In the instance that you make a journey to Amanda Youngblood’s art room, you’ll notice the wonderful new additions to the space: Brand new tables and stools that fill the air with a new sense of creativity. The room this year has been home to various art projects, such as the model magic monsters, middle school play sets, and has even housed the Robotics Team’s vendor booth exhibit. 

The tables and stools were funded in part through the “Alabama Support the Arts License Tag Grant.” The grant comes from the Arts License, which is a custom license plate that costs $50. The funds pool to provide the money in the grants for teachers and schools.

After submitting a well-worded paragraph to the board, Youngblood received the award. In the submission, the art teacher discussed the growing size of our school.  

“Student population is max capacity,” Youngblood said.  “To accommodate, the classroom needs to be equipped with more appropriate tables and stools.” 

Whilst enjoying the brand-new tables and chairs in the art room, fourth-grade students were visited by the wonderful Ricky Trione, a blind artist in the area. The artist, who prior to losing his sight used exclusively black and white, has discovered a world of color through his lack of vision, now almost always employing vibrant tones in his work.  

Trione lost his vision in his left eye while serving in the military, yet not how you may think. While sitting in his car on a base, another vehicle drove by, shooting gravel into his eye and damaging his retina. Seven years later, while trying to fix his truck on the side of the interstate, an 18-wheeler tire popped nest to him, causing rubber to hit his face and damage the retina in his right eye in a similar fashion. 

After overcoming these tragic events, Trione has flourished, producing stunning works. Whilst visiting the fourth grade, the artist demonstrated his remarkable talent by drawing a small sculpture simply by touching it, doing so in remarkable detail.