing, and texture. Then, students who are interested in painting Downtown submit their paintings into a contest, where the three art teachers vote on which paintings we think would look best on the windows Downtown. Then, those students start to cut paper to fit the window measurements and begin to draw their designs.
Q: How many painters are selected?
A: Depending on the number of windows that are available for us to paint (not every business downtown allows us to paint their windows), we take anywhere from 70 - 100 students. This year, 85 student artists were selected to paint downtown.
Q: How much paint do the students use?
A: Between the original paintings done in class and the large murals displayed downtown, the art students use between ten and thirty gallons of paint!
Q: What interested you in helping the students with their paintings?
A: If I didn’t help the students, I’d be a pretty bad art teacher, wouldn’t I? I love seeing the students create art that they are proud of. Because they only have two days to create their large mural paintings, the art teachers meet with every student multiple times while they are working to give them pointers and suggestions on how to improve their paintings. Then, the rest is up to them! I am very proud of our talented art students. The work they are doing this year is amazing and I am happy to support them.
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