05/15/2026
"For me, what defines the last six or so weeks of the academic year is its annual, seemingly irreversible trend of the art room and its operations growing exponentially messier and laborious to manage. The signs are all there: window sills covered in piles of papers, the sink filled with soapy water and dirty palettes, the mounting tape for the wall posters all failing at once—I could go on. But of special note amongst the piles of supplies and student works is a growing stack of artworks piled at the side of my desk.
These artworks are not of any one class or curriculum. Rather, they are a collection of gifts from students of various classes (all younger). Whereas the end of the year finds me up to my neck in work between school and duties at home (my second child is due the day after our last day of school), it seems that many of our young students have ample amounts of time to indulge in the creative outlets that produced these gifts.
I have been admittedly slow to appreciate this growing pile of gift art, and slow to realize what makes them so special to me—that each of these gifts were given by a student who was pleased to have made it. The mark of each of these gifted artworks was the respective student-artist reusing and re-applying some sort of technique they had learned or rehearsed with me as their teacher. And they were showing off just what they could do with it. There was achievement in their body of work this year, and they knew it. Isn't that just awesome?
The achievement of our student-artists was on full display at the auction a few weeks ago, where, among the immense number of student works lining the gym walls, at least two student artworks were sold to guests who were pleased to possess them.
The progress of students this year has been observably immense. We've seen, for example, junior high students in quarter two sculpt little stone monuments out of clay, dressed with moss, pebbles, and other materials, then dry-brushed to simulate texture and aging, and then later, in quarter three, reuse the same techniques on a larger scale to produce set pieces for Knights Theater's production of The Adventures of Robin Hood. That's just awesome.
And that's the sort of thing that, for me, defines the last three or so weeks of the academic year: its annual, irreversible trend of bringing to light all the great work and achievement that each of our school's grades have produced. The signs are all there: student work selling at auctions, kids showing off their skills with gifts to their teachers, and a growing eagerness in myself to see what these student-artists will accomplish next year. Y'all have a happy summer." - Mr. Hamilton, Fine Arts
To read more from our teachers about the ending of another academic year, check out our School Newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/mountroyalacademy/schoolnewsletter5132026
