ArtsWeek offers students place to display work

ArtsWeek will take a school-like spin, as the theme for this year’s week of creativity is “ArtsTeach.” One event is offering a showcase opportunity to a group of people who might not have their work on display otherwise: local students.

“What does art teach you?” is a photography exhibit highlighting the artistic work of Bloomington High School South students at a variety of local venues from now until Feb. 28.

The project’s initiative, BHSS photography teacher Staci Jennings said, was to have students practice capturing pictures but also have a more intimate interaction with their subjects.

Students interviewed the subjects of their photographs, asking them what art meant to them and what they have learned from art.

Jennings, who has been teaching photography for 12 years, said this project resonated strongly with the students and they became more serious about the artistic process as the project progressed.

“Most students don’t know how galleries work. Once they see their work on display, they start taking themselves more seriously. They start to see that they can make something great,” Jennings said.

Some locations where the photographs will be on display are considered typical artistic venues, like the By Hand Gallery, but they will also be displayed at the Pour House Cafe and Starbucks.

Ruth Conway, a member of the By Hand Gallery, shared Jennings’ sentiment and said putting student work on display for the local community shows them that their art is appreciated and relevant.

“When people work really hard on something, it should be shared with an audience,” Conway said.

Emilé Brandon, a junior at Bloomington South who will be displaying her work, knows that sense of hard work.

Brandon said she spends about three hours a day in the dark room working on her photographs.

Bloomington South sophomore Becca Dvorak is another student artist participating in the show.

She said her photograph of a little girl with a crayon drawing is more than what meets the eye.

“I chose this as my subject because children are innocent and don’t realize what they gain from little things like making Play-Doh figures or painting a picture,” Dvorak said.
“Little kids tend to have the biggest imaginations, and as we grow older, art gives us a way to hang on to that.”

Her message was echoed by Jennings, who highlighted the important outlet art provides students.

Jennings said though students may not excel in academics, art gives them something to focus on, a motivation to come to school and creativity that can apply to other areas.

As the pictures of Bloomington South students hang on the walls of local galleries and coffee shops, each picture will have a different meaning to each viewer.

Despite different perspectives, it is the common medium of art that Dvorak said will provoke thought.

“Whether it teaches a little kid to use their imagination or it teaches someone who has traveled the world to see things in a new perspective, there is always something art can teach us,” Dvorak said.