Art 1 students became the Princeton High School equiva­lent of Michelangelo as they created their own mini versions of the Sistine Chapel.

Commissioned by teach­ers, the novice painters created a ceiling tile that will hang in their selected teacher’s class­room.

“This is a great project for artist development because it puts them in a real-world sce­nario,” said Art 1 teacher Erin Milburn. “The students are the artists and they are ‘hired’ to commission a painting for their clients, who are our teachers. This was an established art project before I came to Princeton, so I was happy to carry on the tradition and spread artwork throughout the school.”

The process started with an in­terview with their chosen client.

“I chose Coach Kovo, because he is one of my favorite teachers,” said 9th-grade student Valerie Ri­vera. “The coach does computer graphics and wanted us to adapt one of those for his tile. So he gave us the concept.”

Using coach Ryan Kowalews­ki’s idea, the students created a tile with the Panther logo on an American flag backdrop.

“The coach wanted us to do this,” Valerie said. “We worked as a team to come up with the design, which I think turned out pretty well.”

For the full story, see the Apr. 15 issue or subscribe online.

By Jean Ann Collins • [email protected]