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By Emily Russell
Recently, our school's art teacher, Mr. Tomasello, gave each grade level a thought-provoking presentation titled “Choose.” At the assembly, Mr. Tomasello spoke on topics such as toxic masculinity, mob mentality, and bullying, and how it can impact youth. Along with his words of wisdom, Mr. Tomasello also included his own artwork that embodied the themes he spoke of.
ASSEMBLY OVERVIEW: The assembly started off with a brief introduction to Mr. Tomasello’s personal life including baby pictures, life experiences, past art projects, and old interests. What stood out to many within this overview was a story from his college years. The start of this recall began with a young Mr. Tomasello getting into Buff State. From there he engaged with the community and often went out with his peers. He and three of his classmates/close friends decided to go out one night to a bar. From there he out of the blue got jumped by 6-7 strangers. To this day he is able to recount the men and women around him who didn’t attempt to save him. This anecdote set the tone for the rest of his presentation. From there he explained how this shaped his art. Mr.Tomasello had always been interested in the French play “Rhinoceros”(click the link for info on the play!) but this event changed how he perceived it. His art, inspired by the characters in Rhinoceros, shifted to depict his own story. In the play, the characters have what is known as a “mob mentality.” They all begin to fall into the same “herd” as one another except for an individual who refuses. Mr. Tomasello related those who saw and aided in his attack to the followers and himself to the ones who didn’t comply with the change. This inspired several collections of his work as he began to depict his story through the “Rhinoceros” characters. This sparked a discussion of using art as an outlet to express your own trauma, thoughts, and even world problems. This is how Mr. Tomasello creates his own art. It touches on topics such as gun violence, bullying, and war threats affecting daily life. From there he showed us some of those works. This included gas masks marketed toward children, fully built classroom sets centered around school shootings, and several Rhino works. Many students found this presentation useful and extremely relatable with remarks such as “It conveyed a nice message and it resonated with mass groups of people,” and “These topics are incredibly important to discuss because even if people are ‘tired of hearing about it,’ it helps us recognize toxic behaviors, so we're able to point them out and help victims of bullying.” Many remarked that they now understand Mr. Tomasello’s use of the rhino figures.
DEBRIEF WITH MR. TOMASELLO: Following the assembly, I was able to have an in-depth conversation/interview with Mr.Tomasello regarding his presentation. I began by asking him to explain more as to how the presentation reached our stage and if it’s ever been given to others. He responded with an in-depth story on the process. Tomasello had given a version of the presentation/art walkthrough at the Springville Art Center. It went extremely well, so much so that another school reached out to see if he’d give their students a similar presentation. He obliged and traveled to Nichols to give his lecture and show his exhibitions. Principal Johnson and Ms. Ferraraccio joined the audience to support him and enjoyed it so much that they approached him to give it at West. Next, I questioned why he believed students/adults need to hear these topics, and furthermore, what his intended purpose was. Mr. Tomasello stated, “These topics become more prevalent and happen more every year. Every day these things are increasing, violence, school shootings, bullying, all of those things continue to happen and it’s not getting better.” He followed that up by saying the more we ignore it the worse it gets, and talking about it provides students with the idea that it is acceptable to come forward when they have issues. He made sure to say that teachers and other staff are open to providing students with a safe environment and a place to talk. For his purpose, he explained that “at the heart of it, it is about bullying but bullying can hide under many different names and forms. It’s important to offer students and even adults these topics to think about and display how we can use art to address trauma in a positive light.”
On the topic of using art to express yourself, I decided to ask him to elaborate on how he did this himself and how it may have helped. Mr.Tomasello told me that the night in the bar changed his life forever. The first art show he ever had was called “Rhinoceros” and displayed the characters from the previously mentioned play, acting out the night of his attack. “Sharing the story resonated with people,” he said. “Having that level of relatability from others shows we aren't alone.” He also went on to say that in a more general sense, art serves as a more broad and accessible way to process and show awareness of tough world subjects: “You can feel powerless, like there’s nothing you can do, and arts a way of at least being able to raise awareness and provoke thoughts.”
Overall, Mr. Tomasello's assembly provided a wide range of topics for his audience and got students and staff alike to think. No matter what “Choose” may mean to you, art can more or less express those thoughts. As Mr.Tomasello said, “Choose. Choose to be kind to people. Choose to act.”
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