Courtesy of Nicole Hao

Art club officers introduce their upcoming project, “Interwoven,” to members.

A blaze of colors surges across the back wall outside Journalism Room 303, capturing the attention of many who walk past. The mural — a red falcon delivering newspapers to students in front of a background of bright color blocks — reflects the work done by Falcon staffers who run the school’s publication in a highly striking and creative way.

This project was completed last September by the school’s Art Club. The officers — seniors president Nicole Hao, vice president Joanne Zhang and marketing officer Celina Ren and juniors treasurer Haley Pham and secretary Claire Kwon — led its creation from start to finish, along with other club members who volunteered to contribute.

The officers, all of whom are deeply passionate about art and fostering a sense of unity through it, saw the opportunity to start a new art club when the old one didn’t continue into the 2024-25 school year. 

“A lack of community is a big problem at our school,” Pham said. “Since we have a lot of artists here, we believe that art is a great way to help people who usually don’t interact to become friends over a common activity.”

According to Hao, the old version of the club began struggling in spring 2024, so she formed an officer team and applied at the start of the new school year. They faced obstacles such as misscheduled ASB interviews and the struggle to distinguish themselves from other art-focused clubs, like the Illustration and Animation Club. Ultimately, Art Club was approved in August 2024. 

All officers are highly experienced with art and have enjoyed it from a young age. Hao has been drawing since she was 3 years old and has been taking lessons over the past ten years. Hao, Ren and Kwon have all earned Scholastic Art regional awards in the past few years, and Hao additionally won a Scholastic national gold medal with her art piece “Mindspace.”

The club meets in history teacher Amanda Lupoli’s room on Red Day Wednesdays, with an average of 20 to 30 attendees. During meetings, officers go over ongoing club events and upcoming art competitions, then introduce a small activity — such as designing stickers — for members to engage with. 

“The Illustration and Animation Club covers art opportunities and drawing techniques that we were planning to cover ourselves, which is why we focus more on community projects and activities,” Pham said. 

The Art Club has hosted many activities outside of its regular meetings. In addition to painting the journalism mural, they also hosted a sticker design contest and an art speaker event last year. 

This year, they have hosted many types of interactive games and challenges on their Discord server, including an Inktober Challenge, Gartic Phone and drawing on a shared whiteboard, all of which received a great amount of participation from students. The central purpose of these engaging, team-oriented activities is to allow artists to bond and further strengthen their enthusiasm for art.

Looking ahead, Art Club will be collaborating with Palo Alto High’s Art and Tech Club to create a 3D-printed tile installation that features artistic creativity from both schools. Saratoga will focus on the creation and design of the sketches, while Palo Alto will 3D print them. The finished project will be displayed at Palo Alto High and potentially also on campus here if the club finds a location for it. 

 

The theme and style for this project is based on the specific interests and passions of the artist designing their tile. From astronomy to martial arts, every unique passion is represented by a simple, distinctive symbol with no more than four colors. 

“Honestly, it’s just really cool to have a physical representation of passion,” Hao said. 

She said it is important to create art that represents the community, especially since there are so many diverse passions being pursued by students within the school. The project would also demonstrate similarities and differences between Saratoga’s and Palo Alto’s student culture. 

“I personally love art for its creative aspect, and I love seeing what others create,” Hao said. “There’s just so many possibilities to explore and each person has their own niche or style, which makes it far more interesting.”