By Karli Wallace
Staff Writer
Mira Costa students who are currently taking an art class will be flying to New York during Spring Break to experience renowned artwork in various museums and galleries.
The trip is lead by Ms. Amber Dixon, the Ceramics 1 and Art 1-3 teacher at Mira Costa. Students will get to witness prestigious art in museums, like the Modern Museum or Art (MOMA), the Metropolitan, the Guggenheim, as well as various galleries in SoHo, New York.
“I’ve loved New York since I was a little girl,” said Dixon. “ I went there for a year for college, and I’ve been dying to go back. It’s new, and alive and exciting and is like the Mecca for visual art. New York is a great place for artists to pursue their dreams.”
The trip was originally organized by Ms. Valerie Park, AP Art History and Mira Costa yearbook advisor. Park has played major roles in the organization and traveling of Mira Costa student trips in the past, to countries such as Greece, France, England and Spain.
“Ms. Park has done a terrific job,” said Dixon. “Her plan has made it so that students get to experience beautiful museums, as well as including popular tourist sites into the trip. Students going on the trip are definitely in for some wonderful memories.”
Along with touring art museums, students will also visit a various amount of tourist attractions, such as The Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, and Little Italy.
“There’s so much diversity in New York,” Art 1 student and freshman Margot Griggs said. “The uniqueness of the city is everywhere; in the people and especially in the art. It’ll be great just to see different artist’s ideas and what their perspectives are on the world through their art.”
The requirement for the trip is that students must have taken an arts class for the minimum of a semester or must have already taken AP Art History or AP Studio Art. Dixon said that the purpose of the trip is to give students a taste of the world of visual art.
“For students who are taking art classes, I think seeing these legendary pieces of art will really bring meaning to what they’ve learned from in their classes,” Dixon said. “Everything will come together, and hopefully that will bring more appreciation of visual art to them.”
Dixon hopes that students will come back from this trip with a new appreciation for visual art. She feels that visual art at Costa does not get the attention or appreciation it deserves, in comparison to sports or performing arts.
“I hope this trip really inspires the students,” said Dixon. “I hope it gets them excited about their art, and also to let them know that they can go anywhere they want with it. They should be proud of themselves for venturing outside of our little bubble of Manhattan Beach, and to know that art could be your ticket to so many beautiful experiences and places.
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