STUDENT ART EXHIBITION @ ART GALLERY OF NORTHUMBERLAND

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The 16th Annual Student Exhibition (May 15 – June 20) is currently making a fine display of itself at the Art Gallery of Northumberland (AGN) in Victoria Hall. The art is created by students from grades 9 through 12 from schools throughout Northumberland County.

This is seed bed art, by students flexing their imaginations as well as stretching their techniques and media. Exhibitions such as this present a wide variety of art, from the well executed tried and true, to recklessly manifested originality.

Dorette Carter, Curator/Director of the AGN wrote “For many of the participating students this will be their only exhibition in a public art gallery, for others it will be the first of many exhibitions in their careers. We as consumers of their art must acknowledge the skill, vision and interpretation of these emerging artists. Art plays an important role in all of our lives, and it is reassuring to know that there is a generation of young artists that will enter into the public discourse that is the world of art and what it does for society.”

The exhibit contains two works from each grade representing the nine participating schools. This sets up a wide variety of media forms – there is no doubt that there will be something that will enrich the casual onlooker.

The most outstanding piece is that of Kate Hunter, a grade 11 student at CDCI West. The piece was given a place of honour that further set off the brilliance of the piece. Called Pinned, the painting consists of acrylic paint of canvas. Ms Hunter writes, “This girl feels like she will be the next one pinned and examined by people. She is afraid of being a specimen.”

Aside from the well-balanced execution and detail of the painting, Ms Hunter’s creative cleverness extended to placing a small pearl tipped pin into each insect, in the same manner as they are mounted and displayed in a museum. The button in the upper left is sewn to the canvas, and the key, which is not painted, but an actual object, is fastened with a fine strand of wire. The attention to consistent detail is illuminated by the fact that Ms Hunter has painted the shadow of the key directly onto the canvas. It would have been incredibly rich if the people who mounted the painting on the wall, adjusted the lighting to conform to the painted shadow; unfortunately, it displays a double shadow, the painted one and the real one from lighting.

Sara Michelle Ouellet and Myriah Thomson, both grade 11 students of Clarington Central Secondary School, were given a bare bones assignment by their teacher; to construct art from hand-scripted words.

Ms Ouellet produced Dazed and Amazed, using pen and ink. She said this artwork “was inspired by the 60’s mod scene. It has a very modern look to it and has a lot of contrast. It displays emotion as well as a fusion statement.”

Ms Ouellet displays an incredibly detailed piece with a perfect balance of busyness and white space. The work is delicate yet robust, powerful whether viewed several feet back or up-close. The line drawing is created by hand-scripting multiple synonyms of the words ‘dazed’ and ‘amazed’

Myriah Thomson’s piece, Bright Eyes, took off from the same platform to produce an outstandingly striking image. She writes, “Using a micrograph technique the focal point is the little girl’s eyes, as she expressed child-like shock.” Again, this artist has incredible control of proportions. The image, composed of hand-scripted words, displays a talent that high-end book publishers would love to have in their stable.

Lili Vahamaki, a grade 12 student from Port Hope High School, produced a mixed media piece called Crow. The title comes from a small silhouette of a crow, yet the painting consists largely of portraiture, a young woman?man? with sharp-edged hair and softly textured skin. The mixed media comes into play with fabric around the neck of the protagonist. A wooden twig is gingerly placed into the painting – the crow balances on its tip.

Laura Alessandrini, grade 9 from Trinity College School, created paint on paper called ‘Back Lane, Port Hope’ that displays a talent beyond her years. The painting is conventional in many regards, it’s execution displays a talent of perception, a gift for proportion, colour and ambience. It will be interesting to see if her development transcends this early skill and explores more creative explorations of media.

Adam Bachmaier, grade 12, Port Hope High School, went all male with his creation and constructed an 18-wheeler transport truck out of wood, (painted) some metal. The piece is called ‘Fueling Our Country’ and adds a bit of caustic satire by constructing the exhaust fumes out of Canadian cash.

The applied paint does not conceal the woodness of the piece. It is uncertain if this was deliberate, or the piece was done in haste and a second or third application of paint was declined.

Brandon Clark is another grade 12 student from Port Hope High School displaying acrylic on canvas in ‘Cyclist City.’ The streetscape is barren of all vehicular traffic, including bicycles. The image is geometrically standard fare, disappearing in the centre of the image. There is an ambiance of empty heat in this image, however, I have been a cyclist in the downtown of Toronto for almost 40 years, and the absence of ‘grit’ in Clark’s painting diminishes the feel of the piece.

There is always room for creative whimsy in a group art exhibition and Serena Leszczynski, of Clarington Central Secondary School, provides it with ‘Monster Birdhouse’. She says, “This is a piece inspired by Tim Burton [movie director]. I love his work and how he creates works of evil-looking but friendly monsters.”

Emma Potts, a grade 9 student at Cobourg District Collegiate, east, produced a mixed media piece called, ‘Anger Is An Energy’. She says, “Punk isn’t dead – as long as there are frustrated teenagers, there’s punk. You can’t get rid of it that easily.” It would be interesting to know her response to that assertion 20 years hence. This is a playful and insolent production, with t-shirts declaring that they hate Dark Side of the Moon. There is considerable text (in broken portions) which suggest a number of inside jokes that only a select few will be aware of, and the unsuspecting public views as randomness.

Max Rabkin, grade 10 from Trinity College School, displays a collage/drawing called, ‘In The Spirit of Gris’. A very well-balanced and proportioned piece, the collage contains a single page from a phone book, which starts with the name of ‘Mockett' and ends with ‘Mohammad’. I wonder of this was a deliberate choice?

Quinn Keiffer, grade 11, CDCI West, ‘Fortune Favours The Bold’ says, “In my drawing, I incorporated the Scottish coat of arms because that is where I am from and the Bahamas coat of arms because that is where I would like to travel to. The plants and animals I have chosen all have unique physical characteristics. I wanted to emphasize them by using bold colours.”

Melissa McKinnon, grade 12, East Northumberland Secondary School, produced a wonderful ‘Figure Drawing’. She writes, “Capturing movement effectively with the addition of different medias is fun and a passion of mine. The overall finished product captures one’s attention and is quite effective in portraying my emotions as well as the subject’s.”