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Ya gotta have art

Pam Holmes Boyd

It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the Class of 2003, 1953 or 1903; there’s always a few recognizable personalities represented in the group. Every class seems to have a clown, a super athlete, a queen girl and an artist.

Taking that observation another step, the clown is inevitably the master of ceremonies of a performance or event and brings down the house. The super athlete distinguished himself/herself in a pivotal, defining competition. The queen is crowded at homecoming or prom. And the artist designs the yearbook cover. That’s where one of Battle Mountain High School’s archetypical personalities has stepped out of the mode.

Maria Borg is one of the talented student artists in her class. She is enrolled in Advanced Placement art at the school and her portfolio is an amazing representation of various styles and media. Borg, however, is a sculptor, not a painter or illustrator.



“I had done three art classes, and they were mostly two-dimensional art. And then I took a ceramics class,” said Borg.

From the time she first set her hands to clay, Borg knew she has found her medium. In additional to ceramics, she has also worked with plaster, wire and glass. “It’s been a really fun way to experiment.”

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By taking AP classes, students earn college credit while still in high school. AP art might sound like an easy way to get a few college credits taken care of, Borg said reality if far different.

“AP Art is definitely worthy of the title Advanced Placement. You have to create such a volume of work and it has to be of such high quality,” she said. “There is a lot more work involved than people expect.”

To fulfill her portfolio requirements, Borg had to complete 24 projects in a 30-week period.

“It’s been rough,” she said. “I’m almost done. When I am, I have to submit slides of my work to the AP Board. They will then decide if it merits college credit or not.”

Borg, naturally, hopes her work meets the grade, as she prepares to attend Saint Olaf College in Minnesota next fall. She plans to study nursing and fine arts at the school.

“Why nursing?” she responds to a question about her chosen vocation. “Well, I have always liked science as well as art and I like people.”

Borg also noted that her own experiences as a patient fueled her interest in a nursing career. “Nurses make a huge difference.”

But Borg isn’t planning on leaving her artist side behind when she departs for college. “I always have had an affinity for it and I like being creative,” she said. Who knows, she offered, maybe there’s a way to combine her love of art in a nursing career.

As she looks back on her time at BMHS, Borg said her best memories involve times with friends and all of her art classes. “I also loved both year of math with Mr. Palm and sophomore English,” she said.


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