Art saturates the lives of Haldane students outside of school. The Garrison Art Center held the annual exhibit for the Mentorship Program on March 14 of 2026. All of the pieces shown had unique stylistic choices and artist statements that allowed visitors to immerse themselves in the student-artists’ ideas. The Mentorship Program features a small group of artists who are paired with students based on both interests and medium.
Selected students are given three months to make gallery-ready pieces that are featured in the front room of the Garrison Art Center. This program not only helps students work on art outside of school, but also offers student artists a chance to experience real-life art opportunities due to the deadlines and themes they must embody in their work.
Many students struggle with finding time in their school schedules for art classes. Louisa Schimming, a senior at Haldane High School and a returning mentee of the Mentorship Program, remarked on why the program was fit for her: “I chose to do the mentorship program because this year I couldn’t take Advanced Art like I planned to…I hoped that the mentorship program would encourage me to continue making 2D art outside of school.” According to Schimming, the program is beneficial for motivation apart from school courses. At Haldane, art courses are limited, and students often struggle to get into the classes they want; the mentorship program provides a solution.
During the three months prior to the exhibit, mentees and mentors are required to meet six times to discuss the working process. Men- tees find this to be an important part of the mentorship process, as an artist can both directly critique their art and help to improve technique. Clara Gelber, a junior at Haldane, noted that having a mentor was beneficial for improving her drawing process: “My mentor has helped me a lot with taking a step back from my artwork and really taught me that there needs to be balance…in order to develop [the art piece] further”.
Junior Frances Donahue suggests the program to future men- tees: “I would recommend this to someone who wants to make their own creative choices and works well with budgeting their own time”.
