From their casual meetings before and after school, to their donation of supplies at the Festival of the Arts, at the top of the National Art Honors Society’s lineup of events is this year’s addition of linoleum relief prints made, sold, and bought by students. With each rotation featuring another student artist, NAHS members gear up to design and carve a new design exclusive to each month. Junior Kaye Latzel is responsible for March’s lovingly crafted print design.

“[Printmaking] has been very fun. I would love to continue doing it. Though linoleum is a very permanent medium…[my design] has a bunch of little lines involved, especially on the cattails,” Latzel said. “Those took a long time, trying to figure out the right height and manage all of the empty space, but I love it.”

Latzel worked with other, more experienced members of NAHS to create the desired product such as fellow junior Olivia McCary, who first dove into printmaking in Intro to Art.

“Printmaking was something I did in my freshman year of Intro to Art and I really loved the way the prints could be made over and over again. I just fell in love with all of the tools and line-work involved,” McCary said.

The theme Latzel was meant to draw inspiration from was nature, and eventually, their final design was of everyone’s favorite hopping green guys.

“I named him Frederick…and there were a lot of ideas that came before Frederick, just in trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do,” Latzel said. “But, then, I thought of frogs. Frogs are easy, and they’re great. I love frogs. So, then, it was just a matter of getting him to be the right shape and fit into a scene.”

Sarah Percy, Senior and fellow frog-lover, has pre-bought herself one copy for each monthly design.

“I just thought that [the prints were] a very good idea, and I was worried that they might not get the attention I feel they deserved. Especially because, at this school, we tend to prioritize our sports over the arts, so, I was just nervous that people wouldn’t give it the appreciation they should,” Percy said. “I’m a big animal lover, too, and our prints are nature themed, and who doesn’t like frogs?”

Latzel, creator of the aptly named ‘Frederick the Frog’, worked incredibly hard with the other members of NAHS to complete this print, with the balance of negative spacing and thin line-work. But, finally, it all came together.

“You can do a lot of cool stuff with [linoleum]. It’s really just needing to get into the heavier detailing and focusing on the little things that bring it all together,” Latzel said. “And, I was worried, but I was able to keep things simple and straightforward…Everyone was also very helpful. They were all so willing to help me and teach me what to do and how to do it properly.”

The rotation for print-artist-of-the-month is completely random, with each participating member’s name entering a hat before the next month’s ‘chosen one’ is pulled by Mrs. Michelle McCune, giving a new and different stylised feeling to each new print put out to the student body.

“[Most] of the artists haven’t had the printmaking class before. So, a lot of them are learning a new skill with relief printing…and we chose with everybody putting their name in a hat, if they’re interested in making a print, and then I drew out five names,” McCune said. “We’ve drawn for January, February, March, April, and May, so we have five artists that will be represented and showcased through NAHS.”

Another bonus: your purchase of a print doesn’t only give an ego boost to the artists, nor simply go to show the success of NAHS’ most recent expansion, but it also supports an ever growing college fund.

McCune said. “To buy one print, it’s ten dollars, or you could buy all of them for forty dollars. You could also get a frame, and all that…and all of the proceeds go to the Amy Roseline and Bill Hurst scholarship, which then goes to an NAHS member who plans on pursuing art of art education as a career.”