(COVINGTON, La.)  Seniors in Art IV at St. Paul’s School are faced with a difficult, yet immensely rewarding project. Students must create sculptures, paintings, drawings, and papers on art theory. On top of all their work, the students must submit a written art proposal to their instructor, Gerald Ancar, that outlines their idea for a major year-long project.

“The Art IV students write a proposal like a true artist,” Ancar said. “They bring it to me, and we discuss their ideas. And then on top of the other projects that I assign, they have to complete their art proposals that deal with their own concepts, creativity, and whatever they want through their own works of art.”

These projects are the embodiment of whatever a student wants to make his piece about. Using the knowledge and techniques taught to them by the Fine Arts Department over four years, they are able to create beautiful pieces of art that represent a certain aspect of that particular student’s life.

Senior Grant Hughes says, “I enjoy taking everything I’ve learned and incorporating it into something I want to do and going in the direction that I creatively want to go in.”

His project is a recreation of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover with every face replaced by someone influential in his life. His project is just one of many that is being created by the Art IV students. The complexity and creativity of these projects is truly a testament to Ancar’s experience and expertise as an art teacher and the talent of all his students. “It’s very eye-opening to see them develop from when they first start art class , and to see the light bulb click, and have each of them come up with their own ideas and use techniques they learned in previous art classes to help complete their work. It’s a blessing,” Ancar said.

People look forward to seeing the completion of these pieces, and they are a major attraction each year around at the SPS Art Show, which is planned for April or May of 2018.