Morse High School Theater

On the lawn performance

Our Town was performed by Morse High School students in October outside on the school lawn. Kevin O’Leary teaches drama teacher, 9th grade English and is responsible for the drama program at Morse High School.

Kevin explained the situation for performing this fall.

“We had five platforms, distanced 14 feet apart (think of the black dots on dice). When an actor was on the platform, he/she/they removed the mask. When the actors were on the periphery, they kept their mask on. In a word, all masks stayed on until the actors stepped onto the platform. No actor was ever closer than 14 feet from platform to platform. We allowed only 25 audience members per show. All audience members (4 or 5 per side of the squared acting area) were masked and were at least 14 feet away from the unmasked actor on the platform. It’s a good thing we did the show prior to the new guidelines. We would not be able to do this now. Here’s to better days ahead.“

I couldn’t agree more with Kevin – better days ahead! If you have questions for Kevin please email him at koleary@rsu1.org

In Today’s News

$50,000

A Morse High School graduate donated $50,000 to the music program to support musical opportunities for students.

Read the article from the Portland Press Herald.

Congrats Student Artists!

Congressional Art Awards

The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 to provide an opportunity for Members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. Since then, over 700,000 high school students have competed for the honor of having their work shown in the U.S. Capitol.

The competition is open to all high school students. The overall winner of each participating district will have the opportunity to have their work displayed in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol for the entire year, beginning in June. In addition, winners will be flown to Washington, D.C. for the official opening of the show in June.

Congratulations to the following students who are being honored this year, 2015

DISTRICT ONE		DISTRICT TWO
WINNER		WINNER
Self Portrait  acrylic		The Widow  white charcoal
Djordje Jevtic    Grade 12, Scarborough High School    Art Teacher: Erin Landry-Fowler		Liam Reading     Grade 12, Bangor High School     Art Teacher: Kal Elmore
FIRST RUNNER UP		FIRST RUNNER UP
Self Portrait  graphite		Airport  ink pen
Anna Kinee    Grade 12, Brunswick High School    Art Teacher: Allison Price		Youjin Choi     Grade 11, Foxcroft Academy     Art Teacher: Jane Blay
SECOND RUNNER UP		SECOND RUNNER UP
After the Music is Over  charcoal		Mirror’s Reflection  charcoal
Olivia Potter     Grade 10, Morse High School     Art Teacher: Heather Monsen		Maxwell Clarrage     Grade 11, Lewiston High School     Art Teacher: Nathaniel Meyer
HONORABLE MENTION		HONORABLE MENTION
Living in a Bottle  photography		Inside the Yellow Room  gouache
Kailey Coleman     Grade 12, Noble High School     Art Teacher: Ginny Vakalis		Jingfei Zhou     Grade 12, Gould Academy     Art Teacher: Lauren Head
HONORABLE MENTION		HONORABLE MENTION
Lips  acrylic		Pores  photography
Haleigh McKechnie     Grade 12, Thornton Academy     Art Teacher: Jennifer Merry		Riley Hemmings     Grade 11, Hebron Academy     Art Teacher: Jeanine Eschenbach
HONORABLE MENTION		HONORABLE MENTION
The Bermuda Triangle  digital		Menenius  digital
Lily Munro     Grade 10, Brunswick High School     Art Teacher: Colleen Kearney-Graffam		Meghan McDunnah     Grade 12, Mount Desert Island High School     Art Teacher: Charlie Johnson

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Congressman Bruce Poliquin  are delighted to announce the winners of the 2015 Congressional Arts Awards in Maine’s Congressional districts.

Pingree congratulates Djordje Jevtic, an exchange student from Belgrade, Serbia, who is attending Scarborough High School, for his winning artwork, “Self Portrait,” a distinctive work in acrylic.

“I’m always amazed by the quality of work that Maine students submit to this competition,” said Pingree. “I’m excited that Djordje’s work will represent our state at the Capitol—it shows a lot of talent. Winning the competition should be a great memory of Maine for him to bring back home,” “My thanks and congratulations go to all the students who participated this year, the art teachers who inspire them, and the Maine Arts Commission for coordinating this wonderful event. ”

Poliquin acknowledged Liam Reading, a senior at Bangor High School, as this year’s winner for Maine’s Second District for his white charcoal piece, “The Widow.”

“I continue to be amazed by the extraordinary talent and work of our Maine high school students,” said Poliquin. “Congratulations to Liam, and everyone who entered the competition, for sharing their artistic gifts.”

For information about the Congressional Art Competition please contact Julie Horn at the Maine Arts Commission, at 207-287-2790 or julie.horn@maine.gov

In Today’s News

Maine Sunday Telegram

Youth Art Month celebrates the visual arts

Youth Art Month celebrates the visual arts – Read about the present exhibit with 100 Maine student artists from grades PK-12 at the Portland Museum of Art. For several years the Maine Art Education Association and the museum have partnered on the YAM student exhibit. To read the entire article written by Bob Keys please go to http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/01/youth-art-month-celebrates-the-visual-arts/.

