3-D art on board at WCA
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Photo by Tom Hintgen
WCA art students produced this ballerina figurine.
High school art classes have changed a lot over the years, and West Central Area School at Barrett is no exception. An example is three-dimensional art.
Students at WCA learn about the elements and principles of design and how they work together to make a complete and interesting 3-D composition. They also experiment with various types of 3-D media which may include modeling clay, paper mache, wire and plaster. In addition, students research various sculpture artists, their art and history.
Two items on display last week included artwork with a 1950s and 1960s soda fountain theme and a ballerina figurine.
West Central Area High School in Barrett includes students from the towns of Kensington, Hoffman, Barrett, Elbow Lake and Wendell. WCA District 2342 also has two elementary schools consisting of grades K-6. WCA South is located in Kensington and WCA North is located in Elbow Lake.
The West Central Area school district was created in 1993 when the West Central school district of Wendell, Elbow Lake, and Barrett joined with the Hoffman-Kensington school district due to declining enrollment. However, consolidation had started long before that.
Photo by Tom Hintgen
High School art and communications students at WCA came up with this 1950s and 1960s soda fountain theme.
Wendell, Elbow Lake, Barrett, Hoffman and Kensington — as noted on the WCA web site — all used to be their own districts, but kept consolidating with each other until they all finally became one, large district.
Art classes aren’t the only student offerings that have changed over the years at West Central Area and other schools in west central Minnesota.
The Environmental Learning Center at WCA is used for collecting specimens, giving students the opportunity to learn more about prairie grasses, fire ecology and learn more about the various types of wetlands. The center is used by the ecology, biology, adventure ecology and elementary classes.
The center can be used anytime and is always available and open.
The WCA school in Barrett was ahead of its time with energy efficiency. Cost savings are derived following installation in the early 1990s of a geothermal heating system.
There are 288 wells, each 200 feet deep, using over 21 miles of pipe. A heat pump, controlled by a computer system, heats or cools each classroom and the system has a backup generator. The mechanical room includes a 400-gallon hot water storage tank.
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