The juried student art show, run by Renee Couture and Susan Rochester, is an annual event dedicated to showcasing students’ artwork inspired by art class projects.
“Throughout the school year, students can submit up to two artworks from every art class that they’ve taken,” art student Kindra Neely said.
Opening night was May 5, with the awards announced at noon. Approximately 75 guests showed up opening night including teachers, students, faculty and other art enthusiasts.
Approximately 40 artists submitted their work into the show. The winners announced were Kindra Neely for her submission “Thekla,” Emily Ferguson for her submission “Boiled Over” and Christina Morrow for her submission “My Shoes.” Included with the winners were two honorable mentions: Christian Sifford for his piece “Zora in Memory” and Kristen Brade for her piece “Cherry Blossom Bowl.”
Neely’s submission was a black and white painting of tall, crystal-like structures that are symbolic of cities. She described how her inspiration for this piece was based on Italo Calvino’s 1972 novel titled “Invisible Cities.” Neely’s class was doing an art project based on this novel which describes the story of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan who share their experience traveling through various fictional cities. The class had to choose a city from the novel and recreate it: “The one I chose was Thekla,” Neely explained. “The city was continuously being rebuilt, and they used the stars as their map for where the city would build their buildings.”
The art show contained a variety of different art mediums including paintings, drawings, pottery, photography and some graphic design work. Approximately 35 different ceramic art pieces, five photography pieces and 22 drawings, paintings and collages were displayed.
Clara Lanyi was the contest juror. She has a BA in Liberal Arts from the University of California in Santa Cruz, a BFA in Ceramics from Alfred University, and an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. All of the art pieces that she judged were presented to her anonymously. She was looking for something unique that went beyond the class projects that the students were assigned.
The art gallery showcasing the students’ work will be open until May 27, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The annual art show is “a good way to show the community and the school what you have been doing for the year,” Neely concluded.