Maine Drama Festival signals hopeful change of season

Over 2,500 high school students from 80 schools located throughout Maine will perform their one-act plays at nine sites next Friday and Saturday. This annual event weekend has been taking place since the 1930’s. It is a great way to see several 40 minute plays while you are supporting the school communities. To read the entire article written by Bob Keys please go to http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/01/maine-drama-festival-signals-hopeful-change-of-season.

The playwright’s the star of this show

Morse High School’s one-act play was written by senior Morgan Quigg. Next weekend 60 Morse students involved in the One-Acts will be keeping their fingers crossed that the play ‘Look Up,’ by Quigg will do well. To read the entire article written by Bob Keys please go to http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/01/the-playwrights-the-star-of-this-show/.

Morse High School Students Work Featured

Bath’s first ArtWalk

This year’s first Bath ArtWalk on May 17 (5:00 – 7:30 pm) will include a juried exhibition of student art at Mae’s Café at the corner of High and Centre Streets.  The student exhibition from Morse High School’s fine arts program is in its sixth season, but this is the first time it has connected with the ArtWalk.

“The 63 students represented in the exhibition have achieved skills in a variety of mediums, and they work hard to hone their observational awareness,” said Constance Panetski, director of the fine arts program at Morse.   “We are grateful to Mae’s Café for providing space for the art students at Morse to exhibit their work and demonstrate to the community the talent and creativity that these young people have to offer.”

“We are especially pleased to welcome the Morse fine arts exhibition as part of the Bath ArtWalk,” said Jennifer Geiger, Director of Main Street Bath, the organizer of this year’s ArtWalks.  “It’s great to be able to bring together Bath’s professional arts community with students and families from the school system, and we’re excited to grow this connection in future years.”

The collaboration was arranged by Bath resident Peter Alexander, executive director of the Maine Alliance for Arts & Education, the Kennedy Center’s alliance network affiliate for the State of Maine. “Recognizing that arts education programs thrive best in communities that value their arts and cultural sector,” said Alexander, “We feel that it’s important to build connections between student artists and professional artists in the community. ArtWalk provides a wonderful opportunity to do this, and we’re very grateful for the cooperation and collaboration that is allowing our Morse students to be a part of ArtWalk this year. We hope other communities are doing this, too.”

The following students are featured in the 2013 exhibit:

Art 2 (grades 9-12):  Kristina Blake, Josh Reno, Pearl Wilson, Isabelle Paulus, Signe Ostergaard, Nikita Morin, Savannah Silva, Lea Machnitzky, Katrin Ralsen, Megan Curtis, Olivia Doughty, Emily Newell, Cassie Curry, Caleb Burgess, Nichole Laggan, Joel Harris, Madison Burch, Elizabeth Nelson, Kaylee Seekins, Sydney  Osterhout, Carly McDorr, Drew Ceglinski, Rachel Glick, Taylor Freeman

Commercial Arts: Jordan Omo, Toni Gregoire

Independent Study: Sophie Mayo, Silas Gringrow

Art 3 (grades 10-12):  Leslie Wyman, Debra Glick, Tristan Brewer, Chad Bonti, Kayla Brasil, Emily Parker, Rachel Rist, Anita Doughty, Niesa Ryder,

Art 4 (grades 10-12):  Brooke Taylor, Autumn Thompson, Tori Decoteau, Morgan Quigg, Sara MacNeil, Nicole Carr

Advanced Placement (grade 12):  Victoria Smith, Sierra Meszaros, Sydne Campbell, Tyler Dorr, Charlotte Recknagel, Hannah Rossetti, Jade Earl, Megan Young

Photography II (grades 9-12):  Emma Campbell, Makayla Welsh, Hannah Morong, Jon Herrick, Marisabel Rodriguez, Molly Maurer

Photograph by Morse High School junior, Jon Herrick

The Bath ArtWalk and Tour will be held monthly on the third Friday of each month, May through September from 5-8pm. Brochures with participating artist locations are available at group venues in Bath City Hall Auditorium and Nancy Carleton Real Estate offices during ArtWalk, and at the Main Street Bath office at 15 Commercial Street.

In Today’s News

Morse High School One-Act

In today’s the Forecaster newspaper there is an article called VHS makes bold return in Bath school’s 1-act play. It is a great review of the student play written by senior Sophie Mayo which will be performed in March called “Str8-2-Vid3o” (pronounced “Straight to Video”). Sophie has been involved with the 1-acts all four years of high school. Nine schools will compete on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. Sounds like this funny play will be one that you just might want to travel Morse High School in Bath to see.