When the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) was offered the opportunity to paint a sculpture of a dog, they decided to pay tribute to one of the first artistic, innovative thinkers who thought beyond his time and into the modern world: Leonardo da Vinci.
“I think as a community service project, it’s really unique. No other club would get the opportunity to paint an entire dog,” junior Anastasia Clegg said.
The project started when different NAHS chapters across the county started a project to try to raise funds for schools to purchase Smart Boards. The project entails that each school receives a dog sculpture to paint which is then put up for auction in the Pinecrest City Hall to pay for the Smart Boards.
Palmetto’s NAHS dog stands about five feet tall and was donated to the school by Luis Wolf.
“The Smart Dog is a creative way to draw attention to the arts in the community,” senior Jenelle Paramore said.
The dog will show da Vinci influence in its design; the dog will be divided into 31 different zones, each with its own featured technology and drawn to look like da Vinci’s sketchbook pages. The technologies featured are a Camera obscura, film projector, overhead projector, computer and Smart board.
“I plan to show the inside of the computers like da Vinci would, just showing the guts of the technology and showing what’s really inside, modeling it after his sketches,” senior Chelsea Canary said.
The project must be finished by the end of the school year, with the only problem being that the participating students are short on time. Still, they have stepped up to the challenge and have already started gluing pieces to the dog.
“It’s been great working to give the school Smart Boards. Sadly, I wish we had more time to work on this, but we can finish it,” junior Elizabeth Adare Brown said.
To get the 31 sections done in time, NAHS has divided themselves into five groups, each assigned five to seven zones and their own technology to feature.
“Working on the Smarty Dog has been a great experience, in which we can create our own unique images pertaining to technology. I’m sure it will come out amazing,” junior Stacey Strickland said.
The paper sketches were made to look aged and worn, and were then pasted on the dog. When all the sketches are placed, the students plan to paint the dog over with a shiny, clear finish.
“It’s an interesting, innovative way to take the classical art of the Renaissance,” Canary said, “and combine it with modern technology to pay tribute to the artist and benefit the school.”
