Student-made scarecrows at Turners Falls High School impress with creativity

TURNERS FALLS — The scarecrows at Turners Falls High School have returned to the front of the school, and feature a cast of some of the most diverse and quality creations that digital filmmaking and theater arts teacher Jonathan Chappell has seen from his students.

“I haven’t seen this level of quality in students yet,” Chappell said. “I think they become less like scarecrows and more like pieces of art, sculptures.”

The diversity is highlighted by appearances from movie characters like Spider-Man and Pearl, animals like a life-size dog made of hay and a three-headed hydra, and a life-size Mao Zedong, among other varied sculptures.

Chappell said last year’s cohort of scarecrows drew interest to his class this semester for students who wanted to try their hand at the months-long project, and come away with recognition as winners of scariest, funniest, best use of materials, best overall and a new category, best conceptual achievement.

Students begin working on projects individually or in groups at the start of the semester, and delegate their time to create their scarecrows for display. Typically, Chappell has the students complete their scarecrows by Halloween, but with the quality of creations and extra time needed, the project was extended until November.

In reflecting on his role with the students this year, Chappell said he’s been able to help guide them through any roadblocks, encourage them to push through mistakes and help them make progress each day toward the final goal.

Administrative staff and other art teachers judged the creations, including Assistant Principal Adam Graves and Principal Loren Messina, both of whom shared how impressed they were.

“I thought they were a really good reflection of the students’ passions, and things they liked,” Mesinna said, declining to share her favorite creation until judging finished, but said she had ties for the awards.

Out of the 20 creations, below is a snapshot of a few of these students and their creations, and the winners.

Best Overall: “Spider-Man”

“Spider-Man” by Mary Adams and Ivy Lopez is the overall winner for their scarecrow of the crime-fighting superhero, which hangs upside down from a tree outside the entrance of the school with a web spun on the side of the building.

Adams, a junior, explained that the body of Spider-Man is made out of PVC pipes and foam to shape the body that is covered by the costume. A rope [the webbing] shoots from his hand and extends into a large web hung from the side of the school. To pose the scarecrow, he’s hung from a wire installed on the tree with help from Chappell, Adams said.

“We weren’t really sure what we would choose, but then we decided we wanted a superhero,” Adam said about choosing Spider-Man, “and we were gonna do Superman first, but we just like Spider-Man the best — he’s both of our favorite superheroes.”

For this being her and Lopez’s first scarecrow, Adams said she’s excited about how the scarecrow turned out, though she said it took some time to re-work, as the original plan to have Spider-Man on the top of the school’s entryway was changed, and his pose had to be altered.

“It took a lot more time than it was supposed to, but I’m happy with how it ended up,” she said.

Best Use of Materials: “Frankie” and “Queen Chrysalis”

Four of the six scarecrows tied for winning categories, including “Frankie” by Allison Raymond and Izzy Hansn, and “Queen Chrysalis” from the My Little Pony toys and TV series by Aradia Chagnon.

“Frankie” is a life-size poodle scarecrow made entirely of hay to pay homage to Raymond’s dog. Raymond, a ninth grader, said she constructed her four-legged friend using wood for the skeleton of the dog, then hay and twine to wrap and shape the entire sculpture. She added eyes made of halved plastic balls, and added a blue T-shirt for a bandana.

Raymond says the process to replicate her dog took between three and four months to complete.

“I stayed after school, I would come in some days at like, 6:30 in the morning, just to work on it, and add details and perfect it,” she said of her process.

Raymond said the hay she used was “pokey” and hard to bend at first, until she began using a spray bottle with water to dampen it, which helped her fold the pieces to create the sculpture.

Since finishing, the real Frankie has come to visit with his scarecrow, and Raymond says he was excited to see the finished work by pacing around the sculpture. She expects that her mom will also want to keep Frankie as a decoration at their home.

“This was so fun, and I think now that I’ve done it before, I’ll be able to do it again a little
bit more confidence,” Raymond said when asked if she’d do the project again.

Funniest: “LeBron James” and “Mao Zedong”

It may be surprising to see Lebron James and Mao Zedong as winners in the same category for anything, but the sky’s the limit for the funniest category for this year’s contest.

“LeBron James,” by sophomores Trevor Lyons and Emmett Spriggs, is a life-size replica of the Los Angeles Lakers icon that uses a variety of materials, like papier-mâché, clay and paint to replicate James’ 6-foot, 9-inch figure, topped off with a matching jersey and shorts.

“He’s just an icon. A very recognizable man,” Spriggs said about the choice to pay homage to James.

Both Lyons and Spriggs said they grew up watching James play and have appreciated his legacy.

“We definitely learned a lot about sculpting, working with foam. That’s what we did for the hands,” Spriggs said about the process of putting together the scarecrow.

“It was a terrific, tedious task,” Lyons added.

The other winner, “Mao Zedong,” was created by sophomores Edward Walsh, William Hutchison and Kamden Zagame.

The group shared that the inspiration for creating the founder of the communist People’s Republic of China in 1949 was both based on originality, and the niche popularity behind Zedong amongst younger generations.

“I was like, “We should do something that would be really original,'” Hutchinson said of the inspiration behind this scarecrow. “I thought Mao Zedong, because I knew no one had probably ever done it, and that was right.”

“I feel like it adds a lot more personality,” Walsh explained about adding a hammer and sickle, which helps make the scarecrow more recognizable.

Similar to LeBron, this scarecrow is also life-size, standing at six feet. Chairman Mao is made of mixed materials like foam, wood, and hay, which helped shape the proportions of the body. The group also used a grey coat they thrifted, along with dress pants and shoes.

Scariest: “Hydra” and “Centipede”

Winners of the scariest categories include “Hydra” by Vinnie Palazzo, and “Centipede” by Allister Kolakoski and Ciana James.

Palazzo crafted a three-headed monster based on the character from the 1997 Disney movie “Hercules.” Initially, the monster was able to sustain itself with its three heads until the elements outside weakened the structure, but three microphone stands came in to secure the three-headed beast.

“It looked pretty cool,” Palazzo shared about why he decided to choose the Hydra for his scarecrow.

Honorable mentions

An honorable mention went to “Maximus Gladius Rex” by Derek Jean, who crafted swords lodged into a rock, with a skeleton holding onto the swords, which were fastened into the rock with side release buckles. He said he used a host of materials like chicken wire, PVC, papier-mâché, wood and metal to create the scarecrow.

Jean said that next year, he hopes to be back with something bigger and better.

The other honorable mention went to sophomore Echo Myers for her scarecrow, “Pearl,” based on the 2022 horror film “Pearl.”

Myers said her scarecrow is also a life-size representation of the character. She first started constructing the face of the scarecrow, and picked the scene in the film where Pearl is wearing overalls for the outfit. She incorporated an axe and blood for the sculpture, anticipating the scarecrows would be displayed around Halloween.

For her, Myers said she felt like she learned a lot in the process, and credited Chappell for helping her through a difficult construction.

“I’ve never made a scarecrow before,” she said. “With the help of Mr. Chappell, I was able to get the frame finished, because the frame was really hard.”

Other creations

The other winners for Best Conceptual Achievement went to “Coraline” by Zia Perez-Gonzalez, and “Kinger” by Viviene Clark.

Outside of the winning scarecrows, other scarecrows included “King Bomb” by Brenan Malek and Marshall Cole; “Black Noir” by Rob Goff and Athena Willor; “Sword in the Stone” by Alex Golembeski; “Headless Horseman” by Noah Kolodziej; “Stich” by Raelynn Riveccio; “Funny Footballers” by Janelle and Madison Dietz; “Cyn” by Anakin Niedzielski.