MC art senior draws on experience for school violence exhibit

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
Original

As a senior at William Blount High School back in 2005, Rebecca Jones witnessed her world turn upside down overnight.

She went from a typical high-schooler, focused on Friday night football games and college applications, to a victim of fear. She left her school one afternoon, and the next morning, she and her classmates had to be scanned by law enforcement officers with metal detection wands before they could get back in.

It all stemmed from a threat of violence, and that threat -- along with other actual violent events at high schools across the nation -- has inspired her senior art project -- "Cause and Effect: School Violence," now on display in Bartlett Hall on the Maryville College campus.

Now a senior at MC preparing to graduate in May with a degree in art, she hasn't forgotten those frightening days during her senior year at William Blount.

"Being patted down and wanded, it hit me to the core," Jones told The Daily Times this week. "It just got me thinking about what students experience because of school violence. I went through some of it, but it was not that bad compared to a lot of other students. I wanted to use my project to define what school violence is, because it's changed so much over the years, and I wanted to touch on my experiences and those of others."

In the spring of 2005, tension came to a head at William Blount, with a fight, a civil rights complaint and graffiti of a Confederate flag, a racial slur and a noose leading to increased law enforcement presence on campus. School officials would go on to ban the Confederate symbol, a move that prompted a suit upheld earlier this year on appeal.

Outside the school, the focus was on the state of race relations and the potential for violence. Within the walls, however, most students were scared as much by what they perceived as overreaction as they were by what was being reacted to, Jones said.

"We really didn't know all of the minor details -- we just went to school, and we didn't see it as this race war," Jones said. "I think the media and the parents contributed to a lot of that. To us, it was just more of a confusing time -- and that's what this show kind of focuses on, too.

"I wanted to look at how the government implements things without explaining them. To us, it became more and more like a prison than a school -- students went from not having to have a pass to go to the bathroom to having to get wanded just to get in the door and then having to wait until you got home in the evening to go to the bathroom."

Specifically, Jones remembers being caught in the bathroom after the bell rang. Before she could return to class, she was patted down by a law enforcement officer, something that for a teen girl was particularly perplexing and terrifying.

"I remember at one point it seemed like half the police force in Blount County was in our lunchroom," she added. "We used to joke about whether they were there to guard our school or eat our food -- all we knew is that we saw them in the lunchroom every morning and every afternoon."

Jones attributes her particular style to the influence of such artist as Barbara Kruger, known for her collages and conceptual works. Many of the pieces in Jones' exhibit are open-ended in that they examine all sides of the issue -- one, for example, states "I'd rather be paddled than shot," an adage Jones ascribes to a teacher she once interviewed.

"She believed that after corporal punishment was taken out of Blount County schools -- I think that was in 1996 -- that things went downhill," Jones said. "I'm not fond of paddling, but that's someone else's opinion on the subject, and I think it's a valid point -- that the fear of punishment, she thought, kept students more in line.

"The main goal is to draw attention and get people to think and ask questions about their own experiences and how it could be better. I'm not targeting teachers or anyone in particular; if anything, it's an exhibit in praise of certain systems and teachers, because I'm not qualified to teach anything to anyone.

"I just want them to think about it and to open up a discussion about things," she added. "I don't have all the answers; I'm just trying to get something started."

Originally published: December 05. 2008 3:01AM

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.