The National Art Honors Society (NAHS) is currently developing art panels to be displayed in the science wing. Art and science are fusing in an abstract way to represent 7 branches of science: anatomy, astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, and social science.

“If you walk through the science wing, you’ll notice that it is very bland, and we don’t really have any artwork [there],” Caroline Bierly (’18), co-president of the NAHS, said, “Each panel is inspired by something, so for one of the panels it’s a shell, to represent biology; it’s abstractly based on fossils and stuff like that.”

NAHS members have started tracing and painting the panels, but are still in the process. The idea for this project came from art teacher and NAHS adviser, Sam Tillman, and artist-in-residence, Caroline Devereaux, with whom Mr. Tillman has been working with since last spring.

“We thought about the placement very carefully in terms of where in the school we thought they would get a lot of exposure,” Tillman said, “Then [we thought about] what kind of imagery would be interesting for students and would [endure] the test of time.”

The panels feature complex shapes and colors, to provoke thought and reflection as students pass by.

“We wanted them to be representational enough that you could see a scientific area represented, but not too detailed, because it would be impossible to pull it off,” Tillman said, “We needed something that was simple enough that many students could work on without it looking like a hodge-podge of different styles.”

Science and art may seem worlds apart, but the goal of this project is to connect these two separate worlds, and to show that art appears in many aspects of life.

“I want people to appreciate art more, I think the art program is kind of forgotten at Hereford, since we have such strong academics,” Bierly said. “So I want people to remember that the art program is still here and doing cool stuff.”

Tillman believes that students should look for art in places where it would not be expected,

“I hope students can see that art can be used to represent areas of study that we don’t associate with art-making. I also hope that students will appreciate art as they walk through the hallway,” Tillman said. “I think the school aesthetic can be kind of boring or monotonous, and we wanted to kind of break that up a little bit with colors [in the hallways].”

The NAHS, with help from Tillman and Devereaux, hopes to have this project completed by the end of the school year. They have held one after school studio session, in order to paint the panels, and it could take many more until they are finished.

“We have started tracing and we started painting the panels, but we’re still in the process,” Bierly said.

“This will probably take the rest of the year, since the panels are 3×6 [feet], they are pretty big,” Bierly said. “They will probably be done by the end of the year, and maybe some into next year.”

The NAHS is hoping to make this an annual project, eventually having artwork covering every hallway, Bierly said.

Tillman said that having more art in the hallways will benefit students as well, even if they don’t realize it.

“Maybe it’s not obvious the way it affects students but I think there is a cumulative effect of seeing this stuff every day,” Tillman said.