By Mindy Pollack-Fusi
When Sean Hagan arrived as Director of Art for the Bedford Public Schools three years ago, the high school was filled with wonderful display cases mostly for 2-d and 3-d work. “Other than that,” he recalls, it was “pretty much a blank canvas, with blue lockers, gray walls and great lighting and airy design, but too little color otherwise.”
Formerly the K-12 Art Department Head for the Lexington Public Schools, and an art teacher before that, Sean spotted the opportunity to shape BHS into a more vibrant place.
Today, under his guidance, art is popping up all over—inside and outside the schools’ walls, beginning with the Unity Mural that hangs in the school office, representing that Bedford schools are inclusive and value everyone, Sean explains.
The mural was created by the inaugural participants of an Art Club created from an idea sparked by former senior Parker Taggard, and current senior Neil Luczai. The pair recruited some 10 others, who participated in a powerful project that forms an image of Maya Angelou from individual student pieces. It now hangs in the high school’s main office.
As many Art Club members graduated last year, this year’s Art Club membership has been growing slowly, but with enormous zeal. They created a sculpture out of wood, funded by the BHS Parents Association. It has been installed outside in the courtyard.
An idea for another piece came to Sean organically as a result of the school’s annual Community Day, where students can try various stress-releasing activities. Students and staff participated in drawing imagery on small individual wooden tiles that were later assembled on a larger surface. “This was a fantastic project that, I think, was very accessible and approachable for the staff and students that participated, as the scale was very small, but when you assemble all of the individual pieces together, it’s becomes very interesting to take in.”
That also goes for the art programming in general: “The more we do around the school, the more the word gets out,” says Sean. “And when kids see more of this—the murals and paintings—they may be drawn to them and want to get involved.”
His vision is for students to use their artistic expression as a means for pulling communities together. They collaborate as a group, commit to creating art for Bedford’s community, and learn that “their work is not going into a vacuum,” he explains. And they’re proud of what they produce.
He also focuses on “green values” and up-cycling materials to make art whenever possible. All of the wooden squares from the Community Day project were available through a recent home renovation project; rather than throw the wood paneling away, Sean saw it as an opportunity to reuse as a canvas.
All-School, K-12 Art Show
In conjunction with the other Bedford Art teachers, Sean directs the annual K-12 Art Show begun in 1992 by local artists who formed the ArtLink collaborative, now long overseen by Bedford resident Judy Turner. Each May, the exhibit features nearly 3000 pieces of art by every student taking art in Davis Elementary School (K-2), Lane School (Gr 3-5), John Glenn Middle School (Gr 6-8) and the Bedford High School. Integrated preschool work will also be on display this year. Graduating seniors who have majored in art showcase their work in individual displays.
This year, for the first time—thanks to the brainstorming of the Art department, two chairs painted by students in Hagan’s Art classes will be auctioned off to benefit ArtLink, which provides scholarships for students who will be studying art in college.
The 2018 K-12 Art Show will be held at Bedford High School on Friday, May 4, 6-9 pm; Saturday, May 5, 10 am to 4 pm; and Sunday, May 6, 11 am to 3 pm. The show is free and open to the public.
Click this link to read about Bedford’s 2017 All-School Art Show
About Sean Hagan
Sean, who is a Bedford resident, along with his wife and two elementary school-aged sons, is also introducing digital photography to BHS next year, thanks to a generous grant from the Bedford Education Foundation. And, in conjunction with the Bedford Arts Council and Alyssa Sandoval, Bedford’s Economic Development Coordinator, the school will participate in bringing community art to the town’s electrical boxes soon. Also, Lane School will soon unveil a massive outdoor mural created by fifth graders for the new garden area.
A final tidbit about the new art director: he is a jazz aficionado who listens to jazz while illustrating and painting jazz-related art, and more, which he sells on FineArt America https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/sean-hagan.html. His preferred medium is wood—which he has introduced to students as an economical alternative to canvas, especially when it’s free! Some of his work is displayed at BHS.
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