OCLAC Showcases OHS Student Art

The Olney Community Library & Art Center [OCLAC] reserved a portion of the library for OHS students to display art projects. As expected, students from art class had many projects on display but some of the art is a little unexpected to see during an art show.

The students of the OHS precision machine class wanted to show off some of their hard work. Some of the projects on show from the class were a cook stove/grill that also doubled as a heater, a replica of an arc reactor from the Iron Man movie, a steel dice set, a sign for the Junior High, shop hammers, 45-degree EZ pressure engine, rotary weld positioner, Rocket Stove and flatbed bottle rack.

Other art projects entered included quilts, books and illustrations, and drawings as well as many other artistic projects. One particular painting really touched this reporter: a painting by Samantha Garibay that featured the motto “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”

“The class teaches the fundamentals of manual milling, machining, welding, hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, CNC,” OHS Precision Machine teacher Casey Keeter said. “The students are learning the basics and safety to kind of help them get ready to go to a job if they choose that route or prepare them for a trade school. The course is a four-year program. The freshman year is really hands on the machining side, second year we push into welding, third year is more of the power system and so that’s when we learned hydraulic pneumatic electric and small engines and such, and then the fourth year, we kind of put it all together, so it’s very project-based learning.” One of the students who helped manufacture the Rocket Stove, Brodie Hagle, said, “We thought this would be a cool project that was not too hard but not too easy to do.” For more information on upcoming programs at the OCLAC please visit their Facebook page.