On Feb. 15, students and families from across the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) filled the BVH cafeteria to participate in a “Paint and Sip” event. In celebration of Black History month, each year a theme is selected, this year’s theme is “art.” Eastlake Middle art teacher Andrea Arroyo live demonstrated two black artists’ art styles to incorporate into their own paintings.
“I thought that it would be a good idea that BVH hosted a sip and paint. We had the [Eastlake Middle art teacher Andrea Arroyo come teach the students about two black artists’ work. It was educational and we wanted everybody to have fun, socialize and learn about black artists past and contemporary,” BVH Black Student Union (BSU) Advisor and Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies teacher Don Dumas said.
Dumas along with Olympian High School BSU Advisor and Assistant Principal Sesha Haynes helped coordinate the event. This is one of the four events Dumas and Haynes are helping plan this month for SUHSD students and families. Arroyo explains there was a variety of people participating ranging from six to 60 years old.
“I have loved art all my life. One thing that is important with my students, my own child and my own life is celebrating all different kinds of art and people. When Haynes and Dumas invited me to celebrate Black History Month, I was really excited to not just teach about art, but to teach about some black historical artists that have made an impact in our world,” Arroyo said.
Participants enjoyed the “sip” part of the event with the provided snacks and drinks. Aside from refreshments, students and their families were able to learn about two Black artists that have incorporated unique techniques into their art.
“One artist was Jean-Michel Basquiat, known as a street artist in the 1980’s and died tragically young. His artwork has affected a lot of people, you see it on clothing brands. The other artist is Bisa Butler. She is a contemporary artist [who uses] old photographs of black life, black celebrities, politicians and she turns them into these enormous color-filled quilts. Our work today was all about the symbolism, the imagery from Basquiat and using that fabric-multimedia approach from Butler,” Arroyo said.
As Arroyo taught the audience, they began to take inspiration from her lesson and create unique artwork on their own canvases. Eastlake High School seniors Dior Cook and Malia McFadden are two of the many students who participated.
“I feel like once I saw [Arroyo’s] painting when she was talking about making a crown, hers was different and creative. So it inspired me to be different and make mine crazy,” Cook said.
Both Cook and McFadden plan to attend more BSU events together after considering that there are more events these next few weeks for Black History Month. Originally, the two of them showed interest in the “Paint and Sip” event because of the art theme.
“[Cook and I] really enjoy art and we wanted to try something different, we might come to more [BSU events] because this was really cool. [Arroyo] used a lot of multimedia between the fabrics, the paints and paper when making her painting,” McFadden said.
Overall, Arroyo felt the event was successful as it brought friends and families within SUHSD together. As explained by Dumas, they were able to learn more about the history of black artists and artwork while also having fun, relaxing and conversing with one another.
“[The event] was awesome. People seem to be having fun, we took pictures of the beautiful artwork. I’m all about spreading art, acceptance [and] community to everybody. I would love to do more things like this whether it’s for Black History month or celebrating other heritages. Anything to bring people together is amazing and I think art is the best way to do it,” Arroyo said.
