“When going on this trip, students can see that art is really a much larger cultural influence than we even think. A lot of times students get to see things that they’ve heard of but they’ve never seen the art in person. I think it’s more exciting and it’s more influential,” said Mattie Bell, Chamblee’s photography and art history teacher and the art department chair.

For the first time in two years, the art department went on their annual trip to the High Museum of Art. The trip is a part of the art standards for Chamblee students; they are required to be exposed to art in other settings, like museums and galleries.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Shown is Margerat McNally (‘24) above and Luna Perez (‘24 below). Collage courtesy of Sydney Grove ('24).

“We took all of our art kids from a bunch of different classes. […] Juniors and seniors from classes like AP Art History, AP 2D, AP Drawing, drawing II, drawing III, sculpture, and photo II. All of the upper level classes have an opportunity to go,” said Bell.

Seeing the art they have studied can change their perspectives and allow them to become more enticed by the curriculum.

“I really enjoyed getting students to see things that they’ve learned about in class in real life because it’s always like, ‘Oh, whoa I didn’t realize this was so big or I didn’t realize this was so detailed.’ Just kind of getting to see these things like in the flesh,” said Bell.

By putting students in this environment, it can ignite an inspirational match to set their imaginations and art aspirations on fire.

“There’s definitely something about seeing art in front of you versus seeing a picture of it on the classroom board. It’s not the same feeling. They come back from the trip refreshed and inspired from all of the things that they’ve seen with new ideas,” said Bell.

But after two years, how was the trip even possible?

“Obviously, we weren’t sure that this trip would even happen, but when they switched to making masks optional, they started to loosen up on the COVID restrictions for field trips. In early February, we started to see some other schools get their field trips approved,” said Bell.

Arranging this trip has been a year-long fight against COVID, but the loosening of restrictions helped get the trip off the ground.

“I tried last semester and was not approved and then we saw some other schools get approved so we kind of tried to go through the process again and this time it worked out,” said Bell.

The Chamblee art department hopes to carry on this tradition and continue to host the trip to the High.

“It was a great experience and we can’t wait to do it again next year,” said Bell.