By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Chilton County High School will offer an art elective starting in the 2018-2019 school year.

The inaugural year already has 100 students signed up for the fall.

Incoming teacher Hollie Halford said since this is the first year to offer the class, it will focus on the basics.

“I want to introduce just all of the basic art theories first,” Halford said.

The class will begin with drawing and get into painting towards the end of the semester.

“We will get into drawing, dealing with values, which is the difference between black and white, go into color theory … learning the primaries and the secondaries and then from that go into painting and do basic shading,” Halford said.

Halford also plans to incorporate elements of art history.

“I do want to introduce some of the more important artists to the students because there are a lot of things that I didn’t learn in high school, then when I got to college and started learning about art history it was fascinating,” Halford said. “So, I think it is something that students in high school should also learn … I’m super excited.”

In addition to introducing students to art concepts, she looks forward to encouraging those who might like to pursue further studies in art.

She would also like to display students’ artwork, possibly their final projects, in a gallery format for all the students to enjoy.

A portion of funds for the art class supplies will come from a grant previously presented to the school from Senator Cam Ward.

CCHS is only one of two schools in Chilton County with a high school level art teacher. The other is Jemison High School.

“We know they offer art at the elementary level, but that’s where it stops,” CCHS Principal Ron Pinson said. “So, that creativity is not really being able to be put to good use at the middle school and high school levels.”

Pinson and Vice Principal Rosalyn Dixon, as well as many students, have wanted to see an art  class offered at the school for a long time.

“As we would hold different events here at the school, we would have students that would sketch for,” Dixon said.

These included T-shirts for homecoming and sets for Blast from the Past.

“We saw that there was a great amount of raw talent here in the school,” Dixon said.

The administrators are excited about offering the program.

“We want to offer all of our kids opportunities to expand on their talents,” Pinson said.

Classes will be half a credit or a full credit.

“We are really excited about Hollie,” Pinson said. “I think she will do a great job for us.”

Dixon said she appreciated the ideas Halford presented during her interview for connecting with community partners.

Halford said this will be her first year teaching art at the high school level.

CCHS reminds Halford of the high school she attended. She said she “felt welcome there the first second that I came in” for the interview.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She is working toward her teaching certification.

Halford has lived in Alabama most of her life.

For the past two years, she has taught at kindergarten to fifth-grade students through the Young Rembrandts after-school program.