This spring, the Creative Writing II class at Athens Drive, led by Rachel Surles, will post their third issue of the “Blueprints” art journal.
“Blueprints” is a curated art journal that features the students at Athens. The journal shares students’ creative talents by showcasing their poetry, prose, visual arts and performing arts. “Blueprints” can be used to share students’ artistic and creative capabilities with classmates. Often, this is the first time that the student has put themselves out there. “Blueprints” is published on their website: athensblueprints.org.
From the 1980s through 2008, “Blueprints” was published as a traditional print literary magazine at Athens Drive that featured creative writing.
Surles and her class brought it back in 2019 in a digital format to reflect today’s audience. They also decided to include a wider variety of art forms to reflect the abilities of the students in the class.
“I like that everyone’s working together to make it. The whole class is doing it and everyone that I’ve talked to that is going to submit work sounds really excited about it,” said Haleigh Rose-Hathaway, co-head curator of “Blueprints.”
Rose and the other co-head curator, Ruhan Rahman, are responsible for keeping things running smoothly and working on the website as a whole. Throughout the second semester, the Creative Writing II class discussed their vision for the magazine, which can be different every year. They then solicit and edit work that has been submitted for the publication.
The class obtains creative work through a couple different ways. They do a general call out for students interested in submitting work. They also reach out individually to students who they know are good artists, as well as art and creative writing teachers to see if they can recommend students’ work. Creative works are submitted through the “Blueprints” website.
Once work has been submitted through their Wix site, they organize everything in their own files. Some of their staff have a background in graphic design and work on that aspect of the site.
“There are so many talented artists at Athens; as writers, the staff of “Blueprints” works to honor the talent of those around them,” said Surles.